Snowdon by the western tops

Saturday 14th August 2010 

I always go up Snowdon at least once a year, so since I had not been up yet this year I was desperate for a chance to climb that great mountain. The weather forecast for the weekend looked good on the Wednesday before so I quickly arranged to go but once Saturday came along the good weather failed to materialise until the following day leaving me with a wet, windy and cloudy day to walk in. Despite this I drove to North Wales Friday evening and stayed at the wonderful Bryn Gwynant hostel overnight before going over Pen y Pass to Llanberis in the morning. Starting from this tourist-filled village I walked up a steep, narrow road over Bwlch-y-groes and branched off at the highest point onto the heather-clad moor. Slowly I walked up the path to the top of Moel Eilio over the shoulder of Bryn Mawr, plunging into clouds half way up. Since the weather was poor I had decided that it would be a good idea to retrace the route that I had taken on my first ever walk up Snowdon back in 2003. Instead of taking one of the six rights-of-way up Snowdon I had approached via the little visited western tops, of which Moel Eilio is the highest. My reason for taking this route at that time was because I had wanted to go up every hill above two thousand feet in Wales, including these satellites of Snowdon. Fortunately I have since abandoned such bagging nonsense. 

From the summit of Moel Eilio I walked against a strong side wind along the undulating ridge, where I had wonderfully steep cliffs to my left, until I reached Foel Goch. On the other side of this hill is Moel Cynghorion, which I went up last time despite the great effort required because I thought every hill had to be bagged; fortunately on this occasion I didn’t bother. Instead I crossed the southern slopes of Moel Cynghorion until I reached the Snowdon Ranger Path. From there I followed this great path all the way up to the summit of Snowdon. I was last on this path eighteen months ago in descent and I was struck then, as now, by how thrilling the zigzags are that take the path from the shore of Llyn Ffynnon-y-gwas onto the ridge of Clogwyn Du’r Arddu. They are a really great, rugged, rocky climb, even if it’s exhausting. At the point where I reached the top of the ridge I stopped to have my lunch so I could admire the views before plunging into the clouds that were billowing through the gap of Bwlch Cwm Brwynog. 

Restarting the walk after eating I felt very tired as if stopping had allowed my body to go to sleep and now it was complaining at having to start climbing the ridge again. Slowly I struggled up the mountain until I reached railway tracks and the great mass of people at the top of the Pyg Track. There had been a few people on the Snowdon Ranger Path, but this was a mere handful compared with the crowds that were coming up the Pyg Track onto the Llanberis Path. Suddenly I was surrounded by an enormous number of people that grew as I nearered the summit. Despite the zero visibility, spotty rain and wind, the top of Snowdon was teaming with people. I go up mountains to get away from people but the summit of Snowdon that day was worse than High Cross Shopping Centre on a Saturday afternoon. In the past I have considered the summit of Snowdon as an old friend, even saying hello to it when I get there (!), but on this occasion I couldn’t get away from it quick enough. 

Before I left the summit there was somewhere I wanted to visit first. Ever since the new summit building was completed a year or two ago I have been itching to see inside but every time I’d been up Snowdon the weather has been bad, and the centre was annoyingly shut. This time however the trains were running and the centre was open. Unfortunately the bad weather had driven everyone else into the building and the place was packed, and really hot and stifling. It may be nice in there but I could barely move let alone see anything. Eventually I managed to manoeuvre my way through the building and out of the back entrance, and having had enough of the crowds at the summit I circled back round the building and returned down the busy path to the top of the Pyg Track.

In 2003, on my first visit to Snowdon, I had returned to Llanberis on the eponymous path. This time I headed down the Pyg Track on the steeply zigzagging, heavily manufactured path, skipping past the much slower tourists who were carefully making their way across the damp rocks. There was something curiously satisfying about being much more confident of my footing than the people around me as I casually walked down the mountain. It’s probably childish of me but I enjoyed it. When the Miner’s Track turned off I continued along the wonderful Pyg Track, relishing every step on what is easily the best path up Snowdon, despite the poor state of the manufactured path. When I reached Bwlch y Moch I turned off the Pyg Track and climbed the Horns which I’d previously visited last August. I had thoroughly enjoyed these last year in bad weather and they were just as good this year now that I had a view from the top of this chain of small hills. At the end of the Horns I strolled down the grassy hill to the small car park at Pen-y-pass where a bus took me back to Llanberis. Any walk up Snowdon is a great walk and this time I had taken an interesting, little-travelled route, but it’s disappointing that I had bad weather again.

The Angle Tarn Crags

Saturday 12th June 2010

We have reached the final walk of my epic holiday to Scotland last June. I had travelled all the way up the west coast of Scotland visiting Ben Lomond, my first Munro, the awesome mountains of Glen Shiel, and the majesty of the Torridon giants on the way. The Northwest Highlands is an amazing place, unlike anywhere else in Scotland. The mountains are not as densely packed as further south, but there is literally nothing in between. It is a wide expanse with few settlements and a scattering of sheer sided mountains. The mountains in that area are stunning to look at, but scary to climb. Several times during this holiday I chickened out of going up a top due to what I would consider a very healthy fear of falling thousands of feet to my death that keeps me from doing anything too dangerous. That fear was not being exercised now as I was back in my beloved Lake District for the day before returning home.

I stayed in Patterdale overnight before parking at the Cow Bridge car park near Brothers Water for this short, easy walk before finally heading home. With another sunny day ahead of me I set off through the unspoilt village of Hartsop and along the bridlepath that climbs beside Hayeswater Gill. I walked up to Hayeswater last summer for the first time, also in good weather, but as I started the climb this time I couldn’t remember which side of the stream is better. I remembered taking the bridlepath the previous year but I couldn’t remember if that was better. Once on the wider bridlepath I decided that this was not after all the better path. The one on the other side is less travelled, narrower and stays closer to the stream affording better views of the cascades. After a while a filter house is reached beyond which a footbridge leads over the stream and up to the bridlepath.

Once at the mouth of Hayeswater Reservoir I crossed the stream and climbed up the steep grassy slope to the wind-swept col between the Knott and Rest Dodd. I had considered going up the Knott but dismissed it as being pointless as the Knott is an insignificant blip on the side of Rampsgill Head whereas my objective was Angle Tarn which is in the opposite direction. Instead I crossed the saddle and began to climb up to the top of Rest Dodd which I had previously visited in 2006 on my way down from Rampsgill Head. On that occasion I had rejected the Nab as a worthless northern extension of Rest Dodd, but now I descended to a fence with the objective of bagging this Wainwright. The Nab lies in the middle of the Martindale Deer Forest so access is restricted and the only acceptable route is to cross from Rest Dodd as I was doing.

The Nab is not a particularly appealing fell as the col is usually rather boggy (though it was not too bad when I was there) and the top is a simple grassy dome. The only compensation is the great view down Howe Grain towards Martindale. Returning to the fence below Rest Dodd I followed it across the northern flank to a small north western ridge of Rest Dodd which I crossed before descending the western slopes to the scattered outcrops of Satura Crag. The main footpath, which the Coast to Coast follows, passes over these crags on its way over the High Street range. I spurned the path in order to climb up to the top of Buck Crag. My goal on this walk was to go up all the crags that surround the gorgeous Angle Tarn which nestles in a slight hollow amongst the fells; Buck Crags was not only the start, but is also the highest top. From there I crossed the path and headed to the top of Brock Crags which sports good views of the area, over Brothers Water towards the Kirkstone Pass and along Patterdale. Four years ago, for some reason I didn’t go up this Wainwright, but now I was able to correct my mistake.

From Brock Crags I headed towards Angle Tarn itself, passing over Cat Crag which lies just next to the picturesque lake. From there I continued to the best peaks in the area: Angletarn Pikes, which has two main tops with the northern one being slightly higher. After visiting the southern top I crossed over to the northern top where I sat on the steep northern slopes and had my lunch. From this vantage point I could see over the wide Boredale Hause to Ullswater and beyond to the Helvellyn range of fells. A desire to get home as soon as possible prompted me to end the walk at this point so I dropped down off the fell and onto the route of the Coast to Coast Walk travelling as far as Boredale Hause where I took a wide stony track back to Hartsop. This was a great, if short walk, up the tops around the beautiful Angle Tarn. This may not be the best part of the Lake District but there are some gorgeous crags around Angle Tarn and they compensate for the bare, grassy terrain elsewhere.

Schiehallion

Friday 11th June 2010

The day before this walk I said a tearful goodbye to the north coast of Scotland and drove across the tragically barren wastelands of North Scotland to the east coast near the town of Tain where I visited the Glenmorangie Whisky Distillery. From there I headed south past the city of Inverness to the Culloden Moor battle site on the advice of a couple I had met at the distillery. Having acted as a tourist I then drove to the Aviemore Youth Hostel where I stayed the night. My long drive back home had already begun which I was stretching out over three days with the longest drive on the second day as I drove from Aviemore all the way into England. On this second day, soon after the Drumochter Pass, I turned off the main road and headed towards Loch Rannoch where I parked at the foot of the magnificent and rather isolated mountain of Schiehallion. I had never been up this distinctive mountain before because I could never seem to incorporate it into a schedule due to its remote location, and yet it’s one of the most popular mountains in Scotland. One reason for this is its ease of access from the main road to the Highlands, which made it favourable for me on this holiday. Without my car I would find this mountain difficult to access.

Starting from the Braes of Foss car park I walked up the well-manufactured path to the start of the summit ridge where the path stops. From there I had to cross the huge stony top, which would have been murder trying to navigate across in mist, but fortunately I had good weather even if the top was rather windy. Eventually I managed to reach the summit of this awe-inspiring mountain where I had my lunch. The view from the top was extensive and I realised that this was actually the highest mountain I walked up on my holiday, despite the relatively short walk up it. I came back down the same path I’d ascended as there is no other way off the mountain. This makes it difficult to create a long walk involving this mountain, but makes it ideal for my purposes on this day and for the less experienced hillwalkers who visit this mountain in their droves.

Schiehallion is an excellent mountain to walk up when you don’t have much time (or don’t want to take all day) as the path is beautifully graded and straight-forward, while the mountain itself has a simple whale-backed structure. Back at the bottom I drove back onto the A9 trunk road and south all the way back into England stopping off once again in my beloved Lake District overnight. The following day I would be able to enjoy this fabulous place again for a bit before going home, but the great views of Ullswater that I saw as I drove down Park Brow took my breath away and made me wish I was staying longer.