Moel y Ci

Walk through the farm gates adjoining Graianfryn and along the track through Blaen Cae Isaf Farm. Keep on this track until it reaches the main road, just below Beran filling station.

Go straight across the road and through a kissing gate and then a broad grass path which joins a tarmac track. Follow the track as it curves to the left passing a house Caer Mynydd on your right and through a kissing gate near the corner of a wood then continue with the wood on your left.

The concrete bases that you pass are the remains of an explosives storage facility built by the Air Ministry, a sub unit of 31 Maintenance Unit Llanberis. The site, covering an area of approximately 60 hectares, comprised 25 timber-framed Laing huts. Following the collapse of part of the underground bomb store at Llanberis, 7,000 tons of explosives were re-located to this depot in 1942. The site closed in 1953.

At the track junction past the end of the wood, continue straight ahead on the grassy track to the village of Rhiwlas. Continue past the houses then at the T-junction turn right as directed by the public footpath sign, carry on a few yards up the hill then turn left along Carreg y Garth, another single track road.

When you come to a group of houses (the first one is called Cartref, which is Welsh for “home”) bear left, then just before the road bends to the right, turn left along a narrow path with stone walls either side (photo below).

After the kissing gate, admire the view across to the Menai Strait and Anglesey and strike off up the slope along a faint path which soon joins a distinct footpath. Turn left and continue along this path up a slight rise and through a gate in the wall. Across to another gate in the wall then straight across a track through another gate in the wall. Here you have the alternative of walking round the hill or over the summit – the latter is shorter but steeper.

Option 1: Round the hill

Carry straight on as the path dips to a telegraph pole. Ignore the faint path to your left and take the main path, which rises as you head towards a conifer plantation. The path rises to meet a stone wall, which you follow along the edge of the plantation.

Continue with the wall on your left through a gate in another wall. Ignore the path that drops down to the left and continue straight ahead through a dense wood to meet a broad track (photo below).

Here you can either
a) Turn right and follow it to a road beyond a barrier or
b) Turn right then left along the path by the post in the middle of the photo through woodland, passing through a gap in the wall. Go through the gate at the end of the wood into a field. The path carries on with a broken-down wall on your left to a gate with Moel Wnion ahead to your left. This field is used by horses so it may be muddy. The wall is now on your right. Go through another gate, which brings you out onto a track. Proceed straight ahead into a wood. The track bends to the right with fine views of the slate quarry and the Carneddau range on your left with Elidir Fawr straight ahead. The track becomes a single track road.

The road takes you into the village of Mynydd Llandygai. Turn right at the crossroads along the road with the mountains on your left. Soon after passing the 30 mph cancellation sign you go through a gate in the wall to your right along a clear grassy path (footpath sign for Four Valleys Path) up across heather moorland through a gate in a wall. Then you drop gradually down with views ahead over the Menai Strait to the South West coast of Anglesey. The path joins a track from the left. Carry straight on as it curves to the right with the wall on your right. The stony track becomes a grass track for a short way to a low house where it becomes a single track road. Follow this to the left down the hill into Rhiwlas and retrace your steps back to Graianfryn.

Option 2: Over the hill (the black line on the map)

After crossing the grassy track you’ll see a footpath sign on your right by the wall. Turn right and along a fainter path up the slope, passing a telegraph pole on your left. Follow the path straight up to the trig point (396 metres). Pause to admire the mountain views, not forgetting to look back to take in the sea. Continue along the gently undulating path past rocky outcrops with Elidir Fawr rising ahead and the Llyn Peninsula in the far distance to its right.At a rock outcrop on the edge of a drop, the path swings to the right. Follow it down. At the bottom, squeeze through the gate and turn right onto the main track and through a kissing gate, continuing along the track with the wall on your right. The stony track becomes a grass track for a short way to a low house where it becomes a single track road. Follow this to the left down the hill into Rhiwlas and retrace your steps back to Graianfryn.