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Dduallt

Dduallt is a favourite of mine – one of the jewels of the Welsh hills.

My first awareness of Dduallt came while walking the Arans. I was struck, one brisk sunlit morning, by a huge triangle of naked rock across the valley which I later discovered to be the E face of Dduallt. My excitement was all the greater as this was terra incognita; who ever tramped the wilderness S of Arenig Fawr? Later I also came to recognise Dduallt's distinctive thrust from the Arenigs; a perfect foil to Rhobell Fawr's curvaceous top. When I eventually climbed Dduallt I was not disappointed. The precipitous E face (not unlike Pavey Ark in Lakeland) which truly earns Dduallt its title of Black Height when in shadow, is balanced by gentler W slopes just as the N ridge balances the equally attractive S ridge.

The summit is an airy perch of heather and bilberries, miniature rocky outcrops and playful pools (one close by the cairn, a cluster a short way down-slope SE). To gild the lily, just below the beautifully sculptured cairn, a cleft in the rocks provides the perfect shelter from the wind.

It is easy to list the peaks on display – Snowdonia, the Arenigs, Hirnants, Berwyns, Arans, Cader Idris, Rhinogs – but that is only the hors d'oeuvre. The majesty of the scene owes at least as much to the virgin wilderness, where works of man are subservient to Nature's creation; to the blend of rustic vales with rounded hills and the multi-coloured patchwork of marsh and heather, forest and rock.

Allt-lwyd route (AG22)

Cwm yr Allt-lwyd deserves to be better known; it offers both the easiest line of approach to Dduallt and a base for a superb round also taking in Rhobell Fawr.

Cwm yr Alltlwyd has a strangely forbidding air. Maybe it is the bleak treeless slopes; treeless, that is, apart from the man-made forest higher up the vale. Perhaps it is the absence of human settlement; for there are more ruins than inhabited dwellings.

Park by the bridge at 788293 and follow the stony track along the S bank of the river before crossing to the derelict homestead of Allt-lwyd. Next follow a gritty track that climbs steeply out of the valley, weaving over bleak moors to a ford at 810293 whence the foot of the N ridge is but a short step away.

Looking east from Allt-lwyd to Cerrig Chwibanog and Craig y Llestri

Despite the difference in scale, the walk assumes a character reminiscent of Tryfan. Grass yields to sprightly thickets of heather and bilberry that cloak emergent terraces of rock. Rhobell Fawr beckons temptingly W, with Rhobell y Big in the foreground hoisting a perfect cone. To the N Arenig Fach rises slowly in the arc spanning Arenig Fawr and Moel Llyfnant. When the slope eases cross the fence and walk along the cliffs, above a dizzy drop L, to gain the summit of one of the finest tops in Wales.

Buarthmeini route (AG23)

The falls upstream from the footbridge are a grand sight when in full spate.

Park W of the farm at 827325, where the road bridges a tiny stream. Cross a field to the footbridge over the Lliw at 827325. Over the bridge a faint path, little more than a sheep track, wends W or slightly S of W, with the Afon Lliw keeping you company R and the shattered crags of Clogwyn Careg-yr-hollt L. Across the valley Arenig Fawr is completely overshadowed, for once, by the brooding dome of Moel Llyfnant.

After about 1 mile a deepish gully looms ahead with a break in the crags L (813322). This is your signal to desert the valley and to scramble up to the flat marshy ‘badlands’ that guard Dduallt's N and E approaches. Once aloft, bear R for drier ground along the shallow ridge of Mynydd Brynllech that bounds the depression W.

Looking north from Dduallt's east flank to Moel y Llyfnant and Arenig Fawr

Looking west from Cerrig Chwibanog to Rhobel y Big and the distant Rhinogs

The scenery is the very archetype of wild Wales: Arenigs N, Rhinogs W, Arans E, Cader Idris S. No hint of civilisation intrudes as the gaze leaps to the far blue haze. Nothing disturbs the fantasy of hills and heath, bog and woodland that overwhelms as much by its spaciousness as its calm beauty. Keep S along the ridge. You should meet the banks of the Mawddach, near the ford at 810293, to finish on AG22.

Cerrig Chwibanog route (AG24)

A magnificent day awaits anyone coupling this descent with the previous climb up (AG23).

Navigation needs watching here and there are a few wet patches, but nothing to deter an ardent fellwalker with a keen eye. The key is to plan your descent while resting by the cairn on Dduallt. Take a bearing of 15 or 20° and try to spot the whitish rock-strewn slopes of Cerrig Chwibanog from among the shallow line of hills hiding the Lliw Valley. Just in front you will notice a slight depression. This is the next objective and on a clear day you may even glimpse the woods to which it leads. In between lies 1 mile spattered by emerald marsh and you need to plan your route using odd gates, fences and islands of dry ground as landmarks.

Dduallt and Rhobell Fawr from Cerrig Chwibanog in the east (AG24)

Near Cerrig Chwibanog the bog relents and a track appears in the depression. This passes through a gate and descends steeply through the forest, joining a farm road at 843313 by another gate and a giant boulder. Walkers based on Buarthmeini, having started on AG23, should bear L for the farm at Craig y-tan. A path, exiguous in places, continues up this sylvan vale to a bridge at 831323 and then Buarthmeini (AG23,1), a beautiful ending to a memorable day! For Dolhendre turn R to regain the bridge at 853308 in an easy 10min with Castell Carndochan casting an aura of mystery and romance to the very end.

Craig y Llestri route (AG25)

A rough, ‘sporting’ walk.

The route starts along the SW fork of the crossroads at 853308, S of the bridge at Dolhendre. Where the road swings L (almost at once), carry straight on through a gate and progress along a grassy lane to a spoil heap at 848306. The lane continues through a rusty old gate but you must leave it here and bear R on a green track through a gap in the wall that parallels the slopes of Castell Carndochan. Stay with the wall as the crags of Craig y Llestri rear ahead, then cross the Afon Fwy (you may have to head upstream to a bridge when it is in full spate) to climb one of several bracken-clad breaches in the crags. As you top the crest the great wedge of Dduallt appears in all its dark, brooding splendour.

A shallow ridge falls away from Craig y Llestri before rising again to spot height 493m (820281). This is the next objective. At the time of writing the intervening ground is newly afforested but there are plenty of firebreaks and, whatever their demerits, at least they are relatively dry and certainly preferable to the quagmire around Nant y Fign. As you approach Dduallt trend N to a grassy rake for an easy pull up to N ridge and AG22.

S ridge (AG26)

Park well down the valley as there is scant space higher up.

The entrée to this route is the mountain road that leaves the A494 at 798217. It winds through foothills to what used to be the old stone cottage of Ty-newydd-y-mynydd (recently demolished).

Just short of the cottage site is a firebreak where old forestry plantations give way to new. Continue along the road for another 0.25 mile until, at the top of a small rise, by a stone gatepost and a fire station, there is a further firebreak where the new plantation ends and the old is resumed. Turn R here and walk through the firebreak until you meet a fence bounding the forest at its far end (804259). Turn L along the fence and walk down and up two depressions until, at a little knoll following the second, the forest boundary leaves you L and the S ridge comes into view half-L (806259). Stay with the fence to another gate but then strike out direct for the ridge.

It is trackless, marshy and tussocky at first, but the going soon improves as height is gained in a series of rocky steps. Higher up a fence comes in R, with a faint track which leads to the cairn. Avoid the temptation to stay with this too long in descent as it would eventually land you in difficult boggy country well to the SE. On the other hand (AG26,1) you might well decide to cross the forest using the more S of the two firebreaks mentioned earlier. You would then be ideally placed, at 799257, for an ascent of Rhobell Fawr on AG27.