Bagging all 13 historic county tops in Wales

June 3, 2026 Opinion and advice aran fawddwy, britain, cadair berwyn, chwarel y fan, county tops, craig y llyn, fan foel, foel cwmcerwyn, great rhos, hill walking, holyhead mountain, moel famau, moel sych, peak bagging, pen y fan, plynlimon, snowdon, wales, walking 0 Comment

About four years ago, Edita and I decided to start bagging the highest point in each of the UK’s counties. A couple of weeks ago, we finished the last of the thirteen historic county tops in Wales. They contain some enjoyable hills that we may not otherwise have explored.

An ascent of Aran Fawddwy, the highest point in Merionethshire

March 11, 2026 Trip reports aran benllyn, aran fawddwy, aran hills, britain, county tops, hill walking, peak bagging, snowdonia, wales 0 Comment

The Aran Hills form a north-south ridge extending 14km from the shores of Bala Lake to the sleepy village of Dinas Mawddwy, nestling between hills at a confluence of the River Dovey in southern Snowdonia. The central part of the ridge remains above 800m for more than 2km and reaches up to 905m on Aran Fawddwy, one of the more interesting County Tops.

Walking the Aran Ridge, another Snowdonia secret

July 8, 2015 Trip reports aran fawddwy, aran hills, backpacking, bear grylls, britain, cadair idris, glasgwm, hill walking, rhinogs, snowdonia, wales, wild camping 11 Comments

There aren’t many hill walks close to civilisation in the UK where you can spend two days and only see one other human. The Aran Ridge is just four or five hours’ drive from London, and last week I went there for a couple of days’ backpacking.