Walking Britain’s circuit of Rhinog Fawr from Cwm Bychan is only 5.0 miles (8.1 km), but it gives the walk 4 hours 10 minutes. Walking Britain is an independent site of authored walk descriptions.
Walking Britain says the Rhinogs have a reputation for hard walking.
That account grades the route as moderate to hard. It suits an experienced walker with boots, a map and compass, and a clear forecast.
The start at Cwm Bychan
The route starts at Cwm Bychan, reached by a minor road from the village of Llanbedr on the A496, a few miles south of Harlech. Get Lost Mountaineering, an independent site of hill-walk descriptions, calls it a long, narrow road.
This is the Cwm Bychan above Llanbedr. It is not the one near Beddgelert.
You park in the car park at the head of Cwm Bychan.
Useful details for the start:
- Grid reference: SH645314
- Postcode for a satnav: LL45 2PH
- Map: Ordnance Survey Explorer OL18
The Roman Steps, and what they really are
The path climbs through woodland first. Then it enters what Walking Britain calls a vast natural rockery, on the stone steps known as the Roman Steps.
They are not Roman. Natural Resources Wales (NRW), the Welsh Government body that manages the country’s nature reserves, calls them a medieval pack-horse trail. Coflein, the national monuments record of Wales, lists them as a post-medieval trackway.
The two records differ on the period and agree on the main point.
Coflein gives the track as about 1.76 km long. It has slabs of stone 3 to 4 feet wide, laid as steps over bad ground in five stretches.
The steps cross Bwlch Tyddiad, a pass cut by ice in the Ice Age, according to NRW.
Walking Britain says the path is flagged and that progress is fast despite the climb. This is the easy part of the day. Enjoy it, because it ends at the col.
Where the miles turn slow
From the col, Walking Britain says to stay on the main path for about 200 yards. Then you look for a narrower path, partly hidden in knee-deep heather, that leads to Llyn Du.
At Llyn Du, the same account says to stay on the northern shore and hop across the boulders at the water’s edge. NRW asks walkers to keep out of the deep water in the lake.
After a wall and some rock slabs comes a rough gully. Walking Britain says hands are needed on a short section. It leads out onto the summit plateau.
Total ascent on this circuit is 585 m, in Walking Britain’s figures.
Walking Britain warns that if you lose the path, off-path walking is energy sapping and slow going.
If you lose the path, stop and look for it again before you push on through the heather.
The summit
A large cairn marks the top, and Get Lost Mountaineering also records a trig point (a stone survey pillar). That account gives the height as 720 m.
Its own route is 9 km and takes about 5 hours. Both accounts go up by Llyn Du and down by Gloyw Llyn, but Get Lost Mountaineering measures its line at 9 km, not 8.1.
In poor visibility, leave this hill for another day. Walking Britain says the terrain is confusing, so check the mountain forecast first. The views are worth waiting for.
The easiest way down, that account says, is the way you came up.
The nature reserve underfoot
Most of Rhinog Fawr lies inside the Rhinog National Nature Reserve, in the Eryri National Park. NRW describes the ground as a rugged clutter of angular rocks, enormous boulders and steep cliffs, with heather and bilberry between them.
The Eryri National Park Authority, the body that manages the park, says heathland covers nearly 70% of the reserve. It is Wales’s only biogenetic reserve, chosen to protect heather.
In July and August the heather turns a dark pink. NRW lists it among the things to see then.
NRW’s advice for anyone on the reserve is simple:
- Wear hiking boots.
- Carry a map and compass.
- Take waterproofs and layers for warmth.
- Take great care on steep slopes and cliffs.
If this is not the hill for you
If you want a clear path the whole way, this hill is the wrong choice. If the heather sounds like too much, the Precipice Walk is another route to look at.
For more hills in North Wales, see Aran Fawddwy and Arenig Fawr.
We compile and explain public route and safety information. We guide nobody and sell nothing on the hill.
Planning your time and the way back
The two accounts give about four to five hours for their circuits. Plan on about five hours, the longer of the two figures.
Count the day backwards from sunset, and set a time at which you turn round whatever the summit looks like.
The easiest return, Walking Britain says, is the outward route, down the flagged Roman Steps to Cwm Bychan.
Its 5.0-mile circuit comes down by Gloyw Llyn instead.
Plan to be off the rough ground with daylight to spare: back at the col if you return the way you came, or down at Gloyw Llyn on the circuit.
