Great Orme, Holyhead Mountain, Mynydd Bodafon and Pen Y Garn (North and Mid Wales)

Updated: Oct 3, 2020

A tour of North Wales and Anglesey to do the Great Orme, Holyhead Mountain, Mynydd Bodafon and Pen Y Garn.

Well this was a nice social trip to North Wales to see some old friends so it would have been rude not to tick off some hills during a brief sojourn to this fantastic part of the world.

Great Orme 207m, Llandudno, North Wales (Marilyn).

Well the Great Orme is the first Marilyn I have done that is within the confines of a big town really. There are a myriad of ways up this lump of rock and the likelihood is that you won't get lost as you are following this gps route. Even if you do then it won’t be for long and you are unlikely to die of starvation or hyperthermia either. Find it hike it and enjoy it. The paths are easy to find, the views superb and you might find a cafe at one point that is open. Walked it without taking anything with me on a clear cool winter day, not even a drink but only do this if you are in good shape and don't have some sort of genetic mutation that stops you from keeping to a reasonable 4k an hour pace.

Parking and access: Plenty of parking in Llandudno town and all within easy walking distance of the Orme.

Route Summary: A mix of maintained trails, single track roads and high common paths with great views all the way up. Plenty of options to add a few kilometres to your route by walking around the common on the top. A 6.65km hike in 1hr 28min with 258m of height gain.

Holyhead Mountain 220m, Anglesey (Marilyn).

This is a great little peak and the furthest north in Wales. From the Country Club car park walk along a distinct trail north (500m) and then west (1km), this is the welsh coast path route. Along here somewhere you will see a small stone built building that was apparently used to keep explosives for the nearby quarry. Keep going past this building and then you will turn South and after about another km you turn inland SE on a separate trail heading uphill over a false summit to the obvious trig point that you can see about 500m ahead of you. Here is the obvious trig point along with a foundation remains of a roman tower. From the summit there is a myriad of trails off there, some are not marked on the map. We headed East and down for a km until we hit an obvious road that took us back to the car park.

Parking and access: Get to Holyhead over the causeway and find the Breakwater Country Park, which funny enough is past the apparently 2km long breakwater to Holyhead port. Parking here is £2 and there is a cafe and toilets.

Route Summary: We hiked on yet another Welsh drizzly weather day otherwise this would have been a nice hike with fine views. Good paths and trails, plenty of options to add a bit of distance on to your route. In total 4km. 1hr 30m (yes yes we took our time and were dodging about 150 ultra athletes in tight crotch hugging tights!) with 242m of height gain.

Mynydd Bodafon 178m, Anglesey (Marilyn).

Basically find it and hike it any which way you want. It is so easy...'but' really worthwhile. I loved the area. It is such a cute place....a lumpy moonscape environment with its own little community, cute cottages, lake, bench seat and fine views. The summit path to the trig point is easy and takes ten minutes.

Parking and access: We parked in a lay-by near the start which was on an access road to some houses. Be careful as there is a lot of private land in the area.

Route Summary: We had a map and no defined route. We made it up as we went along. A bit of tarmac, tussock grass and some paths. A hike of 3.5km in a pulsatingly fast pace of 1hr 7min with a monstrous 107m of ascent.

Pen Y Garn 610m, Cambrian Mountains, Mid Wales (Nuttall).

This walk is near Devils Bridge falls not far from Aberystwyth in the valley of Cwmystwyth. The hike is basically following the forest trails as outlined by this route for around 5kms north east until you hit the wind farm. Check your map to make sure you don't take the wrong trail but basically keep heading NE. You will then get to the first windmill and turn right (south) right behind it onto the wide track that leads up to it and then carry on past the 2nd windmill. Keep on this track for about one km and you will see what appears to be a cairn on top of the hill on your right. There is a dilapidated style leading up through a rough field, you go over a 2nd style and then you are at the trig point (beside the cairn). I say cairn but in essence it is really a very robust roofless shelter.

After the trig point you can either go back down to the track and follow it south or follow the track that abuts the trig point (not marked on the map) which heads in the same direction and eventually meets up with the lower track about a km further on at a junction...here I had a good look round and decided to go on the track that heads north (it turns south after a few hundred meters) and I then had a bit of downhill run for about 2k until I hit the forest and then ran through the forest for another 2k until I hit the road. I then turned right and walked the remaining 1.5km on the road. You can turn off through the forest to stay off the road but the choice is yours.

Parking and access: After taking a bit of a detour to get here I was a bit perturbed to see an erected sign by the forestry commission that stated the car park and trails were closed. To cut a long story short I decided to ignore them. Even though the car park is actually fenced off you are able to park your car in a nearby small lay-by (50 metres away) and on the forestry road itself but both of these might not be available in the week. I don't know how long the work is going on in the forest but on the weekend (this was a Sunday) there was nothing on the trail to impede any walkers.

Route Summary: Not the prettiest of hikes up through the forest but the down route is okay and quite scenic. Not the best Nuttall out there but it did me for a good workout as I picked up the pace a bit. All in all 11.5km. 1hr 52min. 365m height gain.

GPX files: For gpx files go to the Peakbagger website by following these links and go to the bottom right hand of the page and click ‘Download this GPS track as a GPX file.’