HALF-DAY HORSESHOE
1
SJ073295 Head back up the lane for nearly 1km and at the top of a short incline, bear left to cross waymarked stile. Now follow a broad track around the shoulder and into the lower reaches of Cwm Nant y Llyn, where you get your first views of Cadair Berwyn’s south top. Keep right when the track forks close to the stream and follow it up through bracken to a stile that leads out onto the open hillside, with excellent views up the valley.
2
SJ078303 Continue easily up from here, following the path as it dips to cross the stream in the valley floor. Stay with it until the bracken and heather to your right ease slightly, and then turn right, back over the stream, to follow a faint path directly uphill to a broad col on the ridge above. Bear left here and follow a boggy path towards the rocky arête that fronts Cadair Berwyn, deflecting leftwards at the last minute as it starts to steepen. Follow a narrow and exposed path onto the top and bear right to cross a ladder stile to reach the rocky south top of Cadair Berwyn.
3
SJ071323 Continue beyond the rocky crest to a large cairn, and then drop into the next saddle, which retains a small pond, before climbing easily onto the north top, which is crowned by a trig point. Retrace your steps back into the col and back over the south top, to continue over towards Moel Sych with great views down over Llyn Lluncaws. The diminutive summit cairn is crowded in by sheep fences and stiles.
4
SJ066318 Turn sharp left upon reaching the cairn, and follow the fence downhill, keeping it on your left to start with. It soon steepens before crossing a broad saddle and climbing slightly over a 691m spot height. Drop now to stile and continue easily until you meet a broad track, a few metres short of a wall and a gate.
5
SJ073297
Bear left here to drop down a good track into the valley and then follow waymarks around to the right to drop onto another track close to the valley floor. Follow this for a few paces to a fork, by a tall fingerpost, and take the right fork, neither dropping or climbing, through a gate and into a beech wood. Continue through the wood until you reach the viewing area at the foot of Pistyll Rhaeadr. From here, continue back to the car park.