I found a loop for Moel Gyw last year, and decided to use that as a base for the walk yesterday: nearlyuphill.co.uk
Hilary Pullen who owns the website, completed this walk in Jan 2024, and she made precise, careful instructions, so I took photos of the web page to help guide us on the route- over 5miles. I have also paid for Alltrails (after a week's free trial where I did find it helpful on a previous walk), they have the same route but extended to over 8miles. A recent review did note that part of the route was impassable, but once passed, it is worth it. We did puzzle over the impassable comment, but decided to potter off and explore. Not been too wet recently so figured as good a time as any, hopefully only a bit muddy! Pictures above are just as we set off from Pistyll Quarry Car Park, full of excitement to adventure!
The first section was lovely, a few boggy stream areas, but very passable and not too slippy at this time. Wandered past an old farm house and barn, looked like the perfect setting for a horror film, though would also be a very beautiful place to live- definitely haunted though haha! The day was foggy, this seems like a thing for our walks recently, is it just the time of year? Don't recall so much fog in my general life! We did take a slightly wrong turn but realised and found the path again with little issues. Some photos from the website were slightly different but easy enough to figure out where they are showing.
Wandered through to a woodland area, all well signposted at this point, some bramble across the path and a fallen tree or two, but passable. Did see a small stile, with no footpath signs and spotted three piggies enjoying the afternoon (we did check this out later, the stile led nowhere passable). Wandering up the path, we found a kissing gate leading to a field, this seemed to be correct though the photo on the website depicted a stile, so we figured it has just been changed since then. We carried along, across a field with lovely views to our right, foggy but pretty.
Whilst in the woodland, before heading across the field, we came across our first big issue, Flora's retractable lead kept getting stuck as it had frayed in places. Husband, who had been up since 4am, was clearly getting irritated by this, but managing well. Anyway, with this in mind, we got to the next woodland, climbed over two fallen trees- this was not easy! And then realised the path ahead, was, impassable. Short of army crawling under so many trees- even then, I'm not sure you could have crawled under them all- we realised we couldn't get any further. This led to about twenty mins of wandering, moods becoming increasingly negative. We wandered, I forgot to unpause map my walk and alltrails, so that made me cross- why is this a pattern??? Flo's lead got worse and kept snagging, we decided to walk back and see if there was alternative way around. A man who lived nearby, was in his garden, did say we could follow the road around, we started and Flora's lead got jammed for the thousandth time and then stopped working, so I announced we just needed to go back to the car and regroup, before we fell out! Luckily it was a road back to the car so nice and simple, the retractable held Flo safe enough until we got back.
Wandered past another pig, I love pigs!
We got to the car, and spoke to a young lady who had just ran- impressive- the trail we tried to follow, she did say that had we headed up the field to the left, you can just about make it over the barbed wire fence- maybe next time?! And she did say, probably easier without a dog!
Ever resourceful, husband has a long line and short lead in the car, so that crisis was sorted. We were calm now, and both agreed we still wanted to do more. My alltrails and map my walk were incorrect, but we have Tractive for Flora and this said we had done 3.66 miles to that point.
Part two- the walk to find Moel Gyw! Husband found a direct route up Moel Gyw, so we wandered off to the Moel Gyw Car Park- this is not a car park anymore and has signs saying no parking everywhere! There was a layby, so we threw the car in and decided to try again. Left the bag as it appeared it would be a straightforward hike and not too long. Flora was secure with her long line, and we brought her short lead just in case! She was looking very fetching in her new equifleece, we worry she gets cold when she is diving around in all the wet at this time of year!
So, this whole section was 1.75 miles, 525feet in elevation, and took 1 hour 21 minutes in total. It was all uphill from the start, we trekked through a field, with cows in the field next door. Husband and Flora were ahead as always, I need my fresh air breaks frequently with any kind of incline! You are on the Offa's Dyke path here, and it links up with where we couldn't get through so linked back with nearly uphill's instructions at this point. You come to a signpost, and it points straight up to Moel Gyw, so we followed! The fog decided to keep up with us, no one does this walks for views right? We do it to bag the Marilyn!! The incline was continuous, with patches of mud, I did slide a few times, but didn't hit the ground- by chance not skill. Overall, path not too bad though. What views we could see were beautiful, I do feel we may need to come here again.
Those little white dots are sheep!
Once we got to the top, there was a trig, and slightly further along a cairn- the cairn is technically the highest part. Obligatory pictures taken here! We then went back to the car, thoroughly chuffed! It was interesting, normally I find constant uphills soul destroying, but this time, I was knackered but ok. My mind was onside!
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