DESCRIPTION: A 2.5-mile circular walk that takes you around the foot of the 1240-feet high Foel Offrwm, (“The Hill of Sacrifice” or “The Hill of Oppression”). While it runs around the ‘base‘, this is still some 800 feet above sea level and offers some exceptional panoramic views.

START: The walk starts from the Coed y Groes (Precipice Walk) car park which is 2.3 miles up the main Dolgellau to Llanfachreth road. At the time of writing this, the car park is free and has toilets. Walk out of the car park and cross the Dolgellau to Llanfachreth road (the one you’ve probably driven up). Just after you cross the road you will see a narrow windy path on your right that leads to a wooden gate, which is the start of the easy path. The wider main track that veers left is the one you will come back on.

Foel Offrwm, (“The Hill of Sacrifice”) is a lot more pleasant than its name suggests. Whether it was the site for sacrifices is a matter for conjecture, but it was home to Iron Age man a couple of thousand years ago. If you walk to its 1240 feet-high summit, you will see the remains of an iron age hill fort, with a second one lower down. However, all that can be left for another day as this is a walk around its feet, or more accurately, its waist, as it runs around 800 feet above sea level.

Designed By The Vaughan Family of Nannau

This was one of a few walks planned by the Vaughan family of the historic house of Nannau. It was created for their personal use, plus, one would imagine, to impress the visitors to their home, the “highest situation of any gentleman’s house in Britain” (according to Thomas Pennant, the eighteenth-century Welsh naturalist, traveller, writer and antiquarian). The other more famous walk they designed was Precipice Walk, which starts from the same car park and runs around another hill with an iron age hill fort of its own. While that walk has been popular with tourists, especially the Edwardians, for over a hundred years, this one has been a little overlooked. However, all that is changing as it was given a major overhaul by the current estate owners in 2018 and is now on its way to its former glory.