Parking
Tan y Coed car park, signed from the A487 between Machynlleth and Corris. Free parking, blue-badge spaces and toilets are available; overnight parking is not permitted.
Overview
About Tan y Coed Animal Discovery Trail
Why go
- Waterfall and stream payoff on a short loop
- Animal clues give children a reason to keep looking
- Free parking, toilets and picnic facilities
Heads up
- Narrow, muddy and uneven sections
- Steep steps and ascents make it unsuitable for pushchairs
Map & elevation
The route
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Best time to go
Safety
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Eryri Tour Guide
Your drive to Tan y Coed Animal Discovery Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Eryri National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this area
The Forest the War Years Planted0:00 / 0:29
“At Tan y Coed, huge Douglas firs shade the picnic area. The forest around them has a surprisingly recent story. The Forestry Commission began planting here after the First World War to build Britain's timber reserve.”
Plays on the road 0.2 km from the trailhead in the Parkwolf Eryri Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- The Kite's Steering Tail
- A Partnership on the Bark
- Why the Dyfi Bridge Is So Long
- The Parliament and the Later Hall
- 298 audio storiesacross Eryri’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Grey Heron, Tawny Owl, Common Raven, and 9 more
- Works offlinemaps, 120 trails, 82 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Tan y Coed Animal Discovery Trail
The short versionA circular 1.1 mile / 1.
A circular 1.1 mile / 1.8 km loop on red waymarkers, starting and finishing at the Tan y Coed car park in Dyfi Forest. Allow about an hour, more if children are working through the numbered animal clues. Graded moderate, and genuinely so: this is a small walk with real steps and gradient in it, not a level stroll.
Route and payoffFrom the car park the route climbs away on forest road, then swaps onto rougher unmade rights…
From the car park the route climbs away on forest road, then swaps onto rougher unmade rights of way through conifers and beech woodland. It drops to the Nant Cwmcadian riverside, reaches the Pistyll Nant Cwmcadian waterfall, threads through the rock passage, and returns to the car park on the marked loop, sharing some paths with the longer trail at the site.
The waterfall and the stretch beside the stream are the reward. The rest is quiet, close-canopy woodland with the sound of moving water below you for a good part of the way.
Difficulty and footingThere are two benches and two picnic tables along the way, which suits a slow family pace with…
There are two benches and two picnic tables along the way, which suits a slow family pace with pauses.
- Not suitable for pushchairs.
- Sections of path are narrower than 80 cm, unmade and uneven.
- Expect mud, rocks and exposed roots, plus several flights of steps and steep ascents and descents.
- Boots or trail shoes with grip make a clear difference; smooth-soled trainers do not.
Wildlife cluesNumbered posts set animal puzzles, covering creatures such as robin, squirrel, owl, woodpecker,…
Numbered posts set animal puzzles, covering creatures such as robin, squirrel, owl, woodpecker, fox, hazel dormouse, buzzard and badger. Treat them as prompts for looking and listening rather than a promise of sightings. Realistically you may hear more than you see: small birds in the canopy, and occasional movement in the leaf litter.
Access, parking and dogsThe car park is signed from the A487 between Machynlleth and Corris, roughly 3.
The car park is signed from the A487 between Machynlleth and Corris, roughly 3.5 miles north of Machynlleth, on the left. There is free parking, blue-badge spaces and toilets, and no overnight parking. Dogs are welcome at the site; keep yours under control near the river and on the narrow, uneven stretches where there is little room to manoeuvre around other walkers.
If you want moreThe separate Tan y Coed Trail starts from the same car park and runs about 2.
The separate Tan y Coed Trail starts from the same car park and runs about 2.3 km with more climbing. Pick that one if you want a longer forest walk, or link a visit to both if you have a half day and legs for the gradient.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Eryri
77 sightingsGrey HeronMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
17 sightingsTawny OwlMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
32 sightingsCommon RavenMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
21 sightingsGreat Spotted WoodpeckerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
18 sightingsEuropean RabbitMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
161 sightingsViviparous LizardMost seen around 10 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Eryri. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
