Pumlumon Fawr trail head at Eisteddfa Gurig.
Fork right a little above farm buildings.
| Pumlumon Fawr from
Eisteddfa Gurig Pumlumon Fawr |
| Estimated net time | 1½-2 hours | ||
| Difficulty | No difficulties. | ||
| Drinking water | Several streams along the path in the lower section, but water quality is questionable (sheep). | ||
| GSM coverage | Coverage from a little above trail head (December 2013). | ||
| Parking | Room for many cars at trail head car park (GBP 5 per day, per 2013). | ||
| Start height | 415 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 340 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 7.1 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
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| Route photo |
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From the junction between road A44 and A470 in Western Wales, south west of Llanidloes, drive A44 13.0 km (8.2 mi) west in the direction of Aberystwyth. Park on the car park on the right hand side of the road at the highest point of the road, when you see the sign for "Eisteddfa Gurig". Note that there's a parking fee of GBP 5 per day (per 2013).
Start your hike by walking up to the farm and turn right amongst the farm buildings. Make sure you fork right (straight ahead) after a few tens of metres (there's a sign saying "all walks"), and then through the gate. Follow the road left after the gate and then right after another 200 metres. Follow this road 1.8 km north, into the valley, and fork left onto a path. Follow this path all the way to the summit, which is marked by a concrete cairn.
Descend by reversing your ascent route.
I was due for another week of work in our Warwick offices the following week, and had flown to Birmingham on Friday night. I landed at Birmingham airport late because of the storm causing delays both in Ålesund and Amsterdam, and arrived my pre-booked hotel in Newtown (Castle & Elephant Hotel) a little after 1 am. This was 90 minutes later than closing time for the reception, but I had warned them I might be late, and the lady in the reception was very kind to wait for me. And I also had excellent service for breakfast when I asked to get cereals well before breakfast start time.
My first hike this Saturday was planned to be Pumlumon Fawr, my 37th of Wales' 50 most prominent mountains. This turned out to be an easier hike than anticipated, and despite rain, wind and mist it felt quite good, and it was my first physical exercise after the calf cramp during football on Tuesday night.
Before my hike I had rang the door bell of one of the houses around the car park, in order to pay the parking fee of £5 (aka robbery), but none opened the door. When I came back down to the car there was an older man walking around on the car park, but I decided to ignore him since I sincerely didn't fancy being robbed, but he eventually came across and started to chat, and after a little while he got to what I assumed was his main point; "have you paid for parking yet?" (stupid question, he knew damned well none had paid so far today). I told him I had rang the door bell twice, but it turned out I had rung the the door bell of the wrong house. I duly gave him the money, and was happy to see him head back indoors so I could change into dry clothes before my drive north-west towards Ffridd Cocyn.