Mynydd Mawr & the Nantlle Ridge

Sunday 28th August 2005 

On this walk the weather was much worse than the day before with strong winds that often knocked me over and clouds that descended lower and lower as the day progressed, but I still enjoyed myself much more than I had done the day before; I guess I was just in a better frame of mind. This walk was split into two sections, both starting from the small village of Rhyd-Ddu. For the first one I set off through the village and onto a forest track until I picked up the footpath to Bwlch y Moch on the edge of the wood. After crossing the stile and turning right I followed the fence to the start of a steep, but short pull onto Foel Rudd. From there on I had a relatively easy, highly enjoyable walk along the ridge above Craig y Bera and up into the clouds onto the summit of Mynydd Mawr. The walk to the top was great fun and I enjoyed a lightness of spirit that I hadn't felt the day before; I felt that I had just walked up a good mountain. Turning around I descended the way I had come, enjoying the awe-inspiring, vertiginous views from the top of Craig y Bera. Back in Rhyd-Ddu I began the second and much longer walk of the day, this time on hills I've walked before, exactly one year previously. Heading out westwards I followed a footpath to the foot of Y Garn and began the steep, seemingly never ending climb up the grassy hillside. The year before, this climb was plagued with appalling weather but this time the clear (only below 2000 feet!), dry conditions of the morning persisted. After lunch in the shelter at the summit I headed south along the ridge attempting to stay on the top of the ridge all the way even while scrambling on rocks up to Mynydd Drws-y-coed. It was funny seeing people gingerly making their way down the path some metres below while I was standing confidently at the top. I totally ignored the clouds and wind as I breezed along the ridge, having enormous fun as passed over Trum y Ddysgl and Mynydd Tal-y-mignedd. 

It was during the descent to Bwlch Dros-bern that the fun stopped as it was very steep and wet from the mist and it seemed even windier. The descent was treacherously slippery and all I could think was that I was going to have to come back this way! Once safely down, but still being heavily buffeted by the winds, I approached Craig Pennant and attacked it head on scrambling up the steep cliff face as if the weather was perfect (which it was when I got there the year before!). Despite the bad weather I succeeded in getting to the top of the cliffs and began to walk along the top up to the summit of the unnamed hill above Cwm Silyn, which is the highest point on the Nantlle Ridge. By now I was getting fed up with the strong winds blowing me over every couple of minutes so I turned around and started on my way back. Unfortunately the only way down eastwards is a ridge running south from Trum y Ddysgl (half way back along the ridge), so I returned to Bwlch Dros-bern (this time following the footpath) and climbed up to Mynydd Tal-y-mignedd, once again taking my life in my hands (often literally!) on the slippery rocks. Once I was safely up to the top I passed below the obelisk-topped hill and crossed the narrow col to the ridge below Trum y Ddysgl and began the descent. I was relieved to now be off the tricky sections of the ridge and able to enjoy myself as I descended to Bwlch-y-Ddwy-elor where I joined a bridlepath that passes through Beddgelert Forest and across the lower slopes below Y Garn to join the ascent path back to Rhyd-Ddu.

Tryfan & Glyder Fach via Bristly Ridge

I'm going back to 2005 to post reports of walks in North Wales over the August Bank Holiday:

Saturday 27th August 2005 

I was back in Snowdonia for the Bank Holiday weekend and I wanted to practice my scrambling skills in preparation for a trip to Ireland in a couple of weeks, so what better place than the north face of Tryfan and the Bristly Ridge. I set off early but due to my incompetence and the traffic on the A55 (I don't think I'll use that road again) I didn't reach the foot of Tryfan until almost noon. So I was not a happy bunny even before I had started my walk, and finding that I'd left the inner soles for my boots at home also failed to lighten my mood. I set off through the Gwern Gof Uchaf campsite to head up to the start of the north face of Tryfan. I had climbed up this by fabulous route only a couple of months before and I had just as much fun scrambling up now as I had before, especially towards the end as the scrambling became more technical and I was able to sail past other people also climbing up. The summit was packed with people, many of them attempting to leap between the two summit rocks, known as Adam and Eve. I joined them and found it ridiculously easy, much easier than it had been a couple of months before in high winds. After lunch I descended to Bwlch Tryfan and curiously found the descent just as much fun as the ascent had been. Once at the col I began the sole reason for doing this walk: the Bristly Ridge. I made my way straight towards Glyder Fach over the high, narrow, razor edged ridge with scrambling that wasn't too difficult so long as I picked my route correctly, which was often my problem. Several times I would begin a climb and think better of it, or I would achieve a very difficult climb only to find a much easier ascent on the other side. The biggest problems I encountered were large dips in the course of the ridge that required a tricky descent before another steep climb. This was a tricky, challenging ascent, but thoroughly satisfying as a result, so it was with a great sense of achievement when I eventually gained the summit of Glyder Fach. 

Once at the top I was a little deflated; maybe it was the anti-climax after all that effort, or maybe I was exhausted after the intense concentration of the climb, but I'd been at the top of Glyder Fach quite recently, admittedly not in as good weather, so the summit held no interest for me. Therefore I immediately began the descent to Bwlch y Ddwy-Glyder where, last time, I made a big navigational error in the mist. In good weather now I could see just how easy it was to do, indeed the couple ahead of me seemed to make the same error but, due to the clear conditions, quickly realised their mistake and corrected themselves. I ascended to the top of the Y Gribin ridge and began the descent of this ridge that I'd never walked along before. Eschewing the footpath over the screes, I kept to the top of the ridge scrambling over the rocks before joining the footpath down to Llyn Bochlwyd. I don't think I was really able to enjoy the descent or the stunning views of Nant Ffrancon as much as I would normally because of the strange mood I was in after the morning's madness (it also didn't help that I was desperate to use a toilet!). It is amazing how such little things can cloud your enjoyment of what should have been a fantastically enjoyable walk. I had originally planned on climbing Pen yr Ole Wen when I reached Idwal Cottage, but with the advancing clock (and the fact that I couldn't be bothered) I decided to walk down the A5 back to the car. This was a good, challenging walk, albeit short, but I wish I had been in a better mood for it.

High Rigg

Friday 24th December 2010 

For the last day of my holiday in the Lake District just before Christmas I parked in the snow covered car park at Legburthwaite near the northern end of Thirlmere Reservoir. This is right in the heart of the Lake District and so had a deeper covering of snow than I'd found on the western edges of the park where I’d been walking for the previous couple of days. The weather was fabulous but bitterly cold as I set off across St John’s Beck and steeply up the southern end of the wonderfully rugged and undulating fell of High Rigg. My previous visit to this fell was four years ago at a similar time of the year but late in the afternoon with the light fading as I progressed. By the time I’d reached the summit at the northern end of the fell on that occasion the sun had long since set and my long descent to the bus at Threlkeld was in the dark. When I started this walk the sun was still very low in the sky to the south, hiding behind the western slopes of the Helvellyn range and didn’t make its appearance till I was part way along the spine of the fell. 

Passing over the southern top, Wren Crag, I proceeded over Long Band, keeping to the highest point on the fell and exploring every top in my path. I wasn’t in a hurry so I enjoyed exploring the complex terrain, hopping from top to top as I went, climbing over the central wall across the fell to get from a top on the eastern side of the fell over to the centrally-located 343m top. From there I headed straight to the summit of the fell visiting the small top to the left of the summit first. By now the sun was bathing the whole fell with clear blue skies all around me that showed off the bigger fells that surround this low fell. Instead of taking the usual path north off the fell down to the youth centre I visited a couple more tops in the north-western corner of the fell before dropping into the ravine of William’s Beck. This was a very steep descent and is quite tricky in places particularly near the bottom of the stream where there was extensive stretches of ice. I wouldn’t advise this as a route of descent. 

Once in Naddledale I crossed the valley to the bottom of Castlerigg Fell where I took a path along the foot of the fell that leads to the delectable and secluded valley of Shoulthwaite Gill. Sadly I didn’t have time to visit this picturesque valley as I wanted to get home early. Soon after joining the stream and passing a number of delightful cascades I crossed the stream and entered the wood that dominates the slopes to the west of Thirlmere. I had visited Shoulthwaite Gill only once before, the same day I’d visited High Rigg four years ago, and on that occasion I took the same route as now to get to the southern end of High Rigg. I followed a track that skirts the edge of Shoulthwaite Moss and then passed by the farms of Smaithwaite and Bridge End, crossing St John’s Beck between them, to return to my car in time for lunch, and drove home afterwards. This was a great little walk in bright, sunny, but cold weather over a great little fell. But with hindsight this walk would have been greatly improved by returning back over the fell as the return route that I took was rather tedious in comparison.