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North Wales Berwyn Hills and Arenigs

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Fellsnude
(@fellsnude)
Posts: 348
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Topic starter
 

We're going camping tomorrow for a week, near the River Dee, Corwen area. It's a small textile site but the Berwyn Hills look very promising for some naked rambles, also the Arenigs. Both are less known and look much less frequented than Snowdonia so I'm hoping for some good weather, as currently forecast. Might also make it to Morfa Dyffryn for the first time.

I'll post experiences in 10 days or so. The campsite looks like it has no mobile signal or wi-fi so we'll be incommunicado except when we're on the hills.

Does anyone here have experience on these hills? They look similar to some of the less-visited Lake District fells so I'm fairly confident that with our trusty 1:25,000 OS maps we won't get lost! I've also copied some walks from the web, but there aren't that many published.

 
Posted : June 9, 2021 9:56 am
Davie
(@nakeddavie)
Posts: 1398
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I've done lots of walking in the Berwyns. Four good access points:

Llangollen for the northern part (Pubs and other facilities)

Pistylll Rhaedr in the east (Tea rooms there, may be open now)

Llangynog in the south (Pub)

There's a small road off the Corwen/Llandrillo Road with a parking space near Melin y Glyn at NGR SJ 04597 38202  (Nothing here except a triangle of land good for parking. See google maps and street view at 52° 55' 58" : 3° 25' 14" 

There are other entry points of course including:

A 10 mile horseshoe walk from a very limited parking spot at  SJ 11869 30631 north of Llanrhaeadr ym Mochnant  See google amps and street view at 52° 51' 57" : 3° 18' 38" 

This is serious country and you need to have the right gear and experience. I've walked naked there many times

Enjoy

Davie  🙂 

 
Posted : June 9, 2021 9:09 pm
Fellsnude
(@fellsnude)
Posts: 348
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@nakeddavie  - thanks, Davie - knowing your posts I guess you've mostly been nude up there? We've done (mostly clothed) all bar about 20 of the 214 Wainwrights in Cumbria so are pretty confident of our upland skills and gear. We always keep a close eye on the weather too - really not into walking in the clouds! Now, who said "bring me sunshine"?

 
Posted : June 9, 2021 9:43 pm
@@@@@@@
(@iain)
Posts: 899
Prominent Member
 

@fellsnude I love walking through the clouds, wrapped in grey. This area sounds wonderful, I shall investigate further. I shall be helping to take a bunch of newbie textiles up to the Meikle Pap and Lochnagar this Saturday for charity.

 
Posted : June 10, 2021 1:37 pm
Fellsnude reacted
Fellsnude
(@fellsnude)
Posts: 348
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Topic starter
 

Thoroughly recommend this little-known area. In the week I had three nude-worthy days, one on Morfa Dyffryn beach and the other two hill-walking. We stayed at a small (textile) campsite in Cynwyd in the Dee valley. Sadly the site may close when the owners sell to retire soon but there are plenty of sites in the area.

Walk 1 - bus to Carrog on the A5 - walk on public footpath marked, but which didn't actually exist for part of its length so diverted onto landrover tracks and had to climb a couple of barb-topped fences - up to Moel Fferna, then on the North Berwyn Way back to Cynwyd for a BBQ at the village pub where they were celebrating Wales getting a draw in the Euros. Didn't see a soul once we were a mile out of Carrog until nearly back to Cynwyd so mostly nude for me, not quite warm enough for Mrs F.

Walk 2 - Circular walk of the Berwyn from Llandrillo. Again saw nobody close up (only about 7 in the distance) all day until we were nearly back to Llandrillo, and it was warm so I was nude most of the way, about 5.5 hours. Most of the fairly few people who walk the ridge of Cadair Bronwen, Cadair Berwyn and Moel Such start from the other (steeper) side near the Pistyll Rhaeadr waterfall, so the gentler but longer Llandrillo side would be ideal for a first nude hike if you're nervous, as long as you can use an OS map.

We did two other walks in weather that @hillwalker would happily have done nude but I wouldn't. Arenig Fawr (2801ft) near Bala - a few people about but you could usually avoid close encounters except maybe at the top, and some lower hills that form a horseshoe ridge around Foel Goch (c2000ft) also near Bala. There are plenty of others I'm sure you could do nude and hardly meet anyone. Most people seem to head straight for Snowdon.

 

 
Posted : June 22, 2021 5:00 pm
tribalbrit reacted
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(@iain)
Posts: 899
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Thanks for those routes, it is an area I will explore. The tip about the use of OS maps is a must. GPS does make life easy but you need to have a plan as to how to get to safety when your battery fails and mists come in or worse.

I did a winter survival course once and took a tumble off a Munro. At least it showed that the skills worked.

 
Posted : June 27, 2021 8:57 am