Garn Boduan is situated in the northeast of Llŷn, overlooking Nefyn and Porthdinllaen bay, and has one of the largest ancient forts in the whole of the British Isles on it's summit. It's a spectacular places to visit, and justifiably comes very high up in our favourite walks ranking.

Getting there;

From Pwllheli, head northwest along the A497 towards Nefyn, after 4½ miles, look out for the right turn on to the Ffôr B4354 road, then about 300m on your left you’ll see a forestry gateway. There is limited room to park, so take care not to block the access.

The Walk;

A path / gravel track, takes you from the forestry gateway through the tree lined rough road up the mountainside. At the second hairpin bend on the track, take the path straight ahead. The path winds it’s way up the steep slope, and gets progressively narrower and steeper. At one point, becoming very narrow, with tall bracken obscuring the path altogether (summer months). By now the views to the south and west over the trees, are quite spectacular.

Garn Boduan 27-7-06

You enter the fort through the south entrance, (see map) and are immediately greeted by the first of over 100 round houses that can still be seen here. In a survey in the 1950’s over 170 round houses were identified on this site. A serious forest fire about 25 years ago, has left a surreal landscape, with numerous dead trees scattering the plateau. The views from the top of Garn Boduan (279m / 915ft) are amongst the finest on Llŷn, especially towards Nefyn, Morfa Nefyn and Porthdinllaen.

You can actually descend through the main northeast entrance, and follow the path dawn to the road, but because the day was getting on, we decided to come down through the south entrance.

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Notes; Garn Boduan is one of the most deceiving walks on Llŷn, you do get the impression that you’re in for an easy stroll, but after half an hour the top still seemed a long way off, so allow an hour to reach the summit.

On a hot summer’s day, like the day we last went, with frequent stops for drinks (water) and savouring the scenery, it took us about 50 minutes to reach the top. The ground on the plateau is very rough as well, with a thick carpet of heather, but with care you should be able to locate one of the many paths that criss cross the area. Garn Boduan is well worth a visit, and a cracking day out.

Negative points; Watch out for snakes (Adders) in the summer months, they can be a problem. And because of the close proximity of the busy A497, the traffic noise  was a wee bit to loud, but it was an exceptionally still day when we were there.