Rhinog Fach & Rhinog Fawr

To conclude my series on the walks I did in Wales in May 2005 I will recount a fabulous walk that over two great hills in Snowdonia that the locals hope we don’t find out about.

Monday 30th May 2005

On the last day of my weekend in Wales during the Bank Holiday I had amazing weather with clear views and bright sunshine all day. I couldn't have asked for a nicer Bank Holiday Monday; it didn't rain until after I had left the hills and was on my way home. The parking spot I had chosen for this walk was rather remote, but after my previous walk it was a pleasure to be away from people for a couple of hours! After driving down the A470 from Capel Curig, where I had overnighted, I turned right off the road onto a small country lane through two shut gates and over a cattle grid until it brought me to the edge of a forest near the Rhinog Fawr National Nature Reserve. Setting off through the forest I passed Graigddu-isaf and followed signposts that directed me towards Bwlch Drws-Ardudwy (yellow arrows usually pointed the right direction).

Eventually I emerged from the forest with the two hills of the Rhinogs sitting in front of me and after staying on the path for a bit I veered off to the left across the heather at the foot of Rhinog Fach looking for some semblance of a path up the north-eastern slopes. In the end I picked a young stream that in the forest becomes the Afon Gau and followed that up the steep heather-clad hill-side. The going was really rough as I followed anything that looked vaguely like a path, sometimes walking up the stream itself just in an attempt to gain a little extra height. Just when things were looking grim I discovered a clear, well-beaten path that ran up the hill towards the northern peak of the Rhinog (indeed it is probably the very same path that is marked on the map). Gladly following this path, I ascended the final section up the hill onto the small ridge that tops at Rhinog Fach.After taking in the stunning views all around me, especially those looking across the pass to the awe-inspiring Rhinog Fawr, I headed south along the top of the hill towards the summit at the southern end of the ridge. There I had something to eat and reflected on the peacefulness of my surroundings and the utter lack of anyone else anywhere around me. I had still not seen anyone on the walk, which was a far cry from just the day before. The descent was simple; I followed a stone wall that begins at the summit and goes down to a wooden ladder where I followed the path south beside the wall down to the col between Rhinog Fach and Y Llethr. It was amazing for me to think that I had been at the top of the hill opposite just two days previously and I had gazed down to where I was now standing, but I could not see anything in the low cloud. The skies were now clear and the weather was fantastic.

While descending to Llyn Hywel I passed the first people I had seen all day, three men all walking together up Rhinog Fach. After exchanging pleasantries I passed alongside the lake over large stones on its northern shore and then descended the hill-side beyond past Llyn Cwmhosan to the top of Bwlch Drws-Ardudwy. Ahead of me was a natural amphitheatre with what seemed like a sheer wall of rock that barred any progress from there onto Rhinog Fawr, however upon closer examination I saw a way up. North-east from the highest point of the pass is an embankment of large stones and scree that appeared to show signs of previous passage and so began an absolutely fantastic walk up to the top of Rhinog Fawr. It began with a narrow passage through heather to the start of a clamber over large stones, which in turn brought me to the bottom of a scree slope where a path zig-zagged up the hillside. These different varieties of surfaces continued all the way up the steep hill before the vague path plunged through a narrow gap between two great lumps of rock. A short scramble between the rocks brought me onto a plateau where I found a clear path that brought me after a short walk to the summit trig point. This was a thoroughly enjoyable ascent and a pleasure with every step; even now I look back on that ascent with fond memories.

I did not seen anyone during my long ascent and those three men had been the only people I had seen so far all day, so it was quite a shock to discover the summit of Rhinog Fawr packed with people (all right, that is a slight exaggeration - there were no more than a dozen). These people had clearly come up the gentler slopes to the west, unlike the route that I had taken. In the excellent weather for a Bank Holiday Monday I suppose it was unlikely that I wouldn't see anyone else, but after over half a day of isolation all these people came as something of a shock! After finishing the remains of my lunch I headed steeply down the hill heading north-west (not via the easy route east) and joined a path that ran at the bottom of a steep rocky slope. Turning right along this path I headed towards Llyn Du descending steeply down to the lake (these steep descents quickly rid me of other people!). I was now in total enjoyment mode again as I descended towards the eastern side of Bwlch Tyddiad.

Picking up the footpath through the pass I turned east towards the forest, and on entering the forest followed the yellow arrows again that led me beside a river past the Pistall Gwyn waterfalls, back to Graigddu-isaf and thence back to my car. This was a really enjoyable walk in stunning scenery and with excellent weather. The thing that I enjoyed the most about this walk was that I'd picked challenging and unorthodox routes up the mountains thereby missing all the people who were going up Rhinog Fawr by the easier paths from Cwm Nantcol. The lesson to be learnt from this walk is that where you go is not as important as how you get there. If you want an interesting walk up a hill don't pick the easiest route up; if weather conditions allow try a more challenging route. You'll get so much more out of it. I know I did.

Snowdon via Yr Aran & Y Lliwedd

Speeding right along with the reports from my walking holiday at the end of May 2005, the post below describes a great walk over a great mountain in great weather:

Sunday 29th May 2005

After the terrible weather I encountered on May Day I didn’t waste any time in returning to Snowdon for the second time in the month and this time the weather was considerably better, but the mountain was also considerably busier. After driving up from Dolgellau, where I'd overnighted, I parked in Nant Gwynant, but not in the car park as that was already full. I had to park in the lay-by at Bethania; by the afternoon cars would be parked all the way up and down the road on the grass banks. It was going to be a very busy day on Snowdon. I had picked an off-path route but I would not be able to avoid the crowds at the top. I simply had to accept that if I was stupid enough to climb Snowdon in such good weather on a Bank Holiday weekend I would get everything I deserved!

Starting off I went along the track at the start of the Watkin Path ascending into Cwm Llan, but before I reached the masses clustered around the Gladstone Rock I veered off left along a path that was heading towards Bwlch Cwm Llan. Veering off at an old tramway, I headed up another old track which took a curving route up the hill-side to reach a scree slope. Above the stones I came across a large hole in the ground, a disused quarry, which is another relic of all the mining that has happened in this area over the years. Skirting the edge of the chasm I headed straight up the hill-side until I reached the top of the ridge above Clogwyn Brith. With the hard work over I strolled along the ridge looking down on the large numbers of people who were ascending the Watkin Path below me as I enjoyed a pleasant stroll up the gradually steepening slope until eventually I reached the summit of Yr Aran, a prominent satellite of Snowdon.

The behemoth itself lay before me to the north and was my next destination, if I felt like braving the crowds. I wasn't really interested in going all the way up to the top of Snowdon and I even contemplated missing it out. Descending from the top of  Yr Aran I returned to a wall that I'd crossed earlier and followed the wall above Y Geuallt down to Bwlch Cwm Llan. Quickly traversing the pass I headed up the ridge in front of me over Allt Maenderyn and above Clogwyn Du. Soon the ridge levelled and I was joined by the tourist path from Rhyd-Ddu and dozens of tourists. The deluge I had been avoiding was now upon me and there was no getting away from it. I was surrounded by people from there on all the way up as we passed across the narrow ridge of Bwlch Main, and the press became even worse when we were joined by people from the Watkin Path. The final climb up to the summit café was horrendous as I weaved my way around people who were going up much slower than I am capable of going, even when heavily laden.

Actually when I reached the junction with the Watkin Path I seriously considered going down it; the only reason I went on was so I could use the toilet in the café. I squeezed into the building past all the people who were also trying to get in and used the toilet before quickly leaving again. I have never seen so many people on Snowdon with all the people who had walked up and the people who had taken the train it was busier than a supermarket on a Saturday afternoon. Since supermarkets are not my favourite places I ran back down the path to the start of the Watkin Path without even going up to the summit. I'm sure the view from the top was amazing, it certainly was going up, but I couldn’t see the top; it was just too full of people! My next target was Y Lliwedd, a hill that I had intended on going over on May Day but I had decided against it then when it started raining heavily. On this walk the weather was completely different and my biggest problem was not the rain but the people around me who were walking slowly down the path. Setting off down the Watkin Path I used my greater confidence on steep slopes to skip past many of them as they gingerly made their way down. I wasn't in a hurry, but I just felt like overtaking all these people who were holding me up, and perhaps showing off that I was much more experienced at walking over mountains than they were. I know, it was very silly and pathetic and if I had been overtaken by someone else racing down the hill like that I would have shaken my head at their carelessness and waited for them to fall. I didn't fall, but instead I had a tremendous time as I sailed down the rocky slope that it is actually the trickiest part of the Watkin Path.

When I reached Bwlch y Saethau I left the main path and keeping to the top of the ridge I scrambled over the rocks near the edge of the cliff, simply for the fun of it, and after passing Bwlch Ciliau began to scramble up Y Lliwedd. I thought by now I would have left all the crowds behind me as the Watkin Path continued to descend into Cwm Llan, but quite a few people were following me up the steep rocky hill, and I realised that I must have joined the people who were attempting the Snowdon Horseshoe. They would have earlier traversed Crib Goch and were now going over Y Lliwedd, all credit to them, but there were an awful lot of them. It rather undermines an achievement like that when there are so many other people are doing the same thing, but that's Snowdon for you.

Keeping as close to the edge as possible I completed the scramble up to the top of Y Lliwedd, and then (after a short rest!) I headed over to the East Peak before going down to the lesser peak of Lliwedd Bach. The path now heads steeply down the hill towards Llyn Llydaw, but I left the crowds well and truly behind me as I left the path and headed across the barren landscape east of Y Lliwedd. Skirting the boggy ground and rocky outcrops, I kept to the higher ground while heading towards Gallt y Wenaullt. At the end of the high peninsula I descended steeply down into the valley towards the remains of a mine where I found an old miners' track that would take me all the way back to the Watkin Path. But after following it for a while I left the path behind and kept to the north of a wall and a wood that the track passes through.

Eventually I crossed the wall near some sheep pens and emerged overlooking Cwm Llan and all the crowds in the valley. Steeply descending the hillside I came down to the river which I crossed using large stones that are marked on the map as a ford. I was now back on the Watkin Path at the point where I had left it in the morning and all that was left for me was a simple stroll back down the path to my car. This was a great and interesting walk over a variety of surfaces including some fun scrambles. It was just a pity I was not alone.

Diffwys & Y Llethr

I am continuing to recount my adventures in Wales in May 2005 with my first walk carried out at the end of May, and the weather was no better than at the beginning of the month: 

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.

Snowdon over Crib Goch

I am continuing my series of posts from my exploits in Wales during May 2005 with my first ever traverse of the perilous Crib Goch:

Monday 2nd May 2005

The weather for this walk was pretty awful as is usual on a Bank Holiday Monday, but that didn't put me off as I parked at Pen-y-Pass and paid my £4 fee for the pleasure. Initially I set off along the Pyg Track with the crowds of people who were heading up to Snowdon but I left them behind after going through a gate at Bwlch y Moch and headed up towards Crib Goch past all the warning signs. The weather was worsening as clouds closed in and it started to rain, but I was resolved to go over Crib Goch under any circumstances so I continued unabated. Soon, I encountered other people also heading up the rocky slope and started following two guys also picking their way up the steep, slippery surface. We started chatting and agreed that we would brave the weather conditions together and head over Crib Goch. I found the scramble up rather straight forward if a little tricky in the difficult weather conditions, but the top of the ridge was another matter. Once at the top I was in a no-mans land with clouds all around me and a constant buffeting of strong winds, though fortunately the rain had eased (for the moment). I don't mind saying I was petrified up there. Climbing up the rock wall was easy compared with shuffling along the top of the knife edge ridge with my right leg constantly kicking my left leg as I tried to get past it so I could move a little further along. In the strong wind I had no confidence to move along the ridge by anything more than a short shuffle, and at the points where I had to make a short descent I was almost struck rigid while trying to bring up the confidence to make even one simple step, and even that was easy compared with one point where I had to cross a flat slab of stone that couldn’t be crossed by any other means than walking across! It took me quite a few moments before I could summon up the courage to go over to the rocks on the other side of the slab.

The worst was almost over, with just one more tricky point where we couldn't find a way over a pinnacle on the ridge ahead that necessitated scrambling around the southern side of the structure in order to get past it. One of the two guys I was with thought the path must head straight downhill at this point for there was apparently no other route, but I was sure we had to stay at the top of the ridge so argued for us to find a way back up, which was eventually found. I'm sure in good weather this uncertainty would not have been present, but in bad weather the presence of a few cairns were a reassurance that we were indeed going the right way and soon the top of the ridge was found again, which led us down to Bwlch Coch. The remaining ridge up Crib y Ddysgl, while still presenting some tricky moments, was a more straight-forward ridge walk and led us up the hill to eventually reach the trig point on Garnedd Ugain. The way to Snowdon was down a simple slope to Bwlch Glas, where we joined the Llanberis Path and the railway, with the Pyg Track joining us from the left. The crowds increased as we climbed up to the summit, which as always, even in such poor weather, was full of people. After all the excitement, thrills and nervousness on Crib Goch it was almost an annoyance to see all these people. The deserted summit of Garnedd Ugain was much more to my liking.

After a lunch surrounded by the dozens of people milling around the summit I said goodbye to my two walking companions who were descending by the Pyg track as I headed south-west from the summit to the start of the Watkin Path. The scree slope below the summit of Snowdon where the Watkin Path descends to Bwlch Saethau is a maze of paths that can be very confusing when in clouds. When I did the Watkin Path two years previously I was also under clouds on this section and found that the most difficult part of the route then, probably because I was straying off the easiest path. On this walk I had a similar problem as my route became steeper and more precarious until eventually I discovered the proper path below me. I resolved then to do this section in clear weather as soon as possible just so I could see where I should have been going on both these occasions. As I descended the heavens opened and it started raining heavily which made the descent even more awkward.

When I reached Bwlch Ciliau I had a decision to make: do I continue over Y Lliwedd as planned or do I stay alive and keep on the Watkin Path all the way down into the valley. The weather conditions were now so bad I decided that the prudent move would be to go down the Watkin Path into Cwm Llan as heavy rain was continuing to fall. This was a pleasant walk in the rain but I did have a problem: my waterproof trousers had split while going over Crib Goch so my trousers were now saturated which was making my foot wet as well. Because I'd bought a cheap pair of waterproof trousers I would be finishing the walk with a wet left foot; c'est la vie. When I eventually reached Nantgwynant I discovered that I had just missed the bus, so rather than wait an hour for the next bus I decided that I would walk back to Pen-y-Pass up the valley. I followed the northern bank of the Afon Glaslyn along some very muddy and often indistinct paths past Llyn Gwynant and the small hydro-electric power station at the head of the valley. I had walked from Pen-y-Pass to Nanygwynant on the walk mentioned before, though in better weather, but even then I remember the path as being difficult to follow and muddy, but of course compared with the top of Crib Goch it was a piece of cake and soon I was walking up the hill beside the Afon Trawsnant back up to Pen-y-Pass.

That was the end of my very eventful weekend in Snowdonia. It had many highlights but also many bad moments, not least seriously hurting my knee. I rested my knee for most of the rest of May but returned to Snowdon at the end of the month in order to complete my traverse of Y Lliwedd when I enjoyed considerably better weather.

The Glyderau

I am continuing my report of the walks I did in Wales, May 2005, with a rather significant walk that had a lasting effect on me. 

Sunday 1st May 2005 

I wasn't sure which walk I would do on this day with a toss up between the Glyderau or Snowdon. The deciding factor was the weather, but as it turned out I got it all wrong. It was raining as I left Bangor so I decided that I didn't want to do Crib Goch in that sort of weather (just wait for the next day!) and after driving down the A5 to Llyn Ogwen I parked at the lay-by midway between the Idwal Cottage car park and Tryfan. As I prepared to start the weather cleared and the sun came out, which was good for that morning's walk, but a pity about the next day's walk over Crib Goch. I set off down the A5 till I was beneath the Milestone Buttress where I started to climb beside a stone wall and across the north face of Tryfan, and so began my ascent of the North Face of Tryfan, one of the best scrambles in Wales. The weather on this sunny Sunday morning was perfect, but I could sense trouble brewing on the higher hills. The Glyderau spent most of the morning in the clouds and the speed that those clouds were moving indicated that it was going to be very windy on the tops. 

The trick to climbing Tryfan by it's northern face is simply to take it one step at a time, so I just put my head down and tackled it one rocky ledge at a time until I was surprised to discover that I was at the top, which is unmistakable by the sight of two large columns of stone, known by the names Adam and Eve. The highest point of Tryfan is at the top of one or both of these rocks and since the height of Tryfan is 3002 feet you have not been over three thousand feet high until you have managed to climb onto one of these pillars. So feeling like I had an obligation I scrambled up onto the northerly of the two rocks, which is either Adam or Eve, I don’t know which one is which! It is said that you will earn yourself the freedom of Tryfan if you step from one pillar to the other, bearing in mind that they are over 2 metres above the rocky summit of Tryfan which itself is 2000 feet above the valley floor. This is not a step for the timid or vertiginous. Two years before this walk, when I climbed up Tryfan for the first, I daren't go onto either rock let alone step from one to the other. This time I was determined to do it, despite the fact it was blowing a gale. 

Crouching on the edge of the northerly stone I waited for just the right moment when the wind died down long enough for me to gather the nerve to step from Adam to Eve (or Eve to Adam). Eventually I made my step, but it was more of a leap from a crouching position on one rock across to a crouch on the other. It might not have been an actual step but it's close enough, isn't it? Feeling happy with myself I began my descent of Tyfan, which is potentially a more difficult undertaking than the ascent. Spurning the main route down I tried to stay on the top of the ridge all the way, ensuring that I passed over all the subsidiary peaks on my way. As I descended I came upon a difficult section that required that I swung around into the rock wall, but I swung too quickly and bashed my left knee into the wall. I received several bruises over this weekend, though most were not very painful, but my knee continued to complain for a long period afterwards whenever I went up or down stairs or whenever I was immobile in a chair. I felt like an old man, and for a long time I feared that my knee wouldn’t heel completely and I'd become like those people who are always complaining about their knees when walking. Fortunately, although my knees flared up again the year after I haven’t had any problems since. 

Undeterred by such problems I reached Bwlch Tryfan and turning left I followed a miner's track around the top of Cwm Tryfan to reach the col between Glyder Fach and Y Foel Goch. The latter was a hill that I had never been to before, so I crossed the boggy col and walked up to the top of Y Foel Goch, and then I turned around passing over the col again and began the ascent of Glyder Fach. The sun by now had gone in and would never be seen again on this walk, and with the wind as strong as ever the clouds began descending, which set the pattern for the rest of the day. The summit of Glyder Fach, though in the clouds, was well populated with a dozen or two people on or around the summit rocks. After my morning's scrambling practice on Tryfan I found it ridiculously easy to walk up or leap over the rocks to the highest point, quickly bypassing the people who were nervously making their way from rock to rock up to the top. 

As I made my way between Glyder Fach and Glyder Fawr I started to make a series of mistakes that wouldn't stop until I was on the other side of Glyder Fawr. This has became something of an infamous hill for me after this walk as I tried to go up it in total cloud cover without a compass. I had realised I'd left my compass in my car at some point during the morning but I didn't think I would need it in the clear weather, which was wrong. I believe my first mistake was turning south at Bwlch y Ddwy-Glyder and descending below Waun Gron. If I'd had my compass with me, my mistake would have immediately been obvious, but as it was when I finally realised it was too late to turn back. Eventually I decided that I would try to get to the summit whatever the means, so with a stubborn face I set off straight up the hillside trying to find the summit or at least a path and somehow, with a lot of luck in the worsening weather, I managed to drag myself up to the summit where I found a lump of rock with a cairn on top of it and people milling around. With great relief I collapsed in a heap and had my lunch. As I set off I resolved that I would keep to the path and not lose it again, but of course I quickly lost the path again and started to veer to the north. If I'd even just consulted my map I'd have seen that I needed to be going more west but without a compass I didn't know which direction I was going. I was totally lost descending a rocky slope that lead towards a sheer cliff face: the Upper Cliff of Glyder Fawr. As I got more and more lost I became more and more angry; I was furious with myself for leaving my compass in the car. I was adamant that I would never, ever, leave my compass behind again, if only I could get safely down. When I got to my wits end I started praying, which was something I really should have done earlier as I didn't have any other chance. Wainwright famously said that if you get lost in the mist on Haystacks in the Lake District your only option is to drop to your knees and pray. On the upper cliffs of Glyder Fawr I followed his instructions, and the clouds opened to reveal a clear path a long way below me. I wasn't sure what I was looking at, but I had some nasty suspicions. Feeling a little hopeful I asked the Lord to give me a better view and the clouds opened up even more to reveal a distinctly shaped lake, which a look at my map revealed was Llyn Idwal. I was going in completely the wrong direction and heading towards the top of a high cliff. Turning around I headed back up the steep slope until I reached a point where I could cross the stream that I had been following. Going around the side of the hill from that point I soon found my way down to the top of the Devil's Kitchen. A very dangerous detour had been averted by a divinely inspired parting of the clouds that revealed my true position. In the future, always remember to take your compass. 

Once at Llyn y Cwm I put aside any thoughts of returning straight to my car and headed up the clear path to Y Garn. I was now returning to my intended walk, heading north towards a collection of hills that I had never been to before, but which would entail a considerable diversion in order to bag. Despite my 'delay' on Glyder Fawr I felt the effort would be justified, so after finishing my climb to the top of Y Garn I continued north to the three hills that I wanted to bag. First was Foel-goch, then Mynydd Perfedd, and then across a rock strewn plain to Carnedd y Filiast. After my exertions of earlier in the day I had little energy left for these outlying hills but somehow I eventually managed to reach the last of these hill before turning around and going all the way back to Y Garn. With all my energy now completely depleted I struggled up the last steep slope to the top of Y Garn with the strong wind making each turn of the zigzag path either a blessing or a curse. With considerable relief I finally made it to the top again and began to descend the excellent north-eastern ridge of Y Garn around the top of Cwm Clyd. Despite an initially steep descent across a scree slope, the whole descent is relatively easy and quite enjoyable. I was able to relax and enjoy the walk down to Llyn Idwal where I joined the main footpath that took me to the toilets and shop near Idwal Cottage. A short walk along the A5 brought me back to my car, 9½ hours after I'd left it, which made this the longest walk I'd ever done up to that point, and almost my last. It was such a variable day! I had a fantastic ascent up Tryfan and an enjoyable walk over Glyder Fach, but it was off-set by bashing my knee on Tryfan and getting lost on Glyder Fawr. C’est la vie.

The Carneddau

With no new walks to talk about, I’m going back to 2005 and the walks I did in Wales over the two May Bank Holidays. During the May Day weekend I had a very strenuous holiday walking over the three thousand foot hills in North Wales. It was an extremely tiring weekend that left me bruised and aching; I must have already been getting old!

Saturday 30th April 2005

The first of the three days was spent going over the Carneddau, the largest area of hilltop over 3000 feet high in the whole of England and Wales (which isn't really saying much, but it's the best we’ve got). After driving over to North Wales in the morning in pouring rain I parked at Gwernydd, which is just off a side street outside Bethesda, and started walking up a road past Ciltwllan heading up the side of the hill. Once I was out into open country I followed vague paths up Y Garth onto the ridge of Gyrn Wigau and across the grassy plain past a rocky Right-of-Way path and up onto the top of Drosgl.

The rain was still falling and as I was now also in the clouds there were no views for me to enjoy, but that seemed to be the norm when I was walking in this area. The last time I was there I'd parked at Bont Newydd and accessed the hills by going past Aber Falls. That day had been wet with low clouds as well and on that occasion I'd missed out Drosgl by staying on the right-of-way so on this walk I decided to right that oversight and climb through the boulder field to reach the large summit cairn at the top of Drosgl. My next target was Bera Mawr, which is the northerly of two prominences north-west of Garnedd Uchaf. Bera Bach is the higher of the two at 807m but since it's collection of rocks is on top of the main ridge it has virtually no drop. Bera Mawr, however, is somewhat to the north of the ridge and has a large enough drop to put it on some mountain lists. Despite this it was Bera Bach that I'd climbed two years before so on this walk I veered to the left of Bera Bach following a faint path at the foot of the rocky outcrops towards Bera Mawr. This is quite a fun lump of rock as a little scrambling is necessary to get onto the top; it was just a pity visibility was nil as I'm sure the views across the Aber Falls Nature Reserve towards the Lavan Sands and Anglesey would have been tremendous.

Coming down off Bera Mawr I refrained from rejoining the top of the ridge and kept to the contours edging around the top of Cwm yr Afon Goch, across the infant river below Garnedd Uchaf and round towards the top of Llwytmor. This was another hill in the northern Carneddau that I'd never been to before and now I had completed the list of hills that I wanted to bag in this area. The last time I'd been there, two years previously, my sights had been solely on the three-thousand-footers. This weekend I wanted to take in some of the other hills that fall just before the Munro standard as well as those great hills themselves. After lunch on Llwytmor I headed across the col to Foel-fras and I was surprised to discover significant amounts of snow in the sheltered northern areas of the hill. When I was in the Lake District over Easter I had not seen any snow even on Helvellyn, but in Snowdonia I saw a lot of snow on all of the three-thousand-footers in the Carneddau. The snow wasn't icy and most of it showed signs of being in the advanced stages of a thaw, but it was still a surprise for me to see snow so late in the season.

The south-west ridge took me to Garnedd Uchaf, the summit of which was quite a hunt for me in the clouds, and I seem to recall I had a similar problem two years previously. Those GPS thingies may have come in handy to find the top but a map, a compass and a bit of luck was just as good as any technology. Heading south I approached Foel Grach passing the hut where two years before I'd sheltered from a particularly violent rain shower. The shelter was not required on this walk as the clouds were now beginning to lift and by the time I reached the summit of Foel Grach the clouds had lifted enough to reward me with amazing views of the rocky edges of Yr Elen and the massive snow-marked bulk of Carnedd Llewelyn. As if by magic, crowds of people also appeared on the hills so that after hours of having the hills all to myself I suddenly found things a little crowded. To avoid a large number of people coming towards me down the main path I veered off to the left to stay on top of the ridge, which itself veers to the left of the path reaching an imperceptible top at the head of Cwm Eugiau. The outcrop has no name but someone has given it a cairn despite having no drop to speak of. It may be a hill that's not worth bagging (it's not really a hill at all, merely part of Foel Grach) but at least it kept me off the overpopulated main path. Turning back towards the south-west I eventually rejoined the path and the literally dozens of people who were enjoying tremendous views from the top of Carnedd Llewelyn. After the bad weather of the morning it was astonishing how brilliant the weather had now become and how quickly all these people had responded to the clearing weather. I could only surmise that the hills in the northern Carneddau where I'd been walking were the last to clear (not really too surprising since the bad weather had been moving northwards). Now in glorious sunshine and with stunning views all around me I headed down to Bwlch Cyfryw-drum and keeping to the very top of Cefn Ysgolion Duon I headed up to Carnedd Dafydd which was also heavily populated (although I suspect they were all part of the same large group). I now had a decision to make, whether to walk across to Pen yr Ole Wen or miss it out. In the end I decided that since I'd been up there before, two years before this walk, similarly with Yr Elen, which I'd also missed out, I would begin my descent from where I was back to the car. So, heading down the scree to the north of Carnedd Dafydd I passed over Foel Meirch descending enjoyably down Mynydd Du eventually joining a footpath alongside the Afon Llafar. Following this footpath through fields I reached the beginning of a road and walked the half-mile distance back to my car. This was a very enjoyable walk in very changeable weather conditions that just got better and better.