Rhobell Fawr

Tuesday 26th August 2008

With the weather much as it had been the day before, this was another day spent in clouds and getting wet. Instead of a wasted walk over one of the highest mountains in Wales I drove back to the area where I’d been walking on the previous Saturday and walked up to the top of Rhobell Fawr. This is a rather low hill, 730m, but covers a large area and I’m told has quite a striking appearance from a distance. I parked in the village of Llanfachreth and walked through woodland to a track that took me through a wonderfully colourful and picturesque valley, clad in purple heather.
 

At the top of the pass, Bwlch Goriwared, I turned right onto the open hillside and followed a wall heading east for several miles slowly climbing through the mist all the way up to the summit. Underfoot was bare grass rather than the lovely heather that I had passed earlier but the grass at least made the walk easier underfoot. This was not the best part of the walk as it was rather bleak and grim with just the wall beside me for company and open grasslands to my left. Eventually I reached the trig point and cairn at the wind-swept summit, but for lunch I found some shelter behind a large rock some distance away. After lunch I headed east again following a wall steeply down the hillside towards a forest. This required a lot of thought and care as I gingerly made my way down the slippery rocks and grass, but it was tremendous fun making my own way down.
 

At the forest edge I turned right along a track which kept to the edge of the wood. This was a delightful walk especially when it left the forestry plantation behind and skirted across the southern slopes of Rhobell Fawr. The tracks eliminated all the effort of the walking and instead I was able to enjoy the walking for what it was. There were nice views across the Wnion valley and the track itself was ingeniously crafted, and is obviously a holdover from more industrial times. After passing through another wood I left the track and took a faint path across more wonderfully colourful landscapes where mixtures of purple and brown heather merged in with yellow gorse. Emerging from this wild, open country I returned to my car along more paths and through another wood. Despite the weather I really enjoyed this walk as it turned out to be really varied and more than anything else, colourful. This is one of the advantages of walking in late summer as the hills are a lovely colour thanks to the heather and concludes my long weekend in Snowdonia for the August bank holiday. The weather was not very good, but I still had some enjoyable walks, well some of them, maybe one or two.

Snowdon in bad weather

Monday 25th August 2008

The wet summer continued with a truly terrible day with very low clouds, strong winds and rain all day, though for some reason as I prepared to set off this only filled me with excitement for the day's walking ahead of me during which I got soaked. Starting from Nant Gwynant I walked up the Watkin Path, but I only got as far as the waterfalls where I crossed the river and climbed up through trees onto the open hillside. I was following a walk that I'd done three years ago, but then in exceptionally better weather, and in reverse. I followed a miner’s track climbing steeply up the hill to the remains of the mine where I left the track and climbed steeply past various levels and beside some rather deep pits. They were quite fun to explore but in this weather it was probably not the best idea as some of the pits were not clear until you were almost falling into them. A more detailed inspection in better weather may be called for but I prudently moved away from the mine and climbed ever more steeply to the top of the ridge that culminates at Gallt y Wenault.

Turning left along the ridge I headed towards Y Lliwedd and was soon joined by the clear horseshoe path that took me up to the top. In bad weather this was quite a challenge as I was battling against the wind whilst trying not to slip on the wet rocks. Eventually, after passing over the first peak (Lliwedd Bach) and the East Peak, I reached the summit of Y Lliwedd, the West Peak. I have been up here twice before, but never in weather like this! Slowly I made my way down the steep rocky slope trying to rejoin the Watkin Path. Despite possibly going wrong I eventually reached the path which I was able to follow across Bwlch Ciliau and up the dreaded scree below the summit of Snowdon. I never realised until that day how steep the scree at this point is as it was a real battle in the wind to climb the steep slopes. When I eventually reached the marker stone, I collapsed, relieved to have finally made it, but I still had a little way to go.

Renewing my strength I climbed the last couple of hundred metres past the still unfinished café and onto the summit. Once more I was at the top of England and Wales and it was worth all the effort. It never fails to amaze me how popular Snowdon is as even in this most dire of weather as there was still a smattering of people at the summit, but of course it is a Bank Holiday Monday so that would bring people out whatever the weather. Sheltered behind the summit rock I had my lunch before beginning the descent. While repassing the cafè I wondered whether they will ever finish it. It has taken them two years to get this far and it still shows no sign of being completed. After passing the top of the Watkin Path and Bwlch Main I descended the south ridge across some quite gloriously rocky terrain. I have only ever descended this in bad weather and it still seems great, despite slipping over a couple of times on the wet rocks.

Eventually I reached Bwlch Cwm Llan where I decided that I would stick to my original plan of going up Yr Aran. It was only 3 o'clock and it had briefly stopped raining. I had only once been up Yr Aran before, when I did this walk 3 years ago, so this was a repeat ascent except that the weather was, of course, much worse. The path early on was very wet, as it was three years ago, and the path very faint. Eventually the path became clear and dry(ish) as it climbed the steep hillside to the shapely peak of Yr Aran following a broken wall to the top of the ridge. Turning right at the top of the ridge I struggled up to the top but this strenuous climb late in the day really took it out of me. Once at the summit I had something to eat and then returned to the wall and continued along the ridge heading towards the waterfalls in the valley. When the wall left me and the ridge started to descend steeply I veered to the left dropping very steeply down into the valley until eventually I picked up a miner's track that brought me to the valley bottom and the Watkin Path.

A walk in this sort of weather is always a real test of not only the walker but his equipment and some of mine was found wanting. My cagoule proved to be not particularly waterproof however I was aware of this and I am planning on buying a new one in the autumn. My boots were also leaking where they are coming away at the seam, so this walk has been helpful in showing up the inadequacies in my equipment and showed me where investments (or repairs) need to be made in the coming months. This was a tiring and challenging walk, but still immensely satisfying. Any walk up Snowdon in any weather is a great walk, because it is such a great mountain.

The Glyder Ridge

Sunday 24th August 2008

This was a day of changeable weather that started with rain first thing but ultimately turned out well and provided me with a great day's walk over some quite scintillating scenery. I parked near the Gwern Gof Uchaf camp site and walking through the site I made my way to the byway that runs along the bottom of the valley. This often wet and muddy track took right into Capel Curig and I actually quite enjoyed it. It was along the level so really was easy to walk and reminded me of some long distance paths; I don’t know if I’m getting older and a little unfit but I never used to like that sort of walk! With a view before me down the valley, past Capel Curig, I began my climb up the hillside through heather and outcrops onto the wide boggy ridge that led me all the way onto the Glyderau. I've never been on this path before and despite the extreme wetness I enjoyed the walk through lovely purple heather.

Eventually I left the worst of the bogs behind me and started to climb Gallt yr Ogof, branching away from the path to bag the top. From the summit I surveyed the scenery ahead of me, which included the Glyderau with Y Garn beyond, but the weather at this time was not agreeable as it was grey and overcast with occasional showers. During the climb I had glimpsed rain in the distance so I put on full waterproofs to prepare myself for the worst, but in fact it never happened and fortunately later in the day the weather improved. A little further along the ridge I reached Y Foel Goch where I had my lunch behind a small stone shelter while looking eastwards across the wide ridge I had just walked across and the dark clouds overhead. After lunch and with the weather still looking ominous I began to climb up to Glyder Fach. This is a great mountain that always attracts many people and this day was no exception. Moving past the crowds at the cantilever I walked up to the summit rocks and climbed onto the rock that is usually considered the summit. I have been up there quite a few times but it’s always necessary to make that attempt because just as on the nearby Tryfan it is the difficulty that makes the attempt worthwhile.

With that task completed I attempted the more difficult job of actually getting back down again, which I eventually accomplished, though not without difficulty. After crossing over to Castell y Gwynt I passed to the left of this magnificent assortment of rocks that also has its share of admirers and descended the gloriously rocky terrain below to make my way over to Glyder Fawr, a mountain that I have absolutely no love for. Glyder Fawr does have some good parts but none of them are near the summit which is bleak and inhospitable. Despite being bigger than Glyder Fach there were markedly less people at its summit (and they were only at the summit, unlike on Glyder Fach, which had people spread all over the top), and I also didn't linger long before beginning the tedious descent to Llyn y Cŵn. Once I had finally traversed the bleak, never ending scree slopes I started to climb up to the top of Y Garn, taking the right hand path to the cliff edge rather than the more direct route. The view from this path at the edge of the cliff was simply exhilarating especially when looking back towards the Glyderau. The weather by now had improved markedly with bright sunshine replacing the grey scenes of earlier in the day and enabled me to be able to take some quite good pictures of the Glyderau. Once over the summit I began my descent back into the valley down Y Garn’s magnificent north-easterly ridge, but I was distressed to discover that the path had been ruined! As I was going down I was just thinking that this was a wonderful route, possibly even better than the Devil’s Kitchen because it didn’t have a heavily manufactured path. And then just around the corner I saw lots of large black bags full of stones that had been helicoptered in, while a little lower down the path had already been manufactured which spoilt my fun challenge of trying to get down the steep, rocky hillside. Steps in the side of a mountain just ruin all sense of fun in the walk, making it too easy and is also harder on your knees. I guess the trick to avoiding abominations such as this is not to walk anywhere that is popular, but that can’t be helped when the scenery is as good as this. Overall, this was a great walk over territory that I love so much I keep returning year after year. There is nowhere else in the country to compare with the scenery in Cwm Idwal; it is a truly awesome place, but just a little too popular. I guess I should try and find an unorthodox route like I did a couple of months ago for Scafell Pike. A short walk along the road brought me back to my car.

Waun-oer and Maesglase

Saturday 23rd August 2008

For the August Bank Holiday I returned to Snowdonia and started with this walk, which was an attempt to echo my exploits of about four years ago when I was going all over Wales attempting to climb all the mountains in Wales no matter how dull they were in an attempt to bag every mountain above 2000 feet. This year I thought it would be a good idea to revisit the area towards the south of Snowdonia as I hadn’t been there since the Spring Bank Holiday weekend four years ago when I walked up other mountains in the area, Glasgwm and Cadair Idris. A look at the map of the area revealed two rather dramatic hills with steep cliffs that might be interesting so I decided to go up these hills which I'd never been up before. I drove over first thing in the morning and started the walk at the top of the pass on the A470, at Bwlch Oerddrws. Heading south from the car park I climbed up the hill by crossing under Craig y Bwlch and onto the ridge. There is a more direct route but I thought this would be better and it was enjoyable below the cliff (I always enjoy such paths) but the climb up onto the ridge was difficult and tiring. I was stopping every couple of steps just to get my breath; I must be unfit. Last autumn I started working in an office for the first time, after years of manual labour, and I think it must be having a bad affect on my fitness levels. This year I have found it a lot more difficult to get up the hills, and I must admit I have put on a bit of weight. I never realised until now how much my work was keeping me fit as I had always assumed it was the hill-walking. Also I have stopped walking to work and now I cycle, but perhaps that 30 minutes of walking to work was keeping me fitter than cycling just 5-10 minutes is doing now. Maybe I should go back to walking to work. From the top of the ridge I walked over the broad top of the nameless hill with the cliff Cribin Fawr on its eastern flank before traversing a col up to the top of Waun-oer. There is a trig point at the summit but the real attraction of Waun-oer is the amazing view west of Cadair Idris, which was quite simply awesome. Returning back to Cribin Fawr I used a path on the other side of the fence from my outward route. There seems to have been a change to the landscape since my map was made (the latest maps are correct). I had crossed over to Waun-oer to the right of the fence where there was open grassland while on the other side was a young wood, where a path is marked on my map, though I wasn’t sure how easy it would be to walk along that path now through the trees. Eager to find out I returned along this path and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the path was not as difficult as I'd anticipated and even eased the gradiant slightly by zigzagging as it descended to the bottom of the col. I am sure it won’t take long for the wood to completely take over and render the path impassable, and when that happens it will be a great shame as that path was the best I walked all day. Crossing Cribin I turned south descending to the cliff face, Craig Portas, which I passed over walking right next to the edge where good views could be seen down into the valley. Following the fence at the top of the ridge I climbed up to my next destination, the broad heathery bog of Maesglase, where I had my lunch, at the 674m top. I'd planned to continue the walk around the top of Craig Maesglase but by this time I was getting fed up with the bog and the bleak, grass scenery so I dropped straight down to the road via Moel Cwm yr Eglwys.

At the bottom I'd thought of trying to climb up Glasgwm but I got into considerable difficulty trying to get onto a forest road and eventually gave up as my leg was aching from a recent football injury and my heart just wasn’t in it; I was really exhausted. Despondently I tried to climb back up to the top of the pass avoiding the road as much as possible. I used a track early on and then a non-existent path to the farm Llawr-Cae. A walk along the road took me to a track which I followed over a ford and up the hillside, wading through dense bracken as I struggled to get back up to the top of the pass and the car park. These hills did not prove to be as interesting as I’d anticipated; the steep slopes I’d spotted on the map were covered in grass and heather while the tops were very wet and boggy. They are the sort of hills I have lost interest in having been up too many hills like them. It’s rugged, mountainous hills where there is an abundance of rock that really appeal to me now. This wasn't a great walk but it did show me the sort of walks that I like to do now, and it is interesting to see how my interests have changed. Ticking hills off a list holds little interest for me now, if it ever really did. I guess I'm getting old and I no longer find any enjoyment in struggling across dull terrain just to tick a name on a list.