First up, the helpful info for anyone attempting the round.

• Our stats came in at around 60km and 3,500m elevation, a bit more than advertised.
• Route finding was generally easy, except the forest sections, where it was anything but easy. Have a look at strava’s global heatmap to get an idea of your options.
• Water was available between each group of hills, but once out of the valleys, there was nothing.
• Parking in Corris was pretty limited, but there were some spaces on the “main” road through the village, and some more just beyond the village to the NE.
• The pub had no online presence, but was friendly and served food on a Saturday at 7pm.

Doing the Corris Round in March was Dave’s idea – which worked both as a great objective in itself, and as a stepping stone to future challenges. It was Lisa’s biggest ascent day so far, and a big day by any standards. For me, it was great timing as a big day before the Northern Traverse 4 weeks later. For Simon, it was a challenge to beat the time of the round’s originator.

[Narrator: the round’s originator was 12 at the time.]

The Corris Round is one of numerous anytime challenges that sprang up during the pandemic, in this case when local lad Tom designed a route from his home village. And it takes in some really beautiful mountains, with, as Kryten (from Red Dwarf) would say, just two minor flaws. One, the paths on the Corris hills don’t quite reach the valley. And two, the paths on the Corris hills don’t quite reach the valley.

We went anticlockwise, on the basis that strong easterly winds would be behind us on the higher ground. That gave us some easy valley miles to start with, before the first forest section. In which it became apparent that the gpx file we were using was more of an artist’s impression. There was a zigzag track which approximated the GPX line, and then a steep ascent through fairly passable forest. 

Higher up, the forest thickened. Dave, leading, called, “I think we can get through,” in a tone that very much implied we couldn’t get through. After a bit of probing, we re-thought and took another zig-zig, finding some easier woodland to push through and then another track onto open country. 

The first set of hills was quiet and stunning, with strong winds over the saddles and warm sunshine coming through. Thin marshy trods took us out to Maesglaes and then back to Waun-Oer, where amazing views opened up over switchback ridges and up to Cadair Idris. There are some steep sections, but it’s almost entirely grassy, making the downhills fun and fast. We pushed at a stream just before reaching the A470, refilling flasks and taking on more food before tackling the steep flanks of Gau Graig.

It’s immediately obvious that the Cadair Idris range is more popular – a solid path follows a fence line, and then breaks through a heathery band of crags. Almost everyone we saw was on the relatively short stretch between Gau Graig and the Pony Path, enjoying the fabulous walking on the high ridge between the summits. The views on a clear day are excellent, down to the Mawddach estuary, north towards to the of Snowdonia or south into Powys. The mountains are rocky, particularly between Penygadair itself, Mynydd Pencoed, and Cyfrwy.

The descent from the final summit, Craig-y-llyn, is a rare bit of totally pathless terrain, down a short section of tussocks (one of our team took a spectacular, unplanned, Klinsmann dive) to a track which winds down into the valley. Getting to the foot of the Tarren hills is a little more complicated than it looks – there are two parallel valleys heading down towards the sea, and you need to hop out of the first into the second. 

Our route took us through the village of Abergynolwyn, and then through the lovely valley of Nant Gwernol, with its tumbling stream and obligatory narrow-gauge railway. We climbed fairly gently through the woods, but it soon became apparent that there was a big steep ascent coming. A small path breaks through a gully onto open ground, and then to the steep grassy dome of Tarrenhendre. 

The party was tiring now, and the longer-than-it-looks curving route to Tarren Y Gesail took longer than it looked. That was the last significant hill, but certainly not the end of the “fun”. It was apparent (to those with watches that counted down the remaining distance) that there were at least 2 extra kms compared to the advertised distance. And the first part of that, despite being mainly downhill, managed to feel mainly uphill, to the minor peak of Mynydd Braich-goch.

And then, the forest. On entering the woods, it quickly became apparent how difficult this was going to be. Winter storms had caused a lot of fallen trees, meaning there was no obvious route through. We were climbing over or under fallen trees, pushing through branches, aiming to keep roughly on the right line. The Barkley Marathons were mentioned. The GPX file seemed to be going through the most impassable sections, so we abandoned it and made for where the map showed forest tracks. The first “forest track” was more of a waterlogged firebreak, still with fallen trees, but eventually we did hit a solid gravel track and made easy progress, taking a longer route, to meet the steep path down the last section into Corris.

(Having consulted Strava’s global heatmap afterwards, there was a line further south of our forest tracks which is straighter. I can’t comment on how good it would be, we didn’t get a close look but turned away from this line in descent, and lower down some deforestation had turned the woods into a muddy swamp with wooden obstacles.)

We finished at the Post Office, and then enjoyed a pint and chips at the pub, before heading to the excellent Plas Isa hostel in Dolgellau.