Saturday, May 25, 2024

Across the Cynllaith

Event: Across the Cynllaith (16m/3000ft)
Time: 2.40
Could there be a more perfect fallow year event than a long run/walk through a beautiful border landscape, taking obscure paths up the three main hills in the area? Probably not, so this was a delightful and hugely enjoyable non-competitive outing, part of the Trefonen hill weekend (I did the Mynydd Myfyr fell race a few years ago, which also forms part of it). It was a nice morning after a lot of rain last week, and I set off from Trefonen around 9am, jogging the paths and lanes through to a curving path up Mynydd Myfyr. A lovely descent led to a very muddy section which eventually led to the border and the path along the Cynllaith itself (the name of the river but also, I think, of the medieval bro). Then into Llansilin to check-in and enjoy coffee and biscuits before the crux of the day, a lengthy 5k haul to the top of Gyrn Moelfre via a steep lane and then a superb curving track to the broad grassy ridge over the summit. This is a tremendous place right in the centre of this beautiful region, and I'd only visited once before on the Gyrn Gallop race (which heads up direct from Rhiwlas, on the other side of the hill, and as a result I barely recognised it at all). From the summit, a long looping path led down to tarmac and eventually back to Llansilin for another check and drink. The final leg saw me catching lots of groups on the shorter 10 mile loop. It climbed surprisingly steeply away from the Cynllaith to the broad summit of a hill, which was contoured until a slightly confusing section up to the last hill of Moelydd, the last of the three. The previously excellent marking was a little confusing here, so I ploughed steeply up a nettle-strewn hillside where I surmised I would find the top, which I did. From here, Offa's Dyke led back to Trefonen along little lanes and tracks. Bara brith, tea and walnut cake to recuperate, and home before midday: a lovely event.

No comments: