The old drovers’ road from Pontarfynach (Devil’s Bridge) to Rhayader via Cwmystwyth has become a popular route through the Cambrian Mountains for motorists, particularly on motorcycles, who want a scenic alternative to the A44 further north. That is not surprising as it is regarded as one of the most scenic ‘wild’ routes in Europe, with easy access to the wonderful Elan Valley, and the simply ‘stunning’ wild ruggedness of the section following the upper Afon Ystwyth almost to its source. I always think that ‘stunning’ is a rather overused cliché, but in this case it is very apt, as I have been ‘stunned’ by the contrast between the landscape quality of this fantastic mountain country, and the almost total lack of walkers or indeed of recognised walking routes. Yet those seeing this pass through a car windscreen miss so much of the atmosphere of this wild deep valley, or the windswept high plateau above … a very different experience not to be missed, as I hope you can glean from the accompanying pictures. It has been something of a challenge, and a work still in progress, to devise appropriate length circular adventures in this area, and the price we have to pay are some sections of hard going through watery marshes and exhausting tussocks of Molinia grass, and also a road walk at the end (take a hi-vis bib). So try this one after a dry spell, unlike when we did the research…it is well worth the effort! I am also looking for an alternative to the road walk back to the start from the top of the pass…watch this space…
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of starting point :
To reach the starting point from the Aberystwyth direction, take the road from Devil’s Bridge/Pontarfynach from alongside the Hafod Hotel to Cwmystwyth. Drive through the village, continue on the same road bending round to the left, pass the Ystwyth mine, and about 2 km further on from the main mine workings, arrive at the group of farm buildings called Tyllwyd, with a campsite down on the right. From the opposite direction, coming from the Elan Valley area or Rhayader, Tyllwyd is just over 3 km after the county boundary at the top of the pass. Ask at the house if you can park nearby maybe alongside the grassy triangle…in case of difficulties, carry on about 0.3 km eastwards to where the road takes a tight bend near the Esgair Wen holiday rental cottage at Blaenycwm, and park considerately nearby.
From the green grassy triangle by the farm, go up through the gate into the field, then walk straight up the hill to a second openable gate higher up to the right of a small group of conifers (see first two pics below:)
Views from the field (below)
After that, a track appears, going right at first, but very soon bending round left to head directly uphill, ascending very steeply across the contours, fairly unrelenting in gradient up to a height of about 430 m. There are great views to admire while taking breathers on your way up!
At this high point, the path is still climbing fairly steeply, but curving slightly leftwards, a quad bike track continuing onwards… but spot an alternative even more leftward option that branches off here. It seems better to take this fork, to avoid more seriously marshy ground higher up; the gradient eases a lot as you head eastwards along the brow of the hill.
You should arrive at a makeshift bridge over the prominent gully of Cwm y Gorlan, and what appears to be a small filtration plant for the water supply of the farm, way below in the valley (see pic above). From this point it is important to follow the gradually fading track as carefully as possible, rather than imagining that going completely ‘off piste’ might be easier and drier…it isn’t ! Try to keep the little red GPS arrow more or less on the route from the OS App. The track winds and climbs gradually through some horrible wet and tussocky areas, and finally over the hump of Bryn Copa at about 510 m altitude. Once over this small rise, you will see a strange-looking box high up on the moorland, about 700 m from the Cwm y Gorlan gully at Point 4.
Your struggles through tussocks and wet ground are now over for a while. The ‘box’ is a makeshift, smelly but dry sheep shelter, and is the start of a marvellous, easy, high level track which circles round this wild windswept open moorland at a height of 550+ m, at first gradually climbing, then levelling off. The views are wonderful in all directions.
Look out for tables of cut peat to the side of the track, and you will also soon see the corner of a forest ahead. Approaching the forest, the track starts noticeably descending. What was pleasant-enough easy walking now becomes simply delightful…still great underfoot, with distant views reminiscent of the Pennines; only the shady deep cleft of the Ystwyth Valley over to your right reminding you of the type of landscape at the starting point.
The track makes a dramatic descending curve to your right after having followed the forest boundary for over 1.5 km, and you realise how well this ‘road’ has been engineered…presumably originally for the horse carts of galena and silver ore that must have been hauled along here in late Victorian times during the ‘Welsh Klondike’.
Now the track bends left, with a good view of Craig y Lluest with its craggy top and sharp drop into the Ystwyth valley, and ahead, an eventual descent into the cwm of the Afon Diliw, a tributary of the Afon Ystwyth.
Soon after another right bend, you meet what appears to be a once hard-surfaced lane, crossing your path, where you turn left (see right hand pic below). A right turn here would take you to the hill called Yr Allt….a shorter alternative to this current walk, and a good route in its own right (to be recce’d soon!). There is a line of small electricity pylons along here.
Continue downhill on this old ‘road’, winding down towards the Afon Diliw with a footbridge and ford coming into view in the distance. Once on the footbridge, to the left you can see the series of wind turbines on Bryn Diliw, an ‘outrider’ of the Cefn Croes wind farm, the river flowing out of the forest to the north, heading south to meet the Afon Ystwyth, and also even a driveable road that ends here, leading from the A44 near Llangurig, 7 km away to the northeast.
A short loop of track to the right leads through an opening gate and onto the farm track leading along the east side of the river. This is a public bridleway, so this is fine to walk along, even though for a short distance you are not on (Open) Access Land. In a short distance you encounter a gate leading in to an enclosure adjoining a cattle byre. This was difficult to access on our ‘recce’ day due to a large pool of water, but should be fine after a dry spell.
Go across the byre’s enclosure to an obvious gate leading out once more onto Access Land. (We didn’t see any cattle here, but if there were, I can’t see any difficulties in giving them a wide berth if required). Then ascend on the obvious grassy path, which unfortunately soon gets very boggy…
The path up the hillside is very easy to follow, although at first there are lengthy stretches of reedy bog that it crosses on the lower slopes. As you get higher, it gets drier and steeper, with lovely views back towards the ford and footbridge, and down to the right into Cwm Diliw.
Approaching the top of the hill, although the gradient eases off, the track becomes vague and ill-defined. Several different quad bike tracks can get you going off in the wrong direction, and it is advisable here to follow the route carefully using the OS App and the GPS arrow. Use vague paths only if they appear to be going approximately in the correct direction; inevitably you will sometimes get into wet or tussocky ground, but it usually doesn’t last for long.
Keep going….and at last you start gradually descending over the other side of the hill, and you will see the road from the Elan Valley ahead of you in the middle distance. You eventually emerge from the Molinia onto cattle-grazed green grass and bracken, at which point you need to start curving round to the right, with little or no path to guide you.
Eventually, you may sense that you are on the faintest ridge of an ancient path, and if all goes well, you will spot the footbridge across the Afon Ystwyth below. Head in a direction a little downstream of the bridge, where there is a good pedestrian gate through the fence, and then cross the river on the bridge.
You now have a choice to make…3.6 km (2 ¼ miles) of walking down the valley on the single-track road back to the start, which is winding, mostly downhill, very scenic, and easy, but with seasonal traffic to contend with (see main pic above). Or, do what we did on the recce and try taking the line of an old miners’ path to the left of the road for the first part, to leave only 2.5 km (1 ½ miles) of road walking to do at the end (see pics below). To do this, go down the road a short distance from the bridge and take the good track going off to the left and rising. Almost immediately take the track branching right, parallel to the road below. The drawback is that much of this route is boggy and hard work, although you can avoid some of that by walking along the grassy extreme edge, mainly on the right of the boggy bits. You will be rewarded for your extra efforts by even better ‘airy’ views than the road choice, with the way climbing high above it, and giving great views of Craig y Lluest in particular. (As mentioned in the introduction, there is another possibility for descending the valley that needs checking out in the near future)
The rudimentary path merges with the road after about 1 km of this type of terrain, and the rest of the way is a scenic roadwalk of about 1.5 miles. Reaching the few houses of Blaenycwm at the foot of Yr Allt, admire the river from the bridge just before arriving back at the starting point on the road.
Thanks to Steve and Robert for assisting with this walk research.
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