Hirfynydd and a slog down the Sarn Helen roman road (Marilyn, Banwen, South Wales).

Updated: Oct 3, 2020

Hirfynydd 481m

This was a Marilyn I have been meaning to get around doing for a while so on a sunny spring day I thought I would get it out of the way and stretch the hike out into a big loop to make for a long day’s hike out of it. Again it was a South Wales Marilyn and I did not expect so much of a scenic vista but a good day’s workout.

Parking up in the Dove community centre in Banwen I strode out south keeping to the signposted Sarn Helen trail which runs along an old roman road. Heading out of the village there are a few twists and turns but keep track on your map and stay on the Sarn Helen way going past the opencast workings on your right after a couple of km’s and then onwards and steadily upwards into and out of the forestry. The old roman road was interspersed with deep water every so often but there was always a way round.

After hiking 4km’s with 250m of height gain within the hour I was searching for the summit trig point. It is slightly off the path (south) and quite difficult to find so keep track on your distance and use the features on the map to find it. There is a visible path to it but very indistinct. As a guide there is a dead tree trunk just off the roman road (10m) which you can see and you turn right at that and you will soon get to it. There are no views to speak of at all here or on the way up, just a forest summit along a roman road which was an okay hike. This then was the summit of Hirfynydd!

After this I had decided I would knock off another trig point on the route so continued walking another 5.5km’s south west on the roman road towards Penybegwyn hill. Here the road meets the St Illtyd pathway and nearby was another trig point. All I can say is that this TP is right in the midst of the forest. If you follow my route into it I suggest that you come out the same way. My egress route will not be that amenable to any non swearing christian hikers!

After the TP I headed steadily downhill on the St Illtyd way north west for the 2.5km’s to Crynant where I picked up a back road heading north out of the village until I got to Coed Du farm. You head left (west) around the farm on a bridleway. Just round the corner however I found a 150m stretch of the bridleway to be soft knee deep cow shit…pardon the terminology but I can attest it was knee deep in places! With that said keep higher up the path to the right as you head north.

Keep to the bridleway and your map and you will go come to and go through a forest that eventually brings you to the railway line at Nant Y Cafn. Keep to the bridleway again and stick to the route and after a few kilometres of field hopping you will arrive in Seven Sisters. By now I was running out of time and also did not fancy another cross country tour that I knew would take me through pretty tedious scenery so I cut my losses and followed the A4119 for the remaining 5km’s back to exotic Banwen and the finish.

Parking and access: Great car park, toilets and cafe at the Dove community centre at Banwen. No parking fee.

Route summary: Interesting roman road (lots of water stretches), forest trails/tracks, footpaths and trunk road (footpath). It was a sunny day but despite this I can’t really recommend this route for its scenic splendour. All in all however a 24.2 km route with 590m of height gain done in 5hrs 50mins.

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.’