'The peninsula's high point and it's little sisters'
Date: 7 July 2012 Start time: 10:35
Start point: Car park off lane north of Llithfaen - SH353440
Walkers: Mark Illingworth, Emma Lever
Distance: 7.64miles Time: 5:18:20
Route: Turn R out of car park onto road for a short way then take clear bridleway L for roughly 1/2 mile until you reach apparent highest point of track at cross roads of paths. Take bridleway L, staying R on main track past huts L, round to concrete steps. Take steps to mast. First go R to head around heathery plateau, then back to mast and past steps to clearing. Here, take path L of fence up rocky slightly exposed faint path as it climbs and winds N-NE to summit cairn. Follow route back to steps and to path cross roads. Take obvious path up Yr Eifl. Path disappears when you reach rock scree, so just make a way up through scree and towards clear summit cairn. Walk around minor summit viewpoints to W/SW of cairns, then take faint path as it descends and heads E as you drop down to reach and cross wall L. Follow this faint path to Tre'r Ceiri W entrance. Explore fort and circle huts and follow path to NE cairn then drop down SW in direction of Llithfaen. Leave fort and follow through wall. At second wall/gate take fainter path R and head in direction of distant wall, staying R until path R at fork starts to raise up hill NW. At this fork take L path W. Over brow, you'll see the car park. Follow paths to car park, but before getting back in your car head into the plantation wood. Make way NW through trees to fence on edge of wood and go through access land. Continue NW to 'settlement' on OS map. At settlement, head E through woods then take marked route S from picnic area back to car park.
Weather: Mostly clear and sunny, no rain and no low cloud. Quite warm but still with slight chill following cold wet weather of previous day. Visibility was very good - you could literally see length and breadth of the peninsula. The bulky masses of Snowdonia (covered in cloud) to the east, Mynydd Mawr and Mynydd Anelog to the west, and all the peninsula in between, including Criccieth Castle.
Under foot was largely dry, but wettest on the way up Yr Eifl and quite boggy in parts descending from Tre'r Ceiri.
Notes: The most notable thing from this walk was the way man has affected the landscape around us and how this can enhance as well as damage the views and our experience of the natural environment. The most modern was the biggest eyesore - a mast on Yr Eifl's minor peak. Other than this, everything else man made was an enhancement, from the Iron Age hill fort dating back possibly over two thousand years in its oldest parts, to the new looking Yr Eifl summit adournment (a figure 4 with letters A and H coming off it). The surrounding areas to the west and east of the smaller northern summit are heavily quarried, I understand this was for their granite. The west quarry looks old as has been closed for years and grassed over with derelict ruins scattering the site. The east quarry looks more recent and possibly still in use. Trefor pier is another man made site that can be seen. The Tre'r Ceiri hill fort needs more discussion - supposedly it's one of the best preserved hill forts of it's time and age in Europe. Most finds at the site relate to the Roman period in the first few centuries AD, but some dating has suggested occupation as early as 100BC. The ramparts are clear and a large number of circle hut foundations / remains exist. It really is a well preserved site and something that I would say is a must see for visitors for the area.
People is the second thing to note - there weren't that many of them given this is the highest point on the peninsula, it was a clear day here but not in Snowdonia, you could see Cardigan Bay and Caernarfon Bay and all between the two. However, the ones we did see were noteworthy. A very nice couple staying on the west of the peninsula had been looking up to Yr Eifl for a week waiting for a clear day. They took a picture of us and discussed the wonder of seeing such a well preserved ancient site. We also saw a site nearer the coast at the end of the walk which didn't benefit from the same conservation program of Tre'r Ceiri, that was also quite well preserved considering this lack conservation.
Emma fell over in the heather, which was funny, especially as she wasn't hurt. There was a lot of heather on the flanks of Yr Eifl.
Oh, and the Swiss or German or some kind of European couple were too amusing to miss out. Firstly, I think they got lost looking for Tre'r Ceiri as they started shouting at us from a distant rise that wasn't Tre'r Ceirir. Secondly, there were ill-equipped fpr the boggy conditions as she had some slip-ons and he had some moccasins on their feet - clearly they hadn't seen the rain the day before. Thirdly, we weren't sure they made it to the fort as they stopped at a sodden gateway below the fort and the female wasn't impressed from what we could gather.
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