Tal y Fan

About Tal y Fan

Tal y Fan is an outlying peak of the Carneddau, one of four Marilyns in that range along with Carnedd Llywelyn, Pen Llithrig y Wrach and Creigiau Gleision. It sits midway between the Conwy valley to the east and Penmaenmawr on the coast to the north-west, and is the most northerly summit in Wales above 610 m.

Its height has been close to the line: in May 2013 the BBC reported that a precise GPS measurement, verified by the Ordnance Survey, gave 609.98 m or 2,001 feet, confirming mountain status. Bwlch y Ddeufaen separates it from the main Carneddau ridge, where Carnedd y Ddelw is the nearest summit, with Pen y Castell directly opposite to the south.

Background written from facts in the Wikipedia article on Tal y Fan (CC BY-SA 4.0). Heights, prominence and grid references come from the Database of British & Irish Hills, not from Wikipedia.

Access rights here

General position for Wales — local byelaws, seasonal restrictions and closures can override it. Full details: access rights in Wales ·check another location.

Daylight at this summit today

Sunrise

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Sunset

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Daylight

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Civil twilight ends

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Computed astronomically for 53.236, -3.905. Plan your finish with the daylight safety planner.

Finding the summit

The recorded summit point is rock 3m SW of trig point. That distinction matters on broad or flat tops, where the obvious cairn is not always the true high point.

Survey method

Leica NA730/Leica GS15/Leica RX1250

Record revised

13-Dec-17

Drop measured from

SH 7144 7185 · 420.5 m

Classification history: Summit height was measured as 610.0 +/-0.05m.

Survey notes are field observations recorded in the Database of British & Irish Hills (v18.3, CC BY 4.0) by the hill-surveying community.

Long-distance paths past this hill

3 waymarked long-distance routes run within 2.5 km of the summit — useful if you are linking this hill into a longer walk, or want a made path for the approach.

Route lines © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); distance from the summit computed by OpenFell.

Reaching Tal y Fan by train

3 National Rail stations sit within 8 km of the summit — close enough to make a car-free day of it. Distances are straight lines, not walking routes.

Each station page lists every hill in its reach, long-distance paths from the door and a live-times link — see all stations with hills in reach. Station positions from NaPTAN (OGL v3.0).

Get food nearby

3 places to eat or drink within 10 km of the summit, rated under the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (Scotland runs its own Food Hygiene Information Scheme, a pass/fail equivalent).

Classifications and ratings are the local authority's own and can be coarse — this is a lead, not a guarantee of opening hours or that food is served to non-residents. Follow a name through to the official rating page to check, and confirm before you rely on it.

Food hygiene data from the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland (Open Government Licence v3.0). Distances and directions computed by OpenFell from the summit.

The Tal y Fan group

One other listed summit sits in the same prominence group, with Tal y Fan as the independent hill at its head.

Grouping is by prominence alone: a summit belongs to the nearest higher Marilyn it connects to without a deeper intervening col. Over a large massif that can gather hills no one would walk in a single day, and which few would describe as parts of the same mountain — it is a measure of independence, not a suggested route.

Nearest listed peaks