Every time I get out of the car when I’m on Llanllwni Mountain, it happens. Silence… well not silence exactly but absence of noise, absence of the daily hum of electricity or cars or planes even. Ok, there is an occasional car but the noise is somehow swallowed by the landscape. Having said that though, when I was up there for a group walk in September there was some noise, the sweet song of the skylarks as they bounced around the sky. The clear blue of the sky and very little breeze it made for a glorious day to be out walking.

I was with a group of people made up of walkers from the Talardd Ramblers, Walkers are Welcome Llandysul & Pont-Tyweli and Llanpumsaint Walking Club, for a guided walk on Llanllwni Mountain.

Llanllwni Mountain is common land, managed by local graziers, and is open for walking, cycling and horse riding. However, you need to respect the animals grazing the mountain, so if you take your dogs with you, be prepared to put them on a lead when you come across other animals.

We parked in a layby at SN518388, where there is a Bronze Age burial mound, marked as Crug y Biswal on the OS map and walked in a south westerly direction through the heather. There we saw some ponies, the Llanllwni Ponies are famous in the area.

A tractor had been through the area we were walking in, cutting the heather in places, hence the strange marks in the background on the photograph. Our guide said that cutting the heather in places was part of the management strategy of the mountain.  In the old days they used to burn the heather to control it.

We arrived at Crugiau Gair, a pair of Bronze Age burial mounds, and stopped for a group photo and to take in the views.

We then headed southward until we got to a path and walked in a north-easterly direction alongside a post and wire fence.  We crossed a stream, and followed the track in a south-east direction which led to a hard core track then we headed north back to the road.  We then came across a sight which I had not expected – water buffalo! There were about 6, along with some calves, but our guide thought that there could be as many as 40 grazing the mountain.

We got back to our cars having thoroughly enjoyed our walk and even though it was not a hot day , we had caught the sun (must remember sun cream next time!).  We had walked for about 2 hours, over 4 miles. So we felt that we deserved our tasty Sunday lunch at the Talardd in Llanllwni.