Wales: Tarren Hills, Snowdonia

Distance: 18½km/11½ miles
Time: 6hrs
Type: Hill
Where: Ridge-top walk over the Tarren Hills, southern Snowdonia.
Start: Pennal (SH699004)
End: Aberdovey/Aberdyfi (SN614959).
Terrain: High, grassy moorland hills. After an initial climb, an easy ridge-top route with long, gradual descent, followed by one further ascent before final descent to finish. Not recommended in mist.
Maps: OS Explorer OL23; Landranger 135.

Situated in the southernmost part of the Snowdonia National Park are the lovely, little-walked Tarren Hills which run down to the sea at Aberdovey. Separated from Cader Idris by the Dysynni Valley and Tal-y-llyn, and from Plynlimon by the Dovey, this compact range of hills provides some excellent crowd-free walking – notably along the fine ridge that extends for several miles in a southwest direction from the Tarrens’ highest point, Tarren y Gesail (667m/2188ft). This exhilarating, linear route keeps to the open slopes, with an ascent of Tarrenhendre from the south to start, then along the ridge back to Aberdovey. On a fine day, the extensive views are superb. For a step-by-step guide, download walk’s Routemaster as a PDF.

Click here to download a pdf route card
Click here to download the GPS data for this route as an Anquet file
Click here to download the GPS data for this route as a GPX file