The First Section is from Caehun church ( Canovium) to Trefriw in the Conwy Valley approximately 8.5 miles of great walking and wonderful views of the River Conwy and the surrounding hills and Mountains. (OS map OL 17)
Caehun church is particularly interesting as it sits on the site of the old Roman Fort very near to the river. Its a great setting with a small historical display inside; the churchyard is also one of the few places to see Hawfinches.
From the Church follow the lane back to the main road and then walk South along the road until you reach the gates of the of the farm Farchwel ( shown on OS map ). Go through the gates remembering to secure them and walk up to very near the farm buildings, just over a small bridge there is a pathway to the left which brings you to the corner of a modern barn. Turn right round the end of the barn and you should be able to see the footpath signs directly ahead of you - these lead to a stile. Over the years this footpath has been moved from the North side of the farm as shown in the Cicerone guide.
Crossing the stile ahead continue until you reach a second stile ( short distance) . Unfortunately at this point the path disappears and it is only by referencing the OS Map the it can be seen that you stay near the remains of the wall and fence on your right until you cross the meadow ( boggy) until you reach the next fence/broken wall with a line of bushes in front of you. ( this is not far). On reaching the fence turn left and walk south towards Llanbedr y Cennin and you will shortly reach a metalled narrow track leading into the village ( past a cemetery on your right - now shown on OS map).
On entering the village turn right at the T junction for a short distance ( 50m) until you see a kissing gate to your left ( opposite a cottage Tan Y Craig - showing date 1759 on Gable). Walk through the kissing gate and cross diagonally ( just e of s) to your left and you will see a stile ahead and a small footbridge across a narrow stream. Having crossed this walk South until you reach Ffynnon Bedr old farm buildings. Go through the gate between the buildings and the house and follow the lane ( no signs). After a few metres there is a sharp left turn in the lane and on your right you will see two gates. Go through the smaller one and begin a gradual walk up hill with the stream on your left. This is a picturesque gorge worth pausing to enjoy.
Continue uphill until the path comes to a stile and a track with a fairly steep downhill leading left back to the stream and a footbridge, cross here and follow the path to your left until you reach the steep metalled road. At the road turn left downhill for a very short distance and then turn right onto a green lane through a gate as the metal road turns sharp left in the opposite direction. Cross the meadow to a second gate ( again no signs) into a small wood. The path here disappears but the right of way exists just east of south uphill. This bit is challenging, it is steep, a bit overgrown, and there is no clear path. As you reach the top you will be met by a fence with no stile or fixed crossing point. In Cicerone it mentions that the wire has tape on it but we couldn't find it. We did however find a low point where it was easy to use the remains of the wall to cross the wire fence ( not barbed wire) into a clear meadow which still rises in front of you. You should walk uphill to the South West and you will see the farm of Carreg - y - Ffordd ( Stone road Cicerone give some history behind this name and the site).
Exit the meadow through the gate between the barn and the house and turn sharp right down towards the metalled road.
At the road start walking uphill and keep going until you reach the first metalled junction on your left. Take this left and facing you should be two gates a short distance apart ( the left one goes down hill and is a dead end). Go through the right hand gate and turning right you will see the embankment of a waterway. Walk up onto the embankment and enjoy the view as you follow the waterway to your left. This is an easy and very enjoyable part of this section and keep going until you come to a metalled lane ( track opposite). Turn left and go downhill on the lane to the new bridge - Pont Newydd.
From here on there are significant differences to the route in Cicerone as some of the landmarks have disappeared and the path appears to have been changed. Using the OS map will sort out the discrepancies.
From the bridge ( new metal bridge) walk uphill about 350 m until you come to a distinctive shale covered track on your left. This track goes back diagonally towards the direction you have come from. ( ignore any other paths/tracks. To your right you should now be able to see the old dam in the distance and a small embankment running above the track on your left. (There is no path from the bridge as shown on OS map.) At this stage there are no pipes crossing overhead.
Walk along this level track on your left. If you have it correct you will pass two old building to your right ( mentioned in Cicerone) and a further shack on the left. The easiest option is now to keep on this lane; it will cross under one pipe and you will see to your left the man made waterway dropping away from you.. Stay on this fairly new shale track until you have a large open meadow to your left and the track splits. Take the left hand and start a gradual descent. The waterway should be in clear view to your left with a gated narrow footbridge. Walk across the meadow and across the foot bridge. (There is a second larger bridge further on the track about 400m if you miss it).
You now need your map and the route described in Cicerone is not clear. Head just east of South across the meadow towards a stone wall with a gate in it, then cross a shale farm track with a wall on your immediate right)- in this wall there is a gate which leads to a small walled area with another gateway immediately on your left... Look through this left gate at the hillside opposite (due south) and you should see the large modern farm of Tyddyn Wilym on the hillside, you will have the correct gate.
Go through this left hand gate and head South East descending towards the river Afon Ddu (you can hear it) across an open meadow. As you do so you may pick up the old footpath sign standing in the field. The stile you need is in the bottom left hand corner of this meadow.
Once you cross this stile into the woodland the path almost disappears again and its boggy. There is a sign but its easy to miss, basically turn right after the stile and walk through the undergrowth to approach the river at an angle of approx. 45 degrees and you should come to a very old metal footbridge. Be careful crossing this thing its slippy and only has one handrail. Once across bear left and look for the sunken overgrown and narrow lane going uphill. There is a more distinctive path going left, this more distinctive path is not your route.
Take the route along the sunken path uphill until you come to a fence and a stile into an open field.
Cross the stile into the field and you will see the next stile on the opposite wall before the lane.
Once onto the farm lane turn left past a large new house which we assumed was the rebuilt ruins mentioned in Cicerone. Once onto the main lane keep going towards Trefriw past a number of old buildings for approximately 1 mile. Cicerone mentions that after a mile the lane takes a sharp turn right and there will be a gap in the wall on the left. We found the sharp bend in the lane and (we think) we found the gap as mentioned - similar to an old stile - but there was no path that we could take, just lots of bramble and undergrowth. The easiest thing to do is to continue walking along the road down into the town of Trefriw. Although this might seem annoying the road is quiet with good views as it winds its way for the remaining 3/4 of a mile into the town and a well earned pint in the Fairy falls pub.
We parked our car at Trefriw at the beginning of the day and caught the 10.50am bus towards Conwy and the start of the walk. We were back in the pub at the end for 2.55pm. Trefriw is an interesting little place with cafes and a mill shop. There are also public toilets and a reasonable car park.
