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Note : the estimated time below is calculated automatically according to Naismith's rule. A more realistic estimate is 4 hours 45 minutes.
Start Point: Car park on Caerphilly Mountain, near the snack bar. Grid ref. ST 156 853, What3Words: ///local.press.emerge
Getting there from Cardiff:
by bus: Service 21 or 27 from Kingsway to Birchgrove Inn, then 86X to Ridgeway Golf Club on Thornhill Road. Walk 0.6kms up the road and turn right at the top to the car park by the snack bar.
by car: Take North Road (A470) out of Cardiff and after Gabalfa flyover bear right to Caerphilly Road (A469). Stay on this road through Birchgrove and past the Crematorium (where it becomes Thornhill Road). Pass the Travellers Rest Inn (sharp bend) and go down and back up to the top of Caerphilly Mountain and turn right to the car park by the snack bar.
Route Description:
First published 1997; revised and updated for 2022.
[1] From Caerphilly Mountain car park take the footpath northeast from the back of the car park and follow it until you are walking along a track with a boundary on the right. There are good views of Caerphilly with its castle to the left. Keep along the boundary on entering a wood and then along the ridge, ignoring paths to the left, until the path drops down to join a forestry track. Turn right along this and then after 5 metres turn left. Follow this track and as it bears left, go right through a kissing gate into Coed y Werin (information board). Keep straight on the path and then follow it left down an old brick path. Turn right onto a track and 40 metres further on take a path left opposite a noticeboard (which explains the industrial history of the area) to cross a stream. Follow the path uphill to go through a kissing gate onto a road and turn right. After about 400 metres the road bends around to the right. Turn left here and go beside a barrier gate onto an old road. Follow this as it curves to the left and go through a gate, following the track for 120 metres to a T-junction.
[2] Turn right onto an access track and follow this uphill to turn sharp left 10 metres before a gate. You have joined the Rhymney Valley Ridgeway Walk and Cambrian Way for just over 3 kms with good views of the Rhymney Valley. At the fork in the track go left to skirt a disused quarry. At the top of the hill at a waymarked T-junction turn left and walk along the ridge through open farmland. Go through a gate, and later through a second gate to the road. Cross the road slightly right to a stile and gate beside Cefn Onn Farm. Follow the path along the fence on the left into the wood (Coed Cefn Onn). Keep straight on for almost 2 kilometres, going downhill for a while and crossing a stile next to a set of joined cattle gates (or you can use the gates), before carrying straight on again.
[3] After passing a large pylon beside the path to the right, walk a further 40 metres and turn right at a waymarked post before a green metal gate. Follow the path, with a steep drop and a handrail on the left, past some old lime kilns and continue down Craig y Llan to join another path at the bottom. Turn right onto this path and then after 10 metres carefully climb the stile (currently awaiting repair) on the left and go down the right-hand side of a field. About halfway down the field look for a stile in the hedgerow and cross it into the wood. Go left down to two footbridges. The first footbridge is currently broken so you will need to ford the first stream, then use the second footbridge to cross another stream. Turn left and walk parallel to the stream through four field gates. After the last one climb the stile immediately opposite. Turn right and follow the path up the hill near the edge of the wood to a stile in the corner. Cross this out of the wood and go right, following the fence, then head for a pylon. Just before the pylon turn right to enter the wood (Coed Coesau Whips), by a bridle gate.
[4] Walk along the path leading from the gate, until you reach a track. Go right for 12 metres then left up a footpath. Follow the footpath, ignoring right turns and taking the lefthand track at a fork, until you pass through a bridle gate. Keep straight on with woodland to the right and pass through a gate onto a bridle path and walk along the ridge above Craig Llysfaen, with views of the coastal plain to the left. Pass a weather station and a trig point on the left and go through a barrier gate onto the road. Take care on the road as it is narrow with no pavements. Turn left and follow it steeply down until, as it curves left, go through a metal gate on the right which leads to a tarmac path. Go down on the path, at first parallel to the road, and then follow it round to the right and through the gate at the end to a lane.
[5] Turn right and follow the lane down past a house on the right into woodland. Walk past a brick wall on the left, then past a house, and go straight on through a waymarked gate. The path to the left here leads to Cefn Onn Park. Take the track straight on, along the top of the golf course and over a stream. Carry straight on up the rise, taking the waymarked left fork and follow the path along the boundary between the wood and the golf course, ignoring a right turn. Continue on the path, taking care where the wire fence has collapsed and is a trip hazard, until the path ends on an old sunken road (known as a ‘green road’), often running with water. Turn right and follow the old road as it zig-zags up Craig Llanishen, keeping left at a way marker. Carry straight on at the top, through a gate, past a pylon on the right and across a small cwm. Turn left through gateposts waymarked for the Rhymney Valley Ridgeway Walk and Cambrian Way. Follow the Ridgeway walk for just over a kilometre, through 3 bridle gates to the road at Blaen Nofydd. Take great care crossing this busy road, go 30 metres left and turn right through a waymarked gateway.
[6] Follow the track passing through 2 large gates to the left of a house and barn to reach a golf course. Go ahead on the track to a signpost 80 metres ahead on the left. Turn right here and follow the line of trees to a marker post. Go ahead up the bank into trees beside the fairway to another marker post. Turn left and make for an opening in the shrubbery ahead leading to a path. Follow the path as it bears right through the wood, across a small stream and onto the fairway. Go straight across the fairway to a marker post opposite. Leave the golf course by the marked path into the wood and go left to a kissing gate on the right. Go through and uphill, taking care not to trip on the small metal rods on the steps, until you meet another path. Turn right here, following the track around to the right of a house, then turn right and follow the drive to the main road. The car park of your start point will now be in view.
