10 of the best autumn woodland walks: readers’ travel tips

Readers celebrate the changing colours, sounds and smells that are a particular joy on forest walks at this time of year

The word rainforest conjures images of a rich diverse flora and wild creatures. But you don’t have to travel to Costa Rica to see it; Celtic rainforest sounds and is just as exotic. The Atlantic oak woods of the Ceunant Llennyrch nature reserve raise the spirit and are home to more than 400 species of moss and lichen, with one species – the blackberries in custard lichen (scientific name black perithecia) – found nowhere else. Such is the forest you find when you walk through the Ceunant Llennyrch gorge up the River Prysor. These woods are being restored to the way they were 10,000 years ago. Truly primeval. A good footpath leads from the road at Maentwrog.
Martin Owen