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Walk up Moel Y Gest The Long Way

By Dave Roberts   

on May 23, 2016    5/5 (1)

Posted as a walk in –

Walk up Moel Y Gest The Long Way

Route Essentials

Route Summary

Half day’s walk to an excellent viewpoint above Porthmadog.

See the end of the article for local information about parking, public transport facilities, pubs and cafes.

Distance

11.02 km

Ascent

407 m

Time

Calculate the time using Naismith’s Rule and factor in your own pace.

Start Location

Porthmadog Railway Station

Difficulty

Hard Walk

Hazards

Weather Forecast:

Met Office Mountain Weather

Check out our Best Mountain Weather Forecast?
Remember that we cannot outline every single hazard on a walk – it’s up to you to be safe and competent. Read up on Mountain Safety , Navigation and what equipment you’ll need. 

Walk up Moel Y Gest The Long Way Ordnance Survey Map and GPX File Download

View the full route map

Download file for GPS

Walk up Moel Y Gest The Long Way

Moel Y Gest is a small, but mighty hill. It stands alone, Porthmadog’s very own little hill, but don’t underestimate it! It can be steep to ascend the walk up Moel Y Gest and the summit involves a few stretches of easy scrambling that just adds to the fun in our opinion!

1 Start at Porthmadog station, cross crossing and left along past the rear of council estate and along the path known as the Cyt. Folllow this towards Alltwen.

Walk up Moel Y Gest The Long Way

2 At Alltwen – cross the main road, follow the pavement for a short distance left before taking the first road right towards the school. Continue onwards through the car park of Alltwen Hospital. There’s a proper bridleway beyond this, and there are views across to Moel y Gest which you’ll see from every angle on this walk!

Walk up Moel Y Gest The Long Way

3 Continue your walk on bridleway, then minor road, turn left on track, and cross the V BUSY main road and then you’ll be back on the old green tracks downhill. This brings you to and past a church at Penmorfa. Continue until turn left, past a character cottage, and the going is a bit wet in places on this path, but nothing taxing. Pass a house or two and turn right at Pont Wern (The Wern Estate Bridge), when you have to cross the busy A497 road.

Walk up Moel Y Gest The Long Way

4 Continue left on the main road until you reach a track after 100m and turn right though a large gate. The track ascends gently, and takes you along the shoulder of Moel Y Gest, pass a couple of cottages and below the summit. There are routes up from this side, apparently, but none are exceptionally obvious from this angle. The track continues to ascend, with the views opening out down the Llyn Peninsula, and finally across to Harlech and South Snowdonia over Tremadog Bay.

Walk up Moel Y Gest The Long Way

5 At this viewpoint, cross the wall at the stone stile – the gate has been padlocked – and take the path that angles uphill towards the col between the two summits. You can follow the wall up if you want a more direct, adventurous route up! The path is clear, but slightly wet in places, and takes you with little effort or fuss to the main ridge.

Walk up Moel Y Gest The Long Way

6 From the main ridge, you’ve a rough walk across to the summit, which you’ll need hands for in places. It’s not hard scrambling, and adds to the interest. It’s mostly avoidable, but as is usual in these cases, you’ll often be making the route harder for yourself. Finally, you’ll reach the rather large Moel Y Gest summit area, which has spectacular views in all directions.

Moel Y Gest looking towards Cricieth
View from Moel Y Gest
What a view!
Random summit shot

7 Retrace your steps to the col, and continue along the sketchy path to the east summit – keeping the wall to your right. The sketchy path then heads off left and downhill, becoming clearer to follow.

Walk up Moel Y Gest The Long Way

8 Continue downhill steeply towards Porthmadog, with the path slippery in places. Ensure that you turn left into the forest when the path forks, rather than right as that brings you to the Tyddyn Llwyn caravan park. The path zigs and zags pleasantly through the forest, and the walk up Moel Y Gest is all but over as soon as you reach the main road (Penamser Road) where you turn right.

9 This final section along the road can be turned to your advantage as there’s both a Millets and a Gelert shop here for a bit of outdoor themed shopping! Continue along the road into Porthmadog itself, where there are plenty of facilities. We stopped at the Royal Sportsman today as it was on the route, but there are a few other good pubs in the town.

Walk up Moel Y Gest The Long Way

walk up Moel Y Gest
Random summit shot
walk up Moel Y Gest
View from Moel Y Gest
walk up Moel Y Gest
Moel Y Gest summit looking towards Snowdonia
walk up Moel Y Gest
Moel Y Gest looking towards Cricieth
walk up Moel Y Gest
Not the Rhinogydd, just looks that way.
walk up Moel Y Gest
This little mountain involves some hands on scrambling!
walk up Moel Y Gest
What a view!
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Local Information and Recommended Maps and Guidebooks

Route Summary:

Half day’s walk to an excellent viewpoint above Porthmadog.

Route Start Location: Porthmadog Railway Station

Distance
 Ascent
 Time
11.02 km 407 m

Calculate the time using Naismith’s Rule and factor in your own pace.

Activivity Type: Hard Walk

Summits and Places on this Route

Facilities

In Porthmadog.

Hazards

Remember that we cannot outline every single hazard on a walk – it’s up to you to be safe and competent. Read up on Mountain Safety , Navigation and what equipment you’ll need.

Parking :

Public Transport:

Traveline for UK Public Transport

Weather Forecast:

Met Office Mountain Weather

Check out our Best Mountain Weather Forecast?

Recommended Maps: 

Landranger 123 Lleyn Peninsula Map , Explorer 254 Lleyn Peninsula East

Guidebooks:

Llyn Peninsula – Circular Walks Along the Wales Coast Path, Llyn Peninsula: Wales Coast Path Official Guide (Bangor to Porthmadog), Walks on the Lleyn Peninsula

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Dave Roberts

Dave Roberts founded Walk Eryri in 2004, with the aim of providing routes that are off the beaten track. Walk Eryri is now part of Mud and Routes which continues to provide more off beat routes and walks in Snowdonia and beyond. Dave has been exploring the hills of Eryri for over thirty years, and is a qualified Mountain Leader. Dave also established Walk up Snowdon, Walk up Scafell Pike and Walk up Ben Nevis just to mention a few.

More Posts by Dave Roberts