At 752m, Pumlumon is the highest mountain in Mid Wales and one of the most remote feeling in all of Wales. It’s a magnificent mountain. Made all the more special by its lack of popularity when compared to the summits of the Brecon Beacons to the south or Snowdonia to the north. But climbing it is always a challenge – there are few paths and those that do exist are faint and narrow and frequently wet. This route, via the mountains lake-jewelled northern cwm, is one of the best. It climbs easily at first and then steeply to summit. It then drops easily alongside a tumbling brook to finish. Do choose a good day as the views are wonderful and navigation can be awkward in poor visibility.
Distance: 4.5 miles (7km)
Time: 4 hours
Start & finish: Maesnant SN774879
Paths: Mainly faint and often boggy paths over grassy slopes.
Maps: OS Explorer Series (1:25 000) 213
TIC: Aberystwyth (01970) 612125
Your route
Continue to a gate at the road head and follow the broad track above the buildings at Maesnant. Continue for just over one kilometre and then drop to cross the Nant y Llyn. Keep ahead for a few more paces until you see a faint path forking right ahead of the walled enclosure, filled with trees.
Now follow this right onto the high ground above the stream and stay with one of a few faint tracks, across mainly soft ground, until you eventually drop to cross a tributary stream. From here, keep ahead on a clearer path to continue to the beautiful Llyn Llygad Rheidol, where you need to cross the outlet and walk along the dam to join a broad waterworks path.
Follow this around to the right and keep your eyes open for a faint path heading steeply up the hillside on the left. Take this and climb steeply up to a deep col beneath Pumlumon Fach. Bear left here to walk around the flanks of Pumlumon Fach and then up onto Pen Pumlumon Fawr. The path gets awkward to follow but keep heading up and you’ll eventually arrive at the cairn that marks the northern top.
From this you can walk easily southwards to the rocky crowned peak itself. This one of the great viewpoints of Wales – with fine views of the Brecon Beacons, to the south, and to Snowdonia, further north. The Preseli Hills are also in range; making this is one of the few places in Wales where you can actually see all three national parks.
Retrace your steps to the north top and bear left to rejoin the faint path you followed up. Continue into the deep notch beneath Pumlumon Fach and here, instead of turning right to retrace your initial climb, bear left onto a narrow but clear path that then leads around the hillside and down the Maesnant valley. Follow this down to a waterworks track and keep SA to cross a brook before threading your way between rocks to dropping steeply back down to the road head at Maesnant.
Words & Pictures: Tom Hutton
First published in Welsh Country Magazine May-Jun 2015
