Volker Gringmuth <[email hidden]> wrote on Wed, 01 Feb 2006 20:17:00 +0100:
Quoted message said:Is there some route to be recommended apart from the well-known ones
(as Offa's Dyke Path)? Or a list of places to see ...
As Dafydd said, there's the Cambrian Way. It starts in Cardiff and
has basically three main sections: Cardiff to Llandovery along the ridges
of the Black Mountains, Brecon Beacons and Bannau Sir Gaer, then a very
remote stretch through the Towy and Doethie valleys, the Cambrian Mountains
and Cadair Idris to Barmouth. The third part is again along the
ridges (Rhinogydd, Moelwynion, Snowdon, Glyderau, Carneddau) to Conwy
in the north. The whole lot takes three weeks without too much messing
about. It gives you a bit of all that Wales has on offer except for the
coast. I've walked almost all of it (only the southern bit in one go
last summer, but other day walks just happen to make up most of the rest).
Quoted message said:train station, and a former hill somewhere which some Englishman went
up until it became a mountain (oh, I really should have a look at
that one!).
Wasn't that said of Aran Fawddwy?
Quoted message said:I don't know yet whether I'll walk alone or have some friends with
me. And I really don't need much comfort - a grassy level place to
pitch my tent on is enough at the end of a day, and a foodstore every
1-2 days would be nice 🙂
In mid Wales that takes a bit of planning. There's no shop on the
direct route for about 4 days in the mid Wales section.
Assuming that you're not necessarily after the highest mountains (as
you'd go elsewhere if you were), you could first walk a bit of the
Pembrokeshire coast. I think the best bits are on the south coast.
Then get a bus to Pontrhydfendigaid in the middle of nowhere in mid Wales,
from where it's eight or nine days following the Cambrian Way to Snowdon.
That will take you through very remote parts of the Cambrian Mountains,
over Cadair Idris, across an amazing railway-and-foot bridge across the
Mawddach estuary, over the very rocky and isolated Rhinogydd, to amazing
early mining and quarrying sites in the Moelwynion and to the highest peak,
too. Note that the Cambrian Way isn't waymarked, it's just a list of
points that you can connect as you please.
Bus timetables for all of Wales at Traveline Cymru:
http://tinyurl.com/d4ls5
(Some services need booking a day in advance as they're operated by taxis.)
George Tod's entertaining and informative trip report of his Cambrian Way:
http://www.gtleisure.co.uk/walks/cw00/cambwaya.htm
Excellent guidebook:
AJ Drake; Cambrian Way; ISBN 0-9509580-4-2; Cheltenham 2000 (5th ed.)
Have fun!
--
Rudi Winter, Aberystwyth, Wales
http://users.aber.ac.uk/ruw/album
