A shot of adventure: 48 hours walking the Rhinogs

Still one of the lesser-known areas in Eryri National Park (Snowdonia), the Rhinogs located west of the A470 between Talsarnau and Barmouth, is a great destination for a really wild and remote adventure for a weekend. Be warned, there are many pathless sections, a decent amount of ascent and very few places to wild camp especially in bad weather. This route requires competent navigation and a moderate level of fitness.

Heading towards the misty Rhinogs

When a last minute adventure springs to mind, sometimes you have to find the nearest person to you and convince them they will have a great time. Even if they will be sleeping under a tarp on the side of a mountain, hiking in unpredictable weather and a 4 hour drive each way! Adventure buddy in tow, we set off to Barmouth by car, parked up and got the bus to the start of the route in Talsarnau (alternatively you can get a train to Barmouth).

The start of the route took us through rolling lowland as we quickly gained height to 350m. Then came a large, pathless bog section as we navigated around Llyn Eiddew Mawr. A few kilometres on and we passed Llyn Cwm Bychan and started on the ascent to Rhinog Fawr (via the roman steps). If you want a shorter first day you could use Cwm Bychan Campsite and save the climbing for the next morning. Just before the summit of Rhinog Fawr, we reached Llyn Du and found a small spot to set up a bivvy and bed down for the night (in bad weather this wouldn’t have been a fun place to stay as it was quite exposed to wind).

Sunset by Llyn Du

The next morning, we packed up and reached the Summit of Rhinog Fawr not long after breakfast. The weather was glorious which made for easier navigation as we headed for the next summit of Rhinog Fach. This section was mostly pathless and involved moving over very broken ground but worth every moment.

Descent from Rhinog Fawr with the Rhinog Fach in the background

As we headed towards Crib-y-Rhiw ridge heading south off Y Llethr, navigation became simple as we were able to handrail a stone wall and boundary across to the peak of Diffwys. This was our last peak before descending to Barmouth and back to our car by early afternoon. I really enjoyed how wild and remote it felt traversing over Rhinog Fawr and Fach and the views over to the Irish Sea were amazing.

This is a great route for the competent navigator to have a shot of adventure in the Rhinogs and being only 30km long, there is time for travel to and from home in a weekend. If you fancy getting out for a guided wild adventure check out our trips!