Following Tony Drake's death in 2012, The Ramblers among others received a legacy to be used for maintaining and promoting the Cambrian Way. To this end, working parties were set up in each region to survey the route with the purpose of establishing any repairs that were needed and assessing what trail marking could be implemented. In the process of doing this a number of suggestions for improvements were put forward, either to rationalise existing options, remove sections of road walking or follow more attractive routes. In seeking cooperation with National Parks Authorities, issues were raised about rights of way, mountain safety and bad weather alternatives, particularly in the Rhinog mountains. The rights of way issues proved largely to be due to inaccurate mapping rather than the route itself, but the other matters remained. A number of proposals were put forward by the Snowdonia NPA and these have been incorporated either in total or in part. All these are included in the forthcoming Cicerone guide and GPX files will be made available for download both here and on Cicerone's own website.

Please note that trail marking of the route has now commenced and this follows the new route. If you are following the Tony Drake guidebook, do not get confused if there are trail marks following a different route in some places.

The route has now been split into 21 Stages, each one aimed at being possible in one day. However, this makes a few into very long days, so many people may wish to split them up. They are:

Although there is now some Cambrian Way trail marking, this is mainly confined to farmland and low lying areas, so it must be stressed that the Cambrian Way is still largely unwaymarked and that the walker has to be able to navigate by map reading. Experience in interpretation of contours is crucial and a compass is also needed. However, the most useful modern device is a GPS navigation aid which will not only tell you exactly where you are, but can also hold GPX files of the route which can be followed, taking much of the effort out of route finding in all weather conditions. Of course, this does depend on battery power, so it is still important to know how to use a map and compass. In an emergency, mobile phones are generally useless, particularly in the valleys, though they can often pick up a signal on mountaintops where there is a clear line of sight, even if the nearest mast is several miles away. In remote areas phone boxes are generally being phased out through lack of use, though there are still a few around.

Do not make the Cambrian Way your first long distance walk but try other challenging routes and try navigating away from paths on open access land. Make sure you have waterproof clothing and that your boots will keep your feet dry and blister free.

A reasonably strong and fit walker can cover the distance in about 20 days. By comparison the Pennine Way is 25 miles shorter and involves only half the ascent required for the Cambrian Way, with average time of 19 days. Many choose to split the route into three, such as Cardiff to Llandovery in 9 days, the Central section to Dinas Mawddwy in 6½ days and the Snowdonia section in 8 days. The clear message that comes through the valuable reports that come back is that the route was tougher than expected and that the enjoyment was dependant on the weather more than anything else. The Welsh mountains have several times as much rain as southern England.

The guidebook lists places where you can spend the night close to the route but for more detail and up-to-date information, these are now shown on the Accommodation page of the website. Entry in the book is free and at the discretion of the Cambrian Way Trust. Tourist Board certification is not insisted upon. Most establishments were visited by Tony Drake and nearly half were stayed at overnight by him but in recent years a number of others have been added without necessarily being visited. The Cambrian Way Trust takes no responsibility for the information provided or for the standard of accommodation or other services provided.

There are 8 YHA hostels on or close to the way as well as a growing number of independent hostels and bunkhouses. YHA has had to capitalise on its property values so many hostels have closed or are being run by other organisations, sometimes with YHA booking facilities at least to begin with. Ty'n y Cornel and Dolgoch are now run by Elenydd Wilderness Trust following a fantastic appeal and they now have their own website for online bookings www.elenydd-hostels.co.uk/

A number of campsites are listed as well as other establishment that permit camping. There is also scope for wild camping on much of the route, but this is not allowed except by permission of the farmer or landowner. Many pubs providing meals are listed but beware that many establishments do not have meals available every day of the week and many rural pubs have suffered loss of trade and may have reduced services and either only opening in the evenings or being closed altogether.

Prices are given where possible but an increasing number of places have their own website with full details and often with online booking or availability facilities. Be aware that in popular places establishements can often get fully booked at certain times of the year so it is important to make sure of avaiability before arriving, as it may be a long way to any alternative. Youth hostels can get fully booked by school parties or other groups, not just in school holidays, but at other times of year. There are also local festivals and events that result in all accommodation being fully booked over a wide area, such as the Abergavenny Food Festival in September and the Hay-on-Wye Book Fair in late May/early June. Accommodation is available but limited in the Elenydd and Plynlimon areas and there is no accommodation in the central part of the Rhinogau. This means either a walk of 5 or 6 miles off-route either east or west may be required unless a pickup can be arranged (A taxi arrangement has worked well to pick up at a phone box in Cwm Nantcol to take walkers to Llanbedr or Harlech, though the future of remote phone boxes remains uncertain).

As the Cambrian Way is predominently a high level route, the weather is an important factor to consider when planning a walk, both from the enjoyment perspective and from considerations of mountain safety. The highest parts of walk are over 3000 feet (915 metres) above sea level, and are often snow covered for several months of the year, which can bring added danger with slower walking speeds which also require greater effort. Rainfall can also be more frequent and heavier at certain times of the year, as can high wind speeds. As the weather is so unpredictable there can be no guarantee as to what it will be like, but consulting charts of average monthly weather can improve chances of avoiding the worst weather conditions. One thing however is certain and that is that daylight hours are limited in winter months and this can limit how long a section of walk can be attempted, bearing in mind that going may be slower than expected and some contingency should be made for this. In the middle of summer there is no such problem with darkness only falling at about 10pm, allowing longer sections to be walked whilst still leaving enough time for unexpected delays.

The Brecon Beacons and Snowdonia include many of the highest parts of the route, and there are a number of websites showing statisics for these, such as World Weather Online (Brecon) and MountainWalk.co.uk (Snowdonia). Neither of these show the conditions on the mountain tops, where there can be as much as double the rainfall, stronger winds and temperatures 4°C cooler.

The AdventureSmart website has a section devoted to Wales giving further useful information about weather conditions and mountain safety, which can help when planning a walk.

These statistics show that the best months are between May and September, with June probably about the best of these. There is moderate risk of snow on the mountain tops in April, but considerably less risk in May. Later in the summer, there is a greater risk of thunderstorms and occasional days with excessively high temperatures, which can be more of a danger than low temperatures due to heat exhaustion and dehydration. By September, the hours of daylight have reduced significantly, which means that there is a risk of darkness falling if anything causes delay in the schedule, whereas in June there are only a few hours of total darkness with twylight lasting beyond 10 p.m.

For short term mountain weather forecasts up to three days ahead, the MWIS (Mountain Weather Information Service) gives a Brecon Beacons Forecast and a Snowdonia Forecast. The BBC Weather Service at www.bbc.co.uk/weather/ gives forecasts for any town in the UK for up to five days ahead, but bear in mind that this does not take account of the different conditions on the mountains.

Should you be unfortunate enough to require assistance from the Mountain Rescue or Ambulance Services whilst walking, they can be contacted by the usual 999 emergency number from a mobile phone if there is sufficient signal strength to make a call. Signal strength is often poor or non-existent in valleys or when surrounded by hills, but is generally better on higher vantage points where there is an increased chance that a transmitter mast will be in line of sight, even if it is several miles away. When signal strength is poor, it is sometimes possible to send SMS text messages when normal voice connections will not work. There is now an EmergencySMS service available by simply texting to 999 stating your problem and location. To use the service your mobile number should be pre-registered as this will save valuable time in an emergency. To see full details and to register, visit http://www.emergencysms.org.uk/.

Please Note that the website still states that the service is primarily for deaf, hard of hearing or speech-impaired people, but the service providers have been contacted and it has been confirmed that anyone can use this service when other options fail.

The what3words service is a system that is now being used by emergency service for identifying a location particularly in areas where there is no address or post code to work with. In this system the world is split into 3m squares and every one is given an identification of three seemingly random words. An app can be downloaded onto a mobile device which then uses the device's location to generate three words and these can be passed on to emergency services (or anyone else using the system) to pinpoint the sender's location with accuracy wherever they are. This is particularly useful in remote areas such as along the Cambrian Way provided it is possible to get a mobile signal. The app can be downloaded from https://what3words.com/ along with further information about how to use the system. Also see our Help Page for further explanation.