Wales – Mawddach Estuary, Gwynedd

Distance: 15½km/9½ miles
Time: 5-6hrs
Type: Coastal, mountain and valley
Where: Linear walk from Barmouth to Taicynhaeaf.
Start/End: Barmouth railway station (SH612158).
Terrain: Open mountain, woodland and the occasional surfaced road. Some parts can become boggy and stones on woodland paths slippery if it’s been raining.
Maps: OS Explorer 18 & 23; Landranger 124.

The boundaries of this varied walk are formed by the orerich Rhinogydd hills on the northern side of its estuary, above the Victorian seaside resort of Barmouth, and the river Mawddach to the south, with Cadair Idris (2,930ft/893m) rising beyond it. The highest point of the walk is reached within 4km/2½ miles of the start, at Bwlch y Llan (Church Pass), then follows a gentle sloping descent to the valley floor, along the ‘carriage roads’ that once linked Barmouth, Dolgellau and Harlech. An industrial history is inscribed in the very landscape at many points along the way: fencedoff gold mines, spent veins of manganese and quartz deposits; stones underfoot have been worn smooth by the passage of mine wagons and the feet of the faithful, trekking to church. The mansions of wealthy industrialists are visible in the woods on the south estuary, looking down on disused railway lines and mossed-over slate quarries. Sheep and cattle still graze the hills, however, and agriculture’s victory over other short-lived industries is spelled out in the matrix of drystone walls, so integral a part of rural North Wales.

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