The Moelwyns and Cnicht

Sunday 1st September 2019

While heading north from Kings Youth Hostel towards Snowdon, my eye was attracted to some craggy, rock-covered mountains ahead of me that I immediately wanted to climb, even if they weren’t on my agenda, though fortunately they were. I came off the main road to pass through the small mining community of Tanygrisiau and parked at the top of a steep road near the entrance to Cwmorthin. The weather was looking good as the sun shone promising a good walk, but the weather did not stay good, although I would enjoy some occasional sunshine during the walk. Rather than take the clear track into Cwmorthin I crossed the stream that comes out of the valley and followed a path that soon led me onto a tarmac road than runs below the cliffs of Craig yr Wrysgan and Pinacl. This road serves and brought me to the foot of the upper reservoir for the pumped-storage hydroelectric Ffestiniog Power Station. When I got within sight of the dam I turned off the road and took a footpath that climbs past the southern end of the dam and up the ridge of Carreg Blaen-Llym. The sunshine had not lasted long and it was already raining as I made my way up the hill, however these showers would prove to be short-lived and not return. Eventually I reached the top of the ridge at a point just to the south of Moelwyn Bach on the side of the mountain that I had seen from the A470 road during my approach.

When it wasn’t raining I had stunning views of the mountains north that would be my target for this walk where the scars of centuries of quarrying have added to rather than taking away from the spectacular scenery. The summit of Moelwyn Bach was a short grassy walk away, which I am sure I had been to before, but I don’t know when exactly this was, although my uncertainty must mean that it was during my ‘dark year’ of walking, in 2004, when I was not keeping any notes of my walking before I started this blog. This walk is a remembrance of that old walk, but in the opposite direction and from the other side of the mountains. On that occasion I had finished the walk on Moelwyn Bach, so I must have crossed from Moelwyn Mawr to Moelwyn Bach, but I have no memory of how I did that or how I was now supposed to cross the difficult terrain either side of Bwlch Stwlan, however a faint path led me away from the summit passing to the east of the difficulties taking me down a broad grassy band between the crags to Bwlch Stwlan where the path up the other side doesn’t bypass the difficulties but tackles them head-on. This ingenious path weaves through the rocky terrain scrambling up to the immensely satisfying ridge above Craigysgafn.

It was very cold and windy as I made my way up increasingly grassy and tedious slopes to eventually reach the summit of Moelwyn Mawr. It was now largely overcast, which was leaving the views disappointingly grey and dull, though they were still extensive and otherwise spectacular. Steep grassy slopes took me down to boggy ground where I kept to the edge of steep crags and climbed once more to reach the minor top of Moel-yr-hydd where the best views were back over the rocky Moelwyns and the hidden bowl housing Llyn Stwlan. In the other direction I descended broad grassy slopes to the ruins of Rhosydd Quarry where I had my lunch sheltered from the wind behind one of the buildings. Continuing my walk, I passed through the desolation left by the extensive quarrying and eventually emerged amongst the abandoned mine buildings in the broad saddle at the top of Cwmorthin. To my left, the shapely peak of Cnicht was drawing me on even though I was not seeing it from its most iconic perspective, from the south, where it appears as a well-defined peak. To get to the top of Cnicht I had to take a roundabout route continuing north along a faint path that was not easy to follow as it seemed to go out of its way to cross boggy ground when drier, rocky ground was available nearby.

Eventually I climbed up to a broad ridge where I turned left to head along an increasingly fabulous ridge as it narrows deliciously all the way up to the summit of Cnicht. The views north towards Snowdon and the other mountains in the area promised many delights for the coming week and had me eagerly anticipating the coming days. I had a fabulous walk in improving weather along the undulating ridge to Cnicht, so when I reached the summit I had no problem with having to turn around and head back along the ridge I had just walked along. When I reached the turning right onto the boggy path, I stayed on the ridge not wanting to take that path again, and instead I repeated my route of 2004 when I attempted to bag all the tops in the area. At the end of the broad grassy ridge is an unnamed 672 metre top where I was assailed by strong winds that had been curiously silent on Cnicht, and these continued as I exhaustingly climbed to the top of Moel Druman. A broad grassy saddle was crossed before I could reach the final peak of the day: Allt-fawr where I had extensive views over the mining town of Blaenau Ffestiniog including the still active quarries to the north of the town.

Descending south I made my way along the ridge between Cwmorthin and the active slate quarries until eventually, before reaching the sheer drops off the top of Craig Nythgigfran, I turned right descending through heather into the remains of Cwmorthin Quarry. After negotiating the various twists and turns of the quarry roads I eventually found my way down to the track at the bottom of the valley that took me back to my car. This was an epic walk in strong winds with overcast skies for a lot of the day, but occasionally the weather cleared and afforded me with stunning views of these fabulous mountains that, except on Cnicht (the Welsh Matterhorn), were entirely empty of people. It is tragic that the awesome, craggy mountains of the Moelwyns should be ignored as they dominate the view from the south and more than satisfy a traverse.