A strenuous approach to the magnificent coastal hills of Yr Eifl (The Rivals) from the village of Trefor. The route also visits Tre’r Ceiri, site of the finest Iron Age remains in Wales. Footpaths are generally good although a little faint here and there.

Distance: 7 1/4 miles

Start: There is a large free car park with WC facilities near the harbour in the village of Trefor.

Grid ref: 376 472 (Landranger 123, Explorer 253).

The walk

1. Turn right out of the car park and walk past the little beach towards the harbour. Go through the gate by the breakwater and follow the gravel road ahead. Cross a footbridge and where the gravel road swings left, bear right to join the coast path where a kissing gate leads onto the National Trust land of ‘Morfa’. The path zig-zags up the bank ahead (ignore the footpath immediately right) then continues along the top of the sea cliffs of Trwyn y Tâl with the 1,000-foot cliffs of Yr Eifl rising impressively ahead.

Continue until you reach the stoney cove where there is a cottage in the fields behind the bay.

Access to the beach is on the right here, otherwise turn left along the path to reach the access drive to the cottage (West End).

Turn right along the drive and follow it past the front of the cottage. Stay with the driveway as it turns left away from the sea and rises to a second house.

Immediately before the house turn sharp left up the bank and bear right on a footpath above the house (Nant Bach) to join the driveway again.

Follow this away from the house to a lane.

2. Turn right along the lane and soon pass under a bridge carrying the quarry road. Turn right after the bridge up the bank to reach a metal kissing gate signed for the coastal path.

Go through the kissing gate and walk ahead up the sloping field. Bear left along the top edge, go through a small gate in the corner and continue along the left-hand edge to the lane.

Turn right and follow the lane as it climbs steeply.

Where the lane turns sharp right take the unsurfaced track ahead signed for the coastal path. This old lane continues the steep climb up towards Bwlch yr Eifl.

Ignore paths which break both left and right continuing ahead to reach a gate onto the open hillside.

The path continues to climb direct with superb views back down to Trefor and across to Gyrn Ddu and Gyrn Goch. At the corner of a fence on the right continue ahead again more or less following a line of overhead cables.

Just before the bwlch join a track leading down to the quarry. Bear left along the track to the high point of the bwlch where views open out west along the coast.

The quarry workings make the summit on the right difficult to reach but the highest of Yr Eifl’s triple tops on the left and the eastern summit (Tre’r Ceiri) beyond are straight forward to reach.

A path leaves the track almost at the highest point on the bwlch and makes the 600ft climb in just over 1/2 mile.

It is quite steep going and rocky near the top but the path is visible all the way and curves round to the north just before summit.

The summit is a stunning spot in clear conditions. The view east to the heights of Snowdonia takes in Bwlch Mawr, the shapely Nantlle Ridge, Moel Hebog and the Moelwynion. Across Cardigan Bay are the hills of southern Snowdonia - the Rhinogydd, Cadair Idris and beyond. West the view takes in much of Lleyn as far as Pwllheli and Abersoch, as well as the hills of Carn Fadryn, Mynydd Rhiw and Mynydd Anelog in the far distance.

3. Take the path from the summit which heads off in the direction of the hillfort on Tre’r Ceiri (almost due east).

This soon steepens and there is a wall visible below running down to the broad saddle between the two summits. Look for a good footpath which soon breaks left contouring at first, then heading diagonally down to the broad marshy saddle.

The footpath continues ahead up towards the stone walls of the hillfort to enter the enclosure through a gap which would have originally been a gateway. The summit is at the northeastern (left) end of the enclosure.

The enclosing dry-stone walls and hut circles are the remains of a late Iron Age hillfort thought to date from the second century AD and are remarkably well-preserved. For more information on the site see the following route.

Follow one of the paths which head southwest down through the hillfort enclosure (in the direction of the rocky ‘tor’ of Caergribin) to exit through the southwest gateway.

Follow the good path down towards a crossing wall, but well before you reach the wall (200 yards or so), the path curves left. Follow the path - stone pitched in parts - down to cross a ladder stile and continue down to go through a small gate to reach the road.

Turn left along the road passing a layby on the left to reach a kissing gate also on the left (about 400 yards along the lane).

Go through the kissing gate and head half-right contouring across the field to cross a ladder stile in the fence.

Continue ahead on a contouring line passing a farm on the right to a fence crossing.

Beyond this the right of way is not formalised on the ground but heads down the steep slope ahead in the direction of Trefor church to eventually reach a lane near the far corner of the field.

Turn left along the lane and follow it below the steep northeastern slopes of Yr Eifl with good views right down to the coast.

Pass a mast on the right and a conifer wood on the left.

Continue along the lane for another 1/2 mile to reach ‘Cwm Pottery’ , a cottage pottery workshop on the left.

Continue along the rising lane to the next cottage on the left and go through the kissing gate directly opposite on the right. Bear half-right down a small field to a kissing gate by a stream.

The path follows a wooden walkway and crosses a footbridge then bears right to a kissing gate in the lower corner.

Go ahead along the right-hand field edge by the stream, through a gate and ahead again to a small cottage.

Go through the gate and bear right past the cottage to cross a small footbridge and go through a gate. Walk directly across the field, through a small gate and down the following field.

Go through the gate at the bottom of the field and bear left to cross a footbridge over the stream.

Follow the enclosed footpath to emerge in the road near the centre of Trefor.

Turn left and follow the road through Trefor. At the edge of the village bear left along the lane signed ‘To the beach’. Follow the lane back to the harbour car park to complete the walk.

This walk has been taken from the book: ‘Top 10 Walks on the Wales Coast Path: Lleyn Peninsula’ by Carl Rogers, published by Mara Books, price £5.99. (ISBN 978-1-902512-34- 1). This is one in a series of 10 guidebooks to circular walks along the entire Welsh coast. Copies can be ordered from bookshops or purchased online at: www.northerneyebooks.co.uk