Walkers climb to the rally. Photo: ©Tom Hutton

More than 250 walkers followed writer and climber Jim Perrin on to a Welsh mountain to protest at plans to build 64 wind turbines.

The rally was held in the foothills of Pumlumon in the heart of the Cambrian Mountains at the weekend and drew participants from as far away as Greater Manchester, with Perrin riding to the event on horseback.

The Cambrian Mountains Society says the area where the turbines would be built, including two that will tower to 140m (460ft), is one of the most tranquil spots in Wales and classified by the Countryside Council for Wales as a landscape of outstanding quality – the highest designation possible. The society is campaigning for it to be designated as an area of outstanding natural beauty. Any development of this scale would destroy the chances of this happening, it said.

It is also a historic site for Welshmen and women: it was here, at Hyddgen, that an outnumbered Owain Glyndŵr, considered the last native Prince of Wales, won the first battle of his uprising against the English.

Perrin told the crowd: “Nowhere better epitomises resistant Welsh nationhood than the wild landscape of Hyddgen. It is here that we hope to make our stand against the depredations upon Welsh landscape by heedless, ill-considered government. May the spirit of this place impart its strength to us; and may we in our turn, help preserve it undiminished by threatened environmental atrocity.”

SSE Renewables is seeking permission to build the turbines on Forestry Commission Wales land to provide enough energy for 65,000 homes. The Welsh Assembly Government has selected the site as suitable for large-scale wind energy schemes.