dai186
- Apr 4, 2018
- 5 min read

Beautiful day in the Preselis on Mynydd Carningli & Frenni Fawr (nr Crymych & Newport, West Wales).

Updated: Oct 3, 2020

Mynydd Carningli 346m Frenni Fawr 395m

Frenni Fawr 395m

I was looking forward to doing some Marilyns that were not south of the Brecon Beacons for a while so the Presilis was going to be a good choice on a supposedly okay weather day. Here I was going to do Frenni Fawr near Crymych and Mynydd Carningli on the outskirts of Newport, Pembs. Both were around 8-9.5km loops. Nearby too you also have Foel Cwmcerwyn 536m, another Marilyn, which I had done earlier on in the year on a 20+ km hike (see blog/peakbagger entry).

There is a free car park in the centre of the village of Crymych with ample parking and a 10.30 ish morning start saw me heading out from the car park to the main road. I headed north on the A478 for literally a couple of hundred meters before turning right and west along an unclassified road that heads towards the hamlet of Bwlch Y Groes. You go along the road for just over three kilometres and after it starts to drop down you will see a farm track on your right and an obvious footpath with signpost on your left.

Going through a gate you go steady uphill and north west across a field, through another gate and up through another field with the forest just in view on your right. After going through your third gate the trig point is immediately to your front and you are on the summit. It is an nice easy bimble of about four kilometres to here and looking left or west you have nice views of the undulating peaks of the Presilis stretching towards the sea.

You keep heading north west from the TP along the ridge of the common and the views are great. You drop down steadily and after about a km you turn back on yourself heading south east along an obvious fence line. Keep heading SE and you will come to a gate. Cross this field diagonally* and head for the other gate and after a few more fields you are back out on the road you came in on. You simply follow this road back to your start point. All in all this was a lovely first hike of the day with great views and dry weather, now for the next one in Newport!

*Ignore my gps ‘blip’ here. I had to go to the toilet behind a tractor in the field.

Parking and Access: Ample free car parking in the middle of the village. No toilets there but there are a couple of cafes in the village.

Route Summary: Unfortunately about five km’s on the road but the other 4.5 are good footpaths either across fields or common moorland. A total of 9.5km’s with 281m of height gain done in 1hr 45mins.

Mynydd Carningli 346m

I was looking forward to doing some Marilyns that were not south of the Brecon Beacons for a while so the Presilis was going to be a good choice on a supposedly okay weather day. Here I was going to do Frenni Fawr near Crymych and Mynydd Carningli on the outskirts of Newport, Pembs. Both were around 8-9.5km loops. Nearby too you have Foel Cwmcerwyn 536m, another Marilyn, which I had done earlier on in the year on a 20+ km hike.

Mynydd Carningli is just inland from the beautiful seaside town of Newport with its beautiful coastline. I had been looking forward to doing this hike for quite a while as I know the area very well.

On the way into Newport from Cardigan on the A487 and immediately before entering the town you will find an ample road side lay-by car park on the left hand side. It is quite strange as it is a lay-by with parking bays. This is a busy town so summer weekends parking could be difficult.

Setting off from the car park around 1pm I headed into town for no more than 100m and turned first left uphill or south. You go uphill for three hundred meters or so and turn right, go on a few more hundred meters and turn left and go on another few hundred meters and turn left again, all on tarmac so far. You are now on a rough path and you walk around the back fo a small house and shortly after you turn right up a wide footpath /bridleway that leads you onto the hill. Shortly after you go through a wide gate and you are on the common. It is 1.5km’s to here.

Once on the common the rocky twin peaks of Carningli lays before you about a km away and the uphill path is steady and well trodden. The scenery in front and behind is stunning. Newport village is behind with Dinas Head a short distance away and ahead of you are the beautiful undulating peaks of the Preselis. This was not the best of weather days but it was dry and clear.

Onwards and upwards I went following the path directly south and onto the rocky spires of Carningli and the summit after a cumulative 3km. This is a great summit with a couple of rocky spires and a natural lunch spot in between. it was also nice to have some easy scrambling to do. Here I had a good lunch stop, chewed the fat with some fine visitors from England and just soaked in the stunning vistas that stretched in all directions. The views of the coast and the Preselis are simply wonderful.

After lunch I headed off west to the cairn at Carningli common and then headed north west downhill heading for a distant iron age settlement. There are some pronounced rock formations on the way down and the views are great. Eventually after about 2.5k’s you come to the settlement, a large thick circle of stones and then you head due north, hitting a wide path that goes west or left hitting the unclassified road that you follow into the western outskirts of Newport town. Hitting the town I walked off the main road along the back roads to get me back to the start.

This was a stunning hike and it is well worth the effort to get here. You have a stunning sea side town, a craggy twin peaked summit, beautiful views, easy scrambling and a route that is not that long. A superb little outing in West Wales.

Parking and access: Ample lay-by parking on the outskirts of town. More parking in the town but it is a busy little place.

Route Summary: Tarmac roads and well trodden mountain trails in the main. Some scrambling (if you want it) on the summit. An 8km route with 362m of heigh gain done in an ambling two hours. A superb finally to the day (2nd hike).

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