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.
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