This series of caches takes you round the circular Foel Offrwm walk. The car parking is at “Saith Groesffordd” (Seven Cross Roads), which is 2.3 miles up the main Dolgellau to Llanfachreth road, also signed as the Precipice Walk car park.
Foel Offrwm translates as “The Hill of Sacrifice” or “The Hill of Oppression”, and is 1240ft tall. At the summit is the remains of an Iron Age hill fort.
Despite the misleading sign from the car park the walk doesn't actually take you to the summit, but instead circuits the hill. The route is around 2.5 miles, and starts on a wide smooth path suitable for buggies, but the path does become more exposed, narrower, boggier, and generally as you would expect from a hill path in Snowdonia. Sensible footwear is advised. This path goes through farmland which is used for grazing sheep. Dogs must be kept on a lead, even if you think there are no sheep present they might be just around the corner and your dog will know they are there before you do!
You can do the walk in either direction, but this order is our prefered option as you get the best views at the beginning of the walk. All the caches are small in size but only contain a micro log (this will make sense when you find the first one!), do not expect swaps, or travel bugs. This is a route to show off the beautuy of this landscape and to share the history of the area.
As you've driven up towards the car park you wil have passed several quite grand looking houses, and maybe caught a glimpse of the Nannau Hall. This grand house was the centre of an estate that has been home to two of the most influential familes in the area, the Nanneys (an anglicised version of the Welsh Nanau) and the Vaughans. More on this later...
To impress their Victorian visitors they designed a series of walks in the area, and landscaped the paths to make the walking easier. The Precipice Walk has been popular with vistors and locals for more than a century, but this loop around Foel Offrwm was only reccently renovated and reopened.
When the weather is kind you'll get views of most of the mountain ranges of Southern Snowdonia (Eryri).
There is also an excellent book written about the Nannau Estate, which will be available in Dolgellau.