Mountains of the Merfynion 2026

Mountains of the Merfynion is a 730-kilometre gravel and road event through the mountains of Wales, starting and finishing near Abergavenny in the Brecon Beacons and looping north through some of the wildest and most sparsely populated landscapes in the British Isles, with 14,000 metres of elevation gain. The name refers to the ancient Welsh name for the Brecon Beacons range and signals the event's deliberate rootedness in Welsh cultural and geographical identity. The route crosses the Brecon Beacons, the Cambrian Mountains (the remote and under-visited upland spine of mid-Wales), and Snowdonia, with approximately 65% on tarmac and the balance on gravel tracks, mountain roads, and bridleways that become progressively more remote and challenging north of Aberystwyth. The Cambrian Mountains section is the heart of the event: enormous empty moorland plateaus, ancient drovers' roads, and hillside tracks with no services for 60 kilometres or more in any direction. Welsh weather is a constant factor — rain, mist, and wind are the default setting in these mountains regardless of season, and the August timing only partially mitigates this. The event is organised by The Perfidious Albion, a collective with a reputation for designing routes that take the British landscape seriously, and the Merfynion reflects a genuine love of Wales at its most raw and demanding.