A family walk up Yr Eifl, Llŷn Peninsula, Gwynedd

I’d never heard of Yr Eifl before our recent holiday to Anglesey. It was only as I stood on Newborough Beach looking over to the hills on the Llyn Peninsula that I knew I had to visit.

A couple of days later I discovered the range of hills that comprise the three summits of Yr Eifl make a great half day walk. We only climbed two of them, missing out Garnfor (Mynydd Gwaith). I’d been put off by its granite quarry and telecoms tower; of course I regretted this decision part way through the walk.

Yr Eifl

Our walk started from the car park on the road leading to the Welsh Language Centre at Nant Gwrtheyrn.

The track, initially alongside moorland, to the summit of Yr Eifl was obvious. This was fortunate as I’d taken a cavalier approach to route finding and hadn’t bought a map with me; not something I’d recommend. In my defence the day was clear, the walk straightforward and I had a screenshot of the route on my phone.

At 564m Yr Eifl is the highest of the three hills; technically a few metres short of a mountain. That said, it became progressively rockier as we climbed and that’s always a mountain sign for me.

The best thing about Yr Eifl? The solitude. We’d driven through Snowdonia a couple of days previously and it was incredibly busy. Drive a few miles south and you’re alone again.

In fact, we only met four other people on our walk. The first two were descending Yr Eifl. They’d set out to climb Tre’r Ceiri but somehow ended up on Garnfor instead. Not sure how but I’d guess they were also without a map!

We had no problems finding our summit. It’s hard to miss the trig point when there’s a large metal number four on top of it. Google doesn’t have an explanation for this but I found a comment suggesting it was a local blacksmith declaring his love for his partner (H 4 A). A sweet story; I wonder if it’s true?

Aside from the trig point there’s plenty to see with Cardigan Bay to the south, Caernarfon Bay to the north and the mountains of Snowdonia just a hop, skip and jump away.

We descended off the summit in a westerly direction, picking our way across the rocks. The path wasn’t always clear but fortunately our next hill, Tre’r Ceiri, was easy to see.

Tre’r Ceiri

Tre’r Ceiri is one of the best preserved Iron Age hill forts in Britain. An impressive feat given its exposed location. The fort is surrounded by stone ramparts, inside are the ruins of around 150 houses. At its peak, during the Roman occupation, up to 400 people lived here.

There are, evidently, information boards. I looked in vain for them. How did we manage to miss them?

We ate our lunch perched on the edge of one of the hut circles. Thousands of people had probably sat there before us. Indeed, one of them had left a banana skin. My pet hate.

After lunch, and with added banana skin, we explored the fort before heading back downhill. There was an assortment of paths criss-crossing the heather but with good visibility it was easy to follow one heading in approximately the right direction.

Nant Gwrtheyrn

Back at the car park my eyes alighted on the sign advertising a cafe at the Welsh Language Centre. Only a few minutes away.

A word of warning. Unless you are in dire need of more exercise do not walk from the car park. It’s a steep downhill trek so you know what that means!

Sensibly, we drove and after cake and coffee found some extra energy to walk to the beach. A fine beach with lots of stone skimming opportunities. Followed by a drive in second gear up an incredibly steep road!