2024/06/24 Mynydd Rhiw, Penarfynydd and Treheli

 

Monday 24th June

When I got up around 8 am the mist was well down, and i couldn’t see the beach. By 9.30 it was lifting.

After breakfast Harry suggested we take advantage of good weather and walk - to Mynydd Rhiw, then along coastal path to Treheli and back.

Low mist to start with, which cleared to sunshine, then clouds, but warm and dry.

We saw stonechats and a meadow pipit. 

Coffee at roadside near Bryndol,

then followed the road to the track to Penarfynydd Farm. No coffee signs now, no goats, just one dog and a boat. Maybe it has changed hands.

We followed the coastal path round to Mynydd Penarfynydd past the pig

This pig used to be in the nearby farmyard!

which used to stand on the farmyard, and the trig point, then along the coastal path ,

past lots of free roaming horses, stopping for lunch just before the very steep section of the path which leads to the wood and field just before Treheli.

Stopped for an ice-cream and a longish chat with the owner and her daughter.

Then up the steep track we came down yesterday, and back home for around 5pm. 

Brilliant day’s walk. - 7.7 miles, and 1100 feet of ups and downs. Quite tough at times.!

Glow worms in the late evening too. Late June/ early July is the best time to look for them.

2024/06/23 To the cafe!

 Sunday 22nd June 

We walked down to Treheli camp site cafe. Very steep path and not easy to find at first. Then we sat around for ages before deciding to knock on the door. The guy came out and we had a long chat about Welsh and other things!

Return up another path, past Plas yn Rhiw and a couple of houses, plus notices about bulls and dogs! Still it was a public footpath and no problem. A couple of noisy but friendly dogs with their man. 2 miles including a couple of off-piste sections. 250 feet of down then up, and quite strenuous. Steeper going down than coming up.

PEN LLYN - JULY 2023 Ty’n Rhyd to Mynydd Rhiw, Treheli and Coastal Path

Saturday 1st July 2023

Similar route to this walk in 2021 and this one in 2022

We walked from Ty’n Rhyd, starting at 11.45 and walking east to Groeslon. A left turn, and we followed the small road, bordered with honeysuckle, meadowsweet and other wild flowers (red campion and sheep’s bit in particular).

Sheep’s bit or policeman’s buttons

Meadowsweet

The road bends right, passes Bodwyddog Fawr farm, and continues to a T junction. At this point the footpath leads straight ahead, quite clear until we reach a wide gate, then it was overgrown. We headed for the wall to our right , and more or less followed it to the radar station at Clip y Gylfinhir (Curlew Mountain).   A short steep scramble up the mound, because it is there, and the views are great.

View over Y Rhiw and the fort

Then down and along the track to the summit of Mynydd Rhiw, with its trig point  at 304 metres - not quite 1000 feet! A pause for photos and reflection, and to feel the wind.

Radio relay station on Mynydd Rhiw

We followed a footpath down to a cleared area (unofficial car park?)  and turned right along the road.  A ritual visit to the rocky outcrop on the left had to be made. 

We left the road at the footpath at Pen-y-mynydd, through the heathland nature reserve. 

Hunger was kicking in at this stage, so we found a spot to sit and eat.

We headed fairly steeply downhill, following the path through lushly growing  bracken, then there were a few boggy patches under trees. A side-track leads to Ffynnon Saint.

Self-heal, woundwort

We could have followed the footpath further, but instead took the wider track down to Ty’n Parc, then on to the old road past the camping and caravan site at Treheli Farm. To our delight the campsite has a cafe now, so we indulged in a coffee and then an ice-cream, and chatted about the Welsh language.

Refreshed, we walked along the road as far as the car park for Plas yn Rhiw, and a little further along the new road turned left along the coastal path towards Ysgo.   It leads through a couple of fields, then into a wooded area,

where it begins to climb, and continues relentlessly beyond the trees - gaining about 500 feet in less than a mile.

Views along the coast are spectacular, even today when visibility was not at its absolute best. 

We decided to include Mynydd Penarfynydd with its trig point at 177 metres, and followed the huge zig zag of the coastal path past the farm

Penarfynydd, complete with goat and dog

and on to the road near Porth Ysgo. We took the road towards Groeslon, then turned left towards Ty’n Rhyd.

Somewhere around 9 miles, and over 1000 feet of ups and downs. A fairly strenuous but highly satisfying walk.