1.7 mile / 45 minutes

This is an easy route on good paths and with very little climbing. It follows a loop around Dinas Mawddwy close to the River Dyfi taking in the picturesque Minllyn Packhorse bridge and other historical sites. There are two cafes and two pubs on the route.

The path can also be followed using this Ordnance Survey Map.

The route is described in a clockwise direction but the path is also signed in the opposite direction.

Park in Dinas Mawddwy car park, opposite the Llew Coch (Red Lion) Inn. There are public toilets at the entrance to the car park.

From the car park turn left, downhill, for 200m to Dolybont (bridge meadow) Common on your right, where you will see a footbridge over the river Dyfi.

In the past, fairs were held at Dolybont common, as well as on the High Street. People flocked here from all over North and Mid Wales to buy, sell, take on work and fight! Dinas Mawddwy fairs were famous for fighting between local residents and neighbouring communities.

The street would be closed almost a mile outside the village due to the number of fair attendees.

Walk over the footbridge and head towards the white farmhouse, called Tan y Bwlch, ahead.

Tanybwlch farmhouse was built in 1838 by the Vaughan family of Nannau near Dolgellau. The date and initials RW and AM V (Richard Williams Vaughan and Anna Maria his wife) appear on the main front gable. In 1841 it had 44 acres (17.8ha) of attached land.

Continue past the farmhouse, bearing right,  to join the broad farm access road. Continue along the road past Celyn Brithion Caravan park, to the A470.

On the opposite side of the A470 is the photogenic Minllyn Packhorse bridge and Meirion Mill, a cafe and shop that used to be the site of Dinas Mawddwy Railway station.

Tradition states that Dr. John Davies, Rector of Mallwyd, had the packhorse bridge built in the 17th century.

The Mawddwy Railway connected Dinas Mawddwy with a junction at Cemmaes Road railway station on the Newtown and Machynlleth Railway section of the Cambrian Railways. Despite being only 6 miles there were three stations at Cemmaes, Aberangell and Mallwyd.

The Railway opened in 30th September 1867 to service the local slate quarries. It eventually closed in 1953.

At the A470 turn right and continue to the Buckley Arms Hotel. At the Hotel you can either:

a) Continue alongside the A470 or

b) Turn right on the lane into the pretty hamlet of Minllyn. At the end of the lane, by the school, take the footpath on the left back up to the A470, then turn right.

Take the right fork into Dinas Mawddwy and follow the High Street back to the parking, passing Hen Siop Cafe and the Red Lion Inn.

Constructed in 1873 the Buckley Arms is reputedly the oldest reinforced concrete building in Europe and the second oldest in the world after a building in Russia!

The hamlet of Minllyn was built in the 1860s when people were moved here by Edmund Buckley, Lord of Mawddwy, to make way for his mansion in the village of Dinas Mawddwy.