Cambrian Mountains & Mid Wales

The Cambrian Mountains occupy the quiet centre of Wales, where rounded summits, open moorland and reservoir valleys stretch between Eryri and Bannau Brycheiniog. The hills are rarely technically difficult, but long approaches, wet ground and limited paths make them far more serious than their heights suggest.

Pumlumon Fawr is the region’s highest point and the source of the River Severn. The Wye and Rheidol also begin on the wider massif, sending water towards three different coasts. Its neighbouring summits provide spacious ridge walks above a landscape of blanket bog, forestry and remote valleys.

Farther south, the Elan Valley combines Victorian engineering with wild upland walking. Reservoirs fill deep valleys beneath broad, frequently pathless hills such as Drygarn Fawr, whose two distinctive beehive cairns rise above one of the least populated parts of Wales. Eastward, Radnor Forest offers steeper, more defined summits including Great Rhos, Black Mixen and the shapely Whimble.

This is not a region of dramatic pinnacles or crowded summit paths. Its appeal lies in distance, silence and the freedom to cross high ground without meeting many people. Navigation matters, particularly when cloud removes the few available landmarks. So do waterproof boots: Mid Wales has never been overly troubled by drought.