Great Creigiau

Tucked within the sprawling Radnor Forest, this broad, peat-topped dome offers a sense of true isolation. Part of a high-altitude plateau, the summit provides a stark perspective of the neighbouring Black Mixen’s masts. The terrain is often damp and trackless, rewarding those who enjoy the quiet, heather-clad wildness of mid-Wales.

• •The name derives from the Welsh 'creigiau', meaning rocks, referring to the gritstone outcrops and broken edges that emerge from the heather on its slopes.
• •The hill is often climbed as part of a high-level loop from the Harley Valley, typically paired with its taller neighbour Black Mixen and the nearby Bach Hill.
• •To the south, the summit offers an earned view across the Wye Valley towards the dark, long-backed ridges of the Black Mountains.
• •Historically, this area formed part of the Royal Forest of Radnor, a medieval hunting ground that remained largely treeless until the 20th-century plantations were established.
• •The 'Great' in the name might feel like a slight overstatement until you attempt to cross the sodden peat hags that guard the summit plateau in midwinter.