Yr Eifl

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yr Eifl
Yr Eifl from Llandegfan at sunset
Elevation	564 m (1,850 ft)
Location	Llŷn peninsula, Wales
Prominence	c. 433 m
Topo map	OS Landranger 123
OS grid reference	SH364447
Listing	Marilyn
Translation	The forks (Welsh)
Pronunciation	[əɾ əivl]

Yr Eifl is a mountain on the Llŷn peninsula in Gwynedd, north-western Wales.

It has three summits, each quite separate from the others, which is often supposed to be the source of the English name The Rivals, but this is merely an anglicised form of Yr Eifl, meaning "the forks" or "the strides" (Welsh: gafl, plural geifl).

On a clear day, the views from the summit reach as far as the Isle of Man, the Wicklow mountains in Ireland and the Lake District, as well as the entire sweep of Cardigan Bay.

[edit] The three peaks

There are three peaks:

Tre'r Ceiri (485 m),
Garn Ganol (564 m) and
Garn For (444 m).

Garn Ganol, the central summit is the highest, and houses the trig point;

Garn For, the northern summit is the lowest and has a microwave radio relay station on it, as well as granite quarries (producing the material for the curling event at the 2006 Winter Olympics), and a cliff face leading down to the Irish Sea. The third summit, Tre'r Ceiri, on the south-eastern side, is intermediate in height, at 485 m, and is the location of the Iron Age hill fort Tre'r Ceiri.

[edit] Climbing routes

Routes lead onto the hill from Llithfaen, Llanaelhaearn and Trefor. On the west side of Yr Eifl, is a small valley leading down to the sea. This is Nant Gwrtheyrn ("Vortigern's Valley"), a valley with no public roads, which is now home to a Welsh-language teaching centre.