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.
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