The Berwyn Mountains are an outlying section of Snowdonia, to be found between Bala, Llangollen and Oswestry. They reach a height of 2,700 feet (817 meters)

The Berwyns are a familiar sight to anyone who has driven into Wales along the A5. West of Shrewsbury they dominate the skyline, separated from the nearest equally high ground by a gap of ten miles. Continue on through Llangollen, and the hills to your left are the Berwyns (the tiny village of Berwyn is just around the first bend in the road west of Llangollen).

Despite this visual familiarity the tops of the Berwyns are little visited. On one recent visit the top of Cadair Berwyn itself was entirely deserted, and only one other walker was seen on the slightly more accessible Moel Sych.

More people will probably be found at Pistyll Rhaeadr ("spring of the waterfall"), the tallest waterfall in England and Wales, with a drop of 240 feet (England has several longer cascades, but no higher waterfalls).

The view from the top of the Berwyns is breathtaking. Because the Berwyns are surrounded by slightly lower ground, there are distant views in every direction, from the Shropshire hills in the east to the heights of Snowdonia to the north west.

The Berwyns can be climbed from several directions. Here we give our suggestion, an ascent from the west, taking advantage of the high pass crossed by the B 4391.

The Berwyns are covered by one Explorer map

255 Llangollen and Berwyn.