The Mawddach Trail and Cadair Idris

Saturday 31st August 2019

At the start of this walk the weather was terrible with rain and a continuation of the strong winds that had stopped me from doing a mountain walk the previous day, however, the forecast was for a dramatic improvement. On this assumption I formulated a plan that would bring me to the summit of Cadair Idris later in the day. I was half way through a memorial tour of Wales visiting some of my favourite walks and mountains from the last twenty years, and this walk was inspired by an unforgettable holiday in 2004 when I had basked in amazing weather. I made a return visit to Cadair Idris in 2009 during a highlights tour of Wales and took the same route up the mountain, from the Minffordd Hotel, as five years earlier only to be plagued with rain. This time I planned to make a completely different approach, coming from the north instead of the south starting from Kings Youth Hostel. Because of the weather, instead of starting the walk by heading south towards the summit, I headed north down the narrow road that follows the wooded valley of the Gwynant to the main road and beyond to the Abergwynant Wood on the edge of the Mawddach Estuary.

When I got to the woods I decided that rather than turning left to follow the river straight towards the estuary I would turn right to take a route that would enable me to enjoy more of the woods. Following the path steeply uphill I quickly became hot in my waterproofs, before meandering through the woods and eventually descended the other side to reach the route of the old railway line that follows the edge of the estuary from Dolgellau to Barmouth, on what is now called the Mawddach Trail. If it hadn’t been raining I’m sure I would have enjoyed the woods more, but ultimately they seemed a little too small. Soon I came across an interpretation board that has a quote from someone who once said the only railway line to have better views than the line between Dolgellau and Barmouth is the one between Barmouth and Dolgellau. On this walk I would see, first hand, what this meant as I turned west and followed the old railway line towards the sea at Barmouth. A combination of the heavy rain and the tide being in had resulted in the estuary being completely filled with water, and when I reached the mouth of the Gwynant I found the path that I should have taken earlier was completely flooded, so it was fortunate that I had taken the diversion through the woods.

The rain stopped soon after I started walking along the trail and gradually the weather improved which enabled me to enjoy the walk as I slowly followed the edge of the estuary with blue skies emerging ahead and even more spectacularly behind me where the combination of water and hills was spellbinding. Eventually the trail turned inland and at a road crossing I turned left and following a levee beside a stream I came back to the main road at Arthog. Across the road I took a footpath that climbs steeply through woodland beside where the stream crashes spectacularly down the hillside. Initially I was not able to see the falls, but later the excellent footpath, that was a delight in itself, brought me to scenes that were simple perfection in their sylvan beauty. Eventually I was deposited onto a road high above the estuary and from this road I followed a track that enabled me to continue to climb slowly into the hills that lie to the west of Cadair Idris. At the edge of a conifer plantation I stopped and looking out over the extensive views across Barmouth Bay I had my lunch before turning off the track to follow a fence to the summit of Braich Ddu. Across the fence was a dreary conifer plantation with severely eroded tracks, but I was walking through grass beside the increasingly steep slopes of Craig Cwm-llwyd.

Despite the earlier sunshine the hills were stubbornly clinging to their cloud cover and providing me with dull, overcast skies as I walked around the grassy slopes above Llyn Cyri. When I reached the top of Twll yr Ogof I found strong winds were still in evidence which made my walking above the cliffs of Craig-y-llyn rather unpleasant. At this point I was questioning whether I was going to reach the summit of Cadair Idris as there seemed to be little improvement in the weather on these tops. However, once I reached the top of Tyrrau Mawr, the promised improvement finally came to the mountains as the sun came out and the wind died down even though, stubbornly, the summit of Cadair Idris remained hidden under cloud. When I reached the popular Pony Path there was no question about whether I would reach the summit as I followed the increasingly and satisfyingly rocky path, a welcome change after the earlier grassy hills, I gradually climbed up to the saddle between Cyfrwy and Cadair Idris. Despite good weather now being almost everywhere, the summit of Cadair Idris was still enveloped in dark cloud when I reached the top, and a brisk, cold wind did not encourage me to linger so turning around I headed back down the path.

It had felt great to be on a proper, rock-dominated mountain, but although it was good walking on rocky ground I was happy to be coming down out of the cold wind. The sun was shining on the path during my descent and the weather continued to improve so that by the time I reached the point where I had earlier joined the Pony Path the summit seemed to have finally cleared of cloud. If only I had been able to delay summiting the mountain by just one hour. Nevertheless I had stunning views across the Mawddach Estuary towards the mountains of Snowdonia that more than made up for my disappointment of the summit conditions. The weather was now fabulous in sharp contrast to how the day had started. I enjoyed the walk along the Mawddach Trail at the start of the day and especially beside the sensational Arthog Waterfalls, but I did not enjoy the western approach to Cadair Idris over grassy hills that do not compare with the sensational route that I had taken on previous occasions from the Minffordd Hotel to the south of the mountain. The tremendous views continued as I made my way down the Pony Path eventually, once more, following the Gwynant stream as I made my way back to Kings Youth Hostel.