Straight forward Yr Eifl loop

Walk: A short but highly entertaining loop taking in the fantastically well preserved Iron Age hillfort of Tre'r Ceir and main peak (Garn Ganol) of Yr Eifl, the iconic range on the North of the Lleyn Peninsular.

Distance: about 5 miles

Bus Route: No buses on this one

Parking: The free car park between Llithfaen Village and the Welsh Language Centre at Nant Gwrtheyrn - with Wales' first lie down toilet.

Hardly a path least trod but you see this range from all around Eryri (Snowdonia) so if you wondered what they are like to visit, here's a quick snippet. I suspect that Rosie (spaniel/ Swamphound) and I did this the classic way around. We did it in June 2026 and whilst, unusually for us, there were people around, there weren't many.

Yr Eifl is the name of the range. It can be seen from miles around rising up from the north coast of the Lleyn Peninuslar, so it doesn't take a genius to work out that you can see for miles around when you are up there. We just did two of the three peaks. The third (Garn For) I had previously done as a little diversion off the coast Wales Coast Path between Trevor and Nefyn. It's nice enough but not worth the graunch of the steep decent from its bigger neighbour in my opinion (for a half-day outing anyway). This is a walk that will take a morning or an afternoon, but not both - so is a nice little stocking filler when in this part of the world - more famous for its coast, history and beaches.

Wales' first lie-down-toilet at the carpark below Garn Ganol in the background

To reach the car park simply drive uphill from the crossroads in Llithfaen up the largely-single-track lane, past some cottages on the right until the car park appears at the top of the pass. It's a bit rough looking but serves its purpose well. A brucy-bonus was that I was able to see Wales' first Lie-Down-Toilet (see photo). I doubt whether they will catch on. The first hill you see is the largest of the range, Garn Ganol, with its typical volcano type shape. The hill we'll aim for first though is the smaller Tre'r Ceiri - one of the best preserved hillforts anywhere. It is still out of sight from the car park but is just to the right (and slightly behind) Garn Ganol - behind the small rocky promontory of Caergribin that can be seen on the below photo..

Head directly for the rocky promontory of Caergribin

From the car park, cross the lane and aim diagonally right to reach a wall alongside which is a footpath heading for Caergribin. Take the footpath and enjoy the views over the wall down the rest of the Lleyn Peninsular with the coast on both sides.

Just before the path alongside the wall starts to descend to a house below, veer off left across the open land, heading directly for Caergribin. Although you can contour it on the left hand side to get directly to Tre'r Ceiri, it’s not far to take in the small pinnacles of Caergribin and is rather pleasant.

Tre'r Ceiry from Caergribin

We had a little stop and a drink. Its a top spot for resting the eyes on the colourful June landscape and to visualise the rest of the morning's walk. The hillfort is now in clear view to the north east as is the larger Garn Ganol to the north. When it’s clear like this, the route is obvious. So, eyes rested, its time to go and have a look at the fort.

It is epic. you enter the fort from the south west and exit it to the west (so using two of the five entrances it has/had).

Enter Tre'r Ceiry through the ramparts at the south west entrance

I had read that it is one of the best preserved of the british hillforts - and, of those II have visited, this is by far the easiest to image how it was lived in. The ramparts, although tumbled down, are far from flattened and it's easy to imagine how impressive they must have looked when fully 3.5m high in the Roman period and before. There is evidence that it was occupied by our ancestors when the Romans were in knocking around in Britain and that some trading took place (Roman pottery remains have ben found). The best bit is the absolutely clear remains of what must have been a vibrant collection of roundhouses acting as domiciles or storerooms. Over 150 of them.

Rosie chose a large end terrace roundhouse

My photos can't really do them justice, but there are plenty of aerial views on the internet that show the epicness of this as a place to live. Rosie, not usually interested in historical architecture, had a good sniff around the walls of the erstwhile huts, and seem to settle on a comfortable, large end-of-terrace abode (missing now its poles and turf roof - but otherwise, as was. I'm guessing the ruins are now home to that other Roman 'invention' - rabbits, hence her interest.

Carry on past the bronze age cairn to the north to pick up the ramparts again

The highest point of Tr'r Ceiri is an intact Bronze Age burial cairn, around which the later structures and defences were installed. The best route, once you have finished exploriing, is to head up to this and keep going toward the north. After less than a hundred metres, you meet the ramparts on this side and follow the way others have lead, left, back on yourself, inside the ramparts, as they curve back around to the southwest. What you are looking for now is the west exit which points, more or less over to Garn Ganol, your next target.

Looking back to Tre'r Ceiri West entrance exit from the path up Garn Ganol

The west exit is very impressive as the walls tower above you giving a somewhat better idea of what it must have been like to enter the settlement when it was occupied. Ouside the inner ramparts, you follow a path down to a gap in the second rampart which then leads to a path directly toward Garn Ganol. Once across the flat, this path turns steeply uphill then veers to the left to pick up a gate that gives access to the upper slopes of the highest Eifl. Follow the rocky path steeply uphill until you see the large hollowed out cairn and the trig-point (with what looks like a number 4 on the top) that marks Garn Ganol's summit.

Garn Ganol summit Trig Point

From the top, presuming it's clear, you can see down to the car park sitting at the top of the impressive pass that winds its way steeply down like a top-gear challenge road to the Welsh Language Centre at the bottom. Morfa Nefyn and Porth Dynllaen are also clear to see in the medium distance. There are two possible ways down to the car park from the trig point.

Head down toward llithfaen before bearing right heading directly back to the car park

Either turn right before the other little hollowed cairn you can see in the photo of the summit to descend steeply to the Wales Coast Path track below - the must-do way if you are planning to take in the third Eifl (Garn For) which is the other side of the Wales Coast Path to the north) or turn left to find a little channel heading toward Llithfaen village before bearing right and striking directly for the car park. That's the way we did it.

Lovely little morning out and though it had misted a little from the crisp air of the early start, the views (and colours) to the west were fab. A top part of the world.