Cadair Idris

Wednesday 2nd September 2009

Cadair Idris was the latest mountain in my round of Great Welsh Mountains and the latest mountain for me to become drenched on. In the morning, though, the weather was very good as it wasn't raining, and briefly the sun even came out. I parked near the Minffordd Hotel so I could walk up Cadair Idris by the same route that I had used last time, in 2004, which is the best route, the Minffordd Path. After paying my parking fee I proceeded up the path that climbs steeply beside the Nant Cadair, past many stunning waterfalls. After a long tiring climb the path finally levelled off and I was able to enjoy the surroundings in the increasingly good weather.

On reaching Llyn Cau I walked to the shore and had a good look around while taking many pictures. The cliffs around the lake are stunning and give the surroundings a great alpine atmosphere that must rank as one of the best in Wales. Reluctantly I left the side of the lake and returned to the path climbing up to the top of the cirque along the rocky top to Craig Cwm Amarch. This was a fantastic walk on wonderfully rugged terrain in surprisingly good weather. By now the clouds had lifted from the summit of Cadair Idris and the sun was out as I enjoyed the best weather I had experienced all week. It was looking like it was going to be a fantastic day, except for the dark clouds that were quickly approaching. Continuing the climb along the top of the cliffs, Craig Cau, I descended to a col and up the steep rocky slope to the summit of Cadair Idris. By the time I reached the top it was already covered in clouds and rain was not far off.

Going for shelter in the small building near the summit I had my lunch and planned my onward route while heavy rain hammered into the roof. When I went up Cadair Idris in 2004 I had walked along the eastern ridge all the way to the end at Gau Craig but that had been in excellent weather. Now, when I eventually emerged from the shelter during a lull in the storm there were fleeting views of the Mawddach estuary, but the bad weather had not gone far. By the time I’d walked a short distance across the summit plateau it had started raining again and I knew what route I would take down. I would descend by the usual return route for the Minffordd Path down the southern slopes of Mynydd Moel.

Soon the clouds had enveloped me once again which made route finding a little tricky especially at one point when I wasn't sure where to go until the clouds opened up slightly and opportunely. The terrain at this point was particularly rock-strewn and I would have been quite enjoyable had I been able to see anything as I was perched near the top of steep ground. The views in good weather across the Llyn Cau bowl from this point must be tremendous. Eventually I reached a stile over a fence where the path subsequently followed the fence down the hillside through a beautiful display of heather. One of the advantages of walking at this time of the year is the heather that populates many a moor and mountain landscape, but this was a particularly fine display of that most dominant of moorland plants. The path continued down the hill and crossed the Nant Cau rejoining my outward route. This walk had some fantastic moments, mainly in ascent when the weather was good, but the terrain at the top of the mountain was always first class. It’s a pity the descent was spoiled by rain and thick cloud, but I was getting used to that by now! Even in the rain this mountain didn’t fail to satisfy, it is most assuredly one of the Great Welsh Mountains.

The Nantlle Ridge and Cnicht

Tuesday 1st September 2009

My tour of the greatest mountains in Wales continued with the Nantlle Ridge, a fabulous narrow ridge near Snowdon. After parking near the village of Rhyd Ddu I set off across sodden fields and up the steep unrelenting slope of Y Garn. This is a fabulous path that has not been blighted as others have been in the area: it’s not been manufactured, so it’s simply formed by the tread of many walkers in the past, including myself. I have climbed this slope several times and each time I have been rained on during the climb; as this was the norm for this week it’s obvious I was also rained on this time as several showers passed over me before eventually I reached the summit of Y Garn and the northern end of the Nantlle Ridge. Astonishingly I had clear views from the top as the skies cleared and from this point I began a fantastic walk scrambling along the top of the ridge. The scramble up to Mynydd Drws-y-coed is first rate, while the sheer cliffs to my right and the wet rocks ensured a hair-raising experience. I have never been on this ridge in good weather, so I was enjoying the clear views that I now had, but as I reached the top of the mountain clouds descended onto the ridge and normal service was resumed. While battling strong winds I made my way along the ridge to the top of Trum y Ddysgyl. With the Nantlle Ridge half complete I sadly had to leave it behind and make my way back down into the valley. The Nantlle Ridge is a wonderful walk, it’s really quite special, but it does not lend itself easily to round walks so after walking along the best part of the ridge, the scramble up Mynydd Drws-y-coed, I decided to descend the south ridge of Trum y Ddysgyl and go elsewhere for another walk.

Near the bottom of the descent I looked back at the Nantlle Ridge and found the whole ridge completely clear of clouds. I was almost angry with the ridge for waiting until I’d descended before clearing! Fortunately it didn’t stay clear for long. At the bottom of the grassy ridge is the pass, Bwlch-y-Ddwy-elor, where I joined a bridlepath that passes through into a lovely display of the pink flowers of heather. One of the advantages of walking at this time of the year is the wonderful colour of the heather-clad moors that make a real treat of what at other times is dull terrain. On plunging into a wood a wet, muddy path took me all the way down to my car. Immediately, I drove through the Pass of Aberglaslyn to the village of Croesor and a car park where I had my lunch.

After I had eaten I began the second walk of the day as I climbed up to the top of a mountain that is sometimes described as the Welsh Matterhorn, for its conical appearance from Croesor: Cnicht. Climbing steeply at first I turned into an area of heather and bracken where Cnicht could be seen ahead of me looking intimidatingly steep, but annoyingly with its top covered in clouds. As I climbed higher the path became more fun as rock was more prevalent while the gradient was steeper. After much fun I plunged into the clouds with the howling wind blowing around me and soon, after more scrambling, I reached the summit, where I found a grassy ridge behind the perfect mountain peak. This was still fun to walk along until the ridge deteriorated and widened into moorland where I had to take great care in the poor weather as I made my way across the moor to a path that crossed mine.

Turning right I followed this path across the undulating terrain, though it does not seem to agree with that on the map but parallels it heading south past the lakes, LLynnau Diffwys, until I reached the bottom of the saddle on the top of Cwm Croesor at a miners' road. Turning right it was really fun walking along this track that was perched high above the valley on a ledge that would have required some great engineering in its construction, but soon stopped at the top of a steep incline down to the valley floor. An attempt to descend the incline in the wet weather would have been suicide so I sensibly decided to return along the track to the point where I’d joined it. There I found a much more disintegrated miners' path that descended over a stream and ingeniously crossed the slopes of the southern side of the valley. I love miners’ tracks on mountains because even though the mining ceased decades ago they remain as a testament to the skill of those long-forgotten miners.

Before long I was at the top of another incline though this one was grass covered and less steep. Without a moment's thought I took the plunge and started walking down the incline but soon, inevitably, I slipped over on the wet grass so deliberately allowed myself to slide all the way down on my backside. There’s not a more fun way down a hillside! At the bottom I walked along the bed of an old tramway all the way back to Croesor. Despite the bad weather and the difficulties with the path on the moor I really enjoyed this walk, especially the climb up Cnicht, a truly great mountain. This is a fascinating area from a mining point of view and I would love to return and explore the old miners’ tracks some more, but preferably when it’s not raining. I’m getting a bit fed up of being rained on.

Snowdon via the Horns

Monday 31st August 2009

Once again for an August Bank Holiday up Snowdon it was raining and for the second day running I had heavy rain, low cloud and strong winds. I was becoming resigned to not being lucky with the weather on this holiday. After parking in Nant Peris car park I caught the bus up to Pen-y-pass. I am astonished at how expensive it's becoming to walk up Snowdon these days. The parking at Pen-y-pass is now £6 and there's even a ticket machine in the Nant Peris car park, though fortunately on the day of this walk it was covered up. On reaching Pen-y-pass I started along the Miner's Track, but I didn't get very far along the track before branching off onto a faint path that climbed the hill to the right. This is a well designed path that zigzags up the hillside towards a line of hills called the Horns. In all my expeditions up Snowdon I’d never been over the mighty Horns of Snowdon before, probably because they are a small line of hills that are no more than two thousand feet high whereas Snowdon is more than three and a half thousand feet high. Nevertheless it was enjoyable to walk over the undulating tops, especially in the low cloud. Looking at an old map it would appear that the well designed path that I took at first was the original route of the Pyg Track built by miners hundreds of years ago before the steeper, rougher modern track was built that passes through Bwlch Moch. I didn’t stay on this path for long though as it doesn’t go over the top of the Horns but crosses the western slopes. Keeping to the top I passed over the highest points on the Horns relishing the bad weather that was making these low hills much more dramatic than they actually are. If I’d been able to see Crib Goch and Snowdon towering over me then the Horns would have seemed as insignificant as they actually are but in this weather they were the mighty Horns of Snowdon. From the top of the Horns I descended onto the Pyg Track at Bwlch Moch and followed the path all the way up to Snowdon.

The Pyg Track has become badly eroded in recent years, probably due to poor construction of the path in the past. The main problem appears to be a lack of drainage so when it rains heavily (which happens occasionally in Wales) the water pours down the path washing it away. Drainage is the single most important consideration in path construction but the people who built the current surface of the Pyg Track failed to take that into account. I am not a great fan of constructed paths but when it has to be done then the least that they can do is make sure they do a good job so someone doesn’t have to come along a few years later and do it all over again as is clearly going to be done here. Footpath construction is expensive; if the path isn’t going to last very long then it's money down the drain. Rant over. Eventually the brilliance of the original designers of the Pyg Track was revealed as the path cunningly crosses the hillside below Crib Goch incorporating some fun little scrambles up the natural rock faces. Despite the terrible condition of the path in places and the strong wind and rain, I still quite enjoyed this walk, especially once the scrambling started.

After battling the strong wind I eventually reached the Llanberis path at Bwlch Glas and made my way up the steepening slope to the summit of Snowdon. After visiting my old friend, the summit, I tried to get into the new visitor centre and found that it was closed, again. Last time I was here, in March, the centre hadn’t opened yet so it was understandable, but the centre opened in June and there were workers in the centre, but since the train wasn’t running it was shut. Instead I sheltered, as I had the last time, behind the centre, the most expensive wind-break in the world, and had my lunch. After eating I made my way down off the mountain, quite happy to be getting away from the wind and rain. My route of descent was the Llanberis path, a route that I've not used since February 2004 when I took a group of friends up Snowdon under clear blue skies. This path seems to be in just as bad a condition as the Pyg Track though there are signs that work is being done to repair the old repairs to the path. The weather gradually improved as I descended though the rain was never far away. Once in Llanberis I had a look around the tourist trap before quickly leaving along the main road making my way back to Nant Peris.

Nant Peris is a spectacular valley but it is difficult to walk in, which is a great tragedy. I was able to walk through the Nant Peris Park and enjoyed this small part of the valley, but relics of former quarrying and high, sheer walls on either side of the valley that stretched all the way up to Pen-y-pass bar any route up to the top for walkers and that is really frustrating as it is a stunning valley that can only be enjoyed from a car. During my walk through the valley of Nant Peris, returning to the car park, I enjoyed the best weather of the day, a brief respite from the rain, but despite the bad weather that accompanied me for most of the time it wasn’t a bad walk. I really enjoyed walking over the Horns and Snowdon is always a delight, despite the poor quality of the paths. I believe it is possible that if the paths had been left them alone in the first place they wouldn’t be in the condition that they are in now.

The Carneddau

Sunday 30th August 2009

This time last year on the August Bank Holiday Monday the weather was terrible and this year I seemed to be having similar weather with persistent rain, low cloud and high winds. Last year I went up Snowdon in bad weather so when I woke up to rain this year I decided it would be the Carneddau that would get the bad weather treatment and unfortunately the rain would continue for the rest of the week. I had decided that I wanted to do a repeat of the very first walk I made over the Carneddau in 2003 when I was still quite green as far as hill walking is concerned. The weather on that occasion was much better and served as an excellent introduction to the delights of the Carneddau and to scrambling. After driving over from the youth hostel I parked near where I’d started my walk the day before, below Tryfan. The walk began by going past a farm at the western end of Llyn Ogwen and up a very muddy path marked by wooden posts beside the stream, Afon Lloer with views through the mist of a rainbow around Cwm Idwal. Eventually I reached Ffynnon Lloer where I had a look at the lake and the low cloud that lingered around the cliffs that surround. Returning to the path I climbed up the east ridge of Pen Yr Ole Wen on a fabulous scramble that I remember from the last time I was here in 2003. It was a good introduction to the delights of scrambling being an easy and short climb, but in stunning surroundings, however, I’m sure I remember not enjoying the scramble back in 2003. Now I enjoyed it immensely despite the shortness and the ease of the climb, but of course back in 2003 I had never done anything like that before having before this point mostly walked along grassy ridges. Its amazing how back then I preferred a grassy ridge to a rocky slope. How things change! Once at the top I followed the ridge to the summit of Pen Yr Ole Wen and from there I followed the ridge over the large cairn of Carnedd Fach and up to the top of Carnedd Daffydd. Beyond the summit I continued along the boulder-strewn ridge taking extra care not to slip on the wet, slippery rocks. This is a fabulous ridge but the weather was making it quite tricky. I feel that thick mist adds a closed-in, slightly comforting feeling to a walk. It gives me the feeling that I am walking miles away from civilisation and from anybody else, when, in fact, this isn’t the case. I suppose the challenge of braving the bad conditions is also part of the appeal of walking in weather like this. However the wind was very strong which was making the traverse quite unpleasant at times but eventually I managed to climb up to the summit of Carnedd Llewelyn where I had my lunch while listening to the Belgian Grand Prix.

After lunch I descended the grassy slopes of the southern ridge until it narrowed into a wonderful walk with rock under foot along a narrow ridge. It was an absolute delight to walk. Why had it taken me so long to do this walk again? There were some great scrambling moments that were made particularly tricky in the wet conditions, particularly at the end of the narrow ridge as I climbed up to the top of Pen Yr Helgi Du. I am sure that even when I did this part of the walk back in 2003 I loved this section including the scramble at the end. Despite not liking the scramble to Pen Yr Ole Wen I had been won over by the wonderful delights of the walk over the Carneddau and was thoroughly enjoying the scrambling moments even though  I was now in considerably worse weather. Once at the top I made a gentle scroll through the strong wind and rain along the wide grassy ridge down to a water channel which I followed to a tarmac road. Dropping steeply down this track took me back to the main road where a walk along the road eventually brought me to my car. Despite the awful weather I really enjoyed this walk mainly because it was over such fantastic mountains. This is one of the best walks in Wales and in years past acted as my introduction to scrambling. During this week in Wales I was aiming to do some of the greatest walks over the greatest mountains in Wales. Even in bad weather this was just such a great walk.

Cwm Idwal and Tryfan

Saturday 29th August 2009

To start of a week in Wales I visited an area of outstanding and dramatic rock scenery: Cwm Idwal, which seems to draw me back again and again even though it only a small area. The weather was poor throughout this walk and gave me the first downpour of the holiday, which was unfortunately something I would become tired of by the end of the week. After spending the morning driving over the lovely purple heather covered moors of the Peak District from Sheffield I started the walk at lunchtime parked below the impressive tower of rock known as Tryfan. I wanted to explore possible routes out of Cwm Idwal on this walk so I started by climbing up the path towards Y Garn before going off to look at a prospective path that climbs beside the stream to Llyn Clyd. This ultimately proved futile even though I did find a faint path beside the stream that would favour exploration another time. Moving back into Cwm Idwal I made my way across the heather clad slopes of the cwm while rain began to fall heavily, though it was short-lived. Upon reaching the fantastic Cwm Idwal path I climbed to the top of the coomb in the mouth of Twll Du, the Devils Kitchen, before descending along the path back down to the shores of Llyn Idwal. Leaving the main path behind I climbed the grassy hillside towards the bottom of the Y Gribin ridge. I had never been on this path before and I was really just following the clearest path I could find which seemed to be actually going towards the Nameless Cwm and hard scrambling territory. After finding the proper path again I passed over the top of the ridge to the lake, Llyn Bochlwyd where I joined the heavily constructed path that took me up to Bwlch Tryfan in rocky surroundings that were a sheer delight. After all my off-path excursions in Cwm Idwal it was wonderful to be able to relax and follow a clear path while enjoying the spectacular scenery. At the pass I took a path on the eastern side of Tryfan to the col with the far south top and scrambled all the way up the rocky terrain to the summit. Tryfan is one of the few mountains in Britain that can’t be walked up, even though the necessary scramble from this direction is relatively easy. In the damp conditions, however, it was a little tricky as the rocks were slippery but it was all right so long as I was careful. This was not the weather for a hard scramble (for me no weather is!). On reaching the summit it was very windy even though it hadn’t rained for a while so I turned around and headed back down to the col and onto the Heather Terrace.

I had never been on the Heather Terrace before and since I like terrace paths I was looking forward to this one but I had a mixed reaction to it: it's fantastic, clearly defined and narrow at the beginning, but deteriorates lower down becoming indistinct. It was still an enjoyable descent, but not as good as it could have been or as I’d hoped. This was quite a good walk, but marred by the poor weather. The main problem was the lack of a clear objective at the beginning. It might have sounded like a good idea to explore but it lacks a goal so it was only once I was heading for Tryfan that the walk became more satisfying and purposeful. I think exploring is only something that can be done in good weather which is what I didn’t have for this walk. The various paths I found would be worth exploring, even those into the Nameless Cwm, but they would have to wait for better weather.