Saturday 28th May 2005
After a month on the sidelines resting my aching knees I was eager to get back onto hills during the late May Bank Holiday weekend. My target was the Rhinogs on the Cambrian coast of Wales, which are a line of hills that runs from the Mawddach estuary in the south to the Dwyryd estuary in the north. I had glimpsed these hills the previous August while sitting at the top of Arenig Fawr while gazing in tremendous weather at the stunning scenery around me. I was instantly taken by the distinctive shape of the Rhinogs which have a deep pass between them. The actual Rhinogs would be walked on another day, but on this walk I was going over the hills that are actually the highest in the range, though less interesting than the Rhinogs, they are at least thirty metres higher.
Unfortunately, the weather for the walk was pretty grim, with low clouds and strong winds for most of the day. A bit of rain in the morning also managed to put a dampener on my enthusiasm for my first walk of the weekend, though fortunately the weather would improve. I drive to Wales early in the morning stopping at a small parking spot on a minor road that branches off the A496 at Bontddu, near Barmouth. Starting off I walked up the road to the end and immediately made a mistake. Instead of taking the track north at Banc-y-Fran, I followed the road that turned left, heading west. When I realised my mistake, I turned towards the northerly ridge, but I could not find any sign of the enclosed track marked on the map. My failure to find the path added to the miserable weather and made this a really bad start to the walk. I was all set to give up except that I had nothing else to do!
Having eventually found the correct path I headed up the ridge of Braich, but I was feeling very depressed, while the bland, grassy path did nothing to lift my spirits. After slowly struggling up the steep path I eventually reached the top of the ridge above Llawlech and I was rather indecisive about what to do. A brief excursion down the path on the other side of the ridge taught me that this was not a good idea as I soon lost the path in the poor weather conditions. Learning my lesson I returned to the top of the ridge and headed east to Diffwys. A strong wind continued to assail me as I struggled across the boggy ground keeping a stone wall to my right all the way. In low cloud conditions like this if you can find a wall or a fence to follow it makes navigation considerably easier.
I was surprised when I reached the trig point at the top of Diffwys as I hadn’t felt like I’d reached the top of anything, so bland were the surroundings. I sat down beside the concrete pillar and had my lunch before resuming my walk by heading north along the top of the ridge of Crib-y-rhiw. The wind was now really attacking me and made progress extremely difficult, with just walking in a straight line a virtual impossibility. After passing along the ridge the bulk of Y Llethr reared up ahead of me in the clouds and I climbed up onto its broad grassy top. Passing the summit cairn I walked along the top to the north-eastern corner of the hill where I could see down to Llyn Hywell and in better weather I would have seen the two Rhinogs. At the point where the path begins a precarious descent to Llyn Hywel I climbed over the wall and headed back the way I had come, passing the summit and descending over Crib-y-rhiw again. I was now walking on the eastern side of the wall, sheltered from the wind and at the top of a high cliff edge and finally I was beginning to enjoy the walk as I went along a path that clung to the edge of the cliff.
[The picture below was borrowed from Wikipedia. I didn't buy a camera until September 2005 so all the photos from my walk in May 2005 month were not taken during the walk in question. I have not returned to the Rhinogs since the weekend described, but I really should as the scenery below looks better than I would have seen in the bad weather]
Eventually I reached an unnamed 688m peak just north of Diffwys where a path descends south down the hillside. Braving myself against the strong winds that were blowing up Cwm Llechen I followed the path down to disused levels and then walked along an old incline that led me down to a wood. This was a great, clear path that was always interesting as it descended the rocky slope and was easily the highlight of the walk. Entering Cwm Mynach Wood I followed a path to a forest road, which I followed south until I emerged from the wood above Garth-gell. I was quite surprised when I came out of the wood to discover that the sun had come out. After spending all day walking in the clouds it was a pleasant surprise to have a sunny end to the day and now a short walk took me over the top of a hill, past the remains of Clogau Mine and down Cwm Llechen to the road and my car.
Eventually I reached an unnamed 688m peak just north of Diffwys where a path descends south down the hillside. Braving myself against the strong winds that were blowing up Cwm Llechen I followed the path down to disused levels and then walked along an old incline that led me down to a wood. This was a great, clear path that was always interesting as it descended the rocky slope and was easily the highlight of the walk. Entering Cwm Mynach Wood I followed a path to a forest road, which I followed south until I emerged from the wood above Garth-gell. I was quite surprised when I came out of the wood to discover that the sun had come out. After spending all day walking in the clouds it was a pleasant surprise to have a sunny end to the day and now a short walk took me over the top of a hill, past the remains of Clogau Mine and down Cwm Llechen to the road and my car.
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