Pen y Cerrig Duon

About Pen y Cerrig Duon

Rising above the remote Afon Post valley, this quiet 2,000ft summit offers a classic Berwyn experience. It is a place of thick heather and expansive moorland, sitting on the long ridge between Post Gwyn and the range’s higher peaks. The approach from Llandrillo via the Wayfarer track rewards walkers with solitude and far-reaching views.

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Did You Know?

• •The name translates from Welsh as 'Head of the Black Stones.' It likely refers to the dark, weathered rock fragments found among the peat on the high moorland plateau.
• •The hill sits near the famous 'Wayfarer' pass, an ancient route named after the early 20th-century cycling journalist Walter MacGregor Robinson, who frequently wrote about the beauty of the Berwyns.
• •Looking west from the summit, walkers can pick out the distinctive, bulky silhouette of Arenig Fawr standing across the valley, with the more jagged peaks of Snowdonia visible on the distant horizon.
• •The ridge here is marked by a long boundary fence that serves as an essential navigational aid when the Berwyn clouds drop and the featureless heather slopes begin to look identical.
• •Despite the name's promise of stones, the primary local obstacle is the 'Berwyn step'—the high-knee lift required to progress through the exceptionally deep and springy heather covering the slopes.