This is a circular walk of just over 4 miles with some moderately steep climbs.
The walk begins by climbing to the centre of the Castle-an-Dinas hillfort from which there are spectacular 360-degree panoramic views spanning Cornwall.The route then descends into the Menalhyl valley via Dennis Farm.
Since most Tudor scholars didn’t speak Cornish, and since Dinas sounded a little like "Danes", this was known for a while as "Castle of the Danes". In fact, "Dinas" simply means "Fort" in Cornish. "Kastel" is also a Cornish word meaning castle or fort, though another possibility for this is that there was a period in the Late Middle Ages where a “Castle” prefix was liberally glued onto a placename of anything remotely fortified (possibly to intimidate the French!), and for a while, the forts of Caer Kief and Caer Dane near Perranporth were also prefixed with "Castle".
From the Melahyl valley, the route follows tracks and small lanes rich in flora and birdlife to reach the river near Reterth. The walk then follows the river, which at three inches depth might be deemed an unlikely parking space for a longship.
A wooded path departs from the river, and another leaves from a short stretch of lane, eventually emerging at Tresaddern. In spring, the paths are lined with primroses, bluebells and wild garlic. The circular route is completed by following a small lane to the road from which the track to the car-park departs.
The walk is available as a guided walk app for Android and also available in the iWalk app for iPhone.