This beautiful walk up Foel Lwyd in North Wales starts at the car park at the top end of the stunning Nant y Coed nature reserve. It’s a great short walk with beautiful sea and mountain views. It starts and finishes by one of the prettiest streams I’ve found in North Wales.
On this walk you will almost definitely see some lovely Carneddau ponies, they roam completely free in this area.
How high is Foel Lwyd?
Foel Lwyd is 1978ft / 603 metres – it’s not that big so it’s a great walk to do if you want mountain views but don’t have masses of time.
Where do I park to walk up Foel Lwyd?
Set your satnav for the Nant y Coed Nature resevere, valley road. There is a great little car park that will hold 6-8 cars here Foel Lwyd Car Park
How long does this route up Foel Lwyd take
This route up Foel Lwyd takes less than 3 hours there and back at a standard pace. It’s a fairly easy walk but the ground is very boggy and the path isn’t always clear.
Is the path up to Foel Lwyd easy to follow?
It’s easy at the start and then it gets a little bit meandering. If you have good visibility you’ll be fine. There are some slate posts with arrows on to help guide you. However, it’s quite easy to lose the path because it’s not a really well worn route. I would suggest using OS Maps or bringing a paper map along with you to help tick off milestones along the route. There are lots of prickly gorse bushes and very boggy ground… if you go a little wrong you’ll be picking between the two so navigate carefully.
The Route Up Foel Lwyd from Llanfairfechan
Starting at the Nant Y Coed car park head out and turn left, through a metal swing gate and into a field with the stream to your left. There will most likely be sheep so keep your dog on the lead.
Keep walking up a path and over a small stream until you see the first of a number of slate posts marking the way.
Head through a sheep field gaining some height until you reach another metal gate. The path becomes quite sketchy, if you have decent visibility head for the valley between the two large hills ahead. You’re heading for Bwlch y Ddeufaen or as pictured below the large pylons to the right of Foel Lwyd.
You will have walked through gorse with a stream to your right, the path may be unclear but on checking your map look for the point where a wall is perpendicular to your current path and use that as a handrail.
Keep walking until you reach a style on the right, ignore this and turn left following another beautiful stone wall.
The path is fairly clear all the way to the summit which is not marked. Just follow the wall around. The views on a fine day are remarkable. You will have views of Ynys Mon & Puffin Island as well as a clear view of the stunning lowland hills of the Northern Carneddau such as Foel Lus and the Penmaenmawr Druids Circle, more fantastic North Wales walks nearby.
I took a slightly different route back down but you can simply retrace your steps. That big fat yellow line on the map means that these hills are in the Eryri National Park and therefore anyone is within their right to roam freely as long as they respect the countryside and wild camping code.
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