href="#ulink_51d8f646-d9d7-5d17-9843-cbab386c543f">AN19). Next follow the N ridge (AN18) back to the road at 895270, leaving a 2.5-mile slog along the road to regain your car. You could shorten the day by returning down Cwm Croes (AN3), but the views from Esgeiriau Gwynion are so dramatic that it would be a shame to miss them.
Cwm Cywarch/Hengwm circular (AN H2)
This runs the Cwm Croes horseshoe a close second.
The kernel of the walk is scaling Aran Fawddwy via Cwm Cywarch on AN5 and then returning down Hengwm on AN6. However this is easier than it looks, and three additions should be considered:
The first is to branch out to Pen yr Allt-uchaf, maybe using Cwm Terwyn rather than Hengwm for the way home.
The second is to include Gwaun y Llwyni en route to Aran Fawddwy in the morning. Gwaun does not look exciting, but as a vantage point over Hengwm it is second to none.
Thirdly you could start on AN23, climbing Glasgwm first before following the fence down its NE slopes to join AN5 on the moors above Cwm Cywarch. The trouble with this is that you miss the best part of the cwm.
Llanymawddwy horseshoe (AN H3)
A walk for the connoisseur!
Put simply this combines two routes on Aran Fawddwy (AN7 and AN9), and it is a toss-up which is the better way round. What you can be sure of are charming valleys at either end of the day, the grandeur of the high Arans in the middle, solitude and the excitement of treading self-effacing little tracks that normally only see sheep and the odd shepherd.
Dolobran circular (AN H4)
Another walk for Aran devotees seeking new pastures.
Climb Glasgwm from Dolobran (AN21), follow the edge of the woods round to Pen y Bryn-fforchog and then descend on AN24. These are the bare bones of a walk that offers more than you might think from the map. It is more like a day in the Dovey hills or the Tarrens than the Arans, with wide grassy ridges predominating and only sheep for company. Having said that you pass close by the massive crags of Craig Cywarch and the views, both of the distant Arans and of the Dovey hills across Bwlch Oerddrws, are magnificent.
N–S traverse (AN H5)
This is an obvious walk and a grand one, taking in the core of the Aran massif in its entirety; provided your logistics can cope. Simply combine AN1 and AN5.
Lower-level Walks/Easier Days
Bwlch Sirddyn (AN L1)
See AN19. A good walk for clearing the cobwebs away on a wet or blustery day when you hanker after a sniff of the fells but the tops look just too uninviting!
Cwm Croes (AN L2)
This is essentially a valley walk with a road (or near road) most of the way. It should not raise too much of a sweat to get as far as Creiglyn Dyfi. See AN3.
THE ARENIGS
THE ARENIGS
Untrodden heather-clad tops, wild moors, scattered hills, uncluttered views, the marshy Migneint, generous variety and vast solitudes: these are the lures of the Arenigs, some of the least-known hills in Wales. When I last visited them only one of the nine cairns, Arenig Fawr's, carried the tell-tale signs of human desecration. That surely says it all!
Are there really nine tops? Surely the map shows only two Arenigs? That is so, but like others before me I am taking the liberty of using ‘Arenigs’ to describe a diffuse group of hills that owes no allegiance to a recognised range and which, without a name, would remain unsung and unknown. Arbitrary this may be, presumptuous perhaps, but tidy and defensible certainly, as all eight of the other tops rise in the shadow of Arenig Fawr.
The Arenigs' domain is a vast quadrilateral of some 200 square miles, bounded by the Afon Eden and the A470 W, the Bala gap and the A494 E, and the B4407 and the A5 N. Open windswept fells predominate in the N, bleak in winter but a dazzling aromatic array of pinks and purples in summer. Further S the terrain becomes more broken with scattered outcrops and extensive afforestation. Rarely, however, does the walker tread rock, and nowhere is the use of hands even remotely in question. Tracks, faint but reliable, ease the way most of the time. Stay with these and the Arenigs can be kind; stray and you may find bog and jolty tussocks lying in wait (although even then, to be fair, their impact is muted and nowhere does the errant walker suffer as he may in the Rhinogs!).
The Arenigs are simple hills, hiding little. It could scarcely be otherwise with nine peaks scattered so widely, yet there are a few secrets left to uncover. Who, from the road, would suspect the sparkling lakes that snuggle beneath the E ramparts of Arenig Fawr and Arenig Fach? Who would anticipate Arenig Fach's craggy E face? Then there is the sprinkle of little tarns adorning Craig y Bychau, the austere but wistfully beautiful Hesgyn Valley, and the pristine joys of Dduallt and Rhobell Fawr.
Arenig Fawr is the unquestioned doyen of the range, a large elephantine peak of 2800ft with a regal bearing. Unsightly quarries offend its N face but these are of small moment. Its rambling fells offer excellent sport, especially if you walk the full length of the ridge from Craig y Bychau to Pen Tyrau. Across the road Arenig Fach is a much underrated hill; looking deceptively dull, its soft heathery top is ideal for munching bilberries on a sunny afternoon, and for views of the Migneint it is second to none.
Moel Llyfnant is, in many respects, the more logical ‘Fach’, being linked to Arenig Fawr by a grassy col. Like the official Arenig Fach it is a languid grassy mound from most viewpoints, but still worth the occasional away-day. Some 2 miles W again lies the last top in this cluster, Foel Boeth. King of a dull shallow ridge it is all but forgotten, and understandably so.
Three more hills rise to the NE. Carnedd y Filiast and its satellite Llechwedd Llyfn are gently curved hillocks of rampant heather. Foel Goch is a loner, surrounded by roads, barely lifting its head above the prestigious 2000ft barrier. Study the map, though, and you will find it is a big mountain, fully endowed with ridges and cwms and well worth the occasional day.
The two remaining tops, Dduallt and Rhobell Fawr, lie well S. Set apart from their peers and the world both revel in a happy harmony of fells, woodlands, rock and marsh. Like good wine, these are peaks to relish on a special day.
The Arenigs glory in vast open views. Rising apart, unclustered, there is little to deflect the eye. Take the view from Arenig Fawr (and let this speak for the other peaks too). Arenig
