Sarn Helen and Swallow Falls

Tuesday 3rd September 2019

As the weather deteriorated on my holiday with rain and strong winds, it felt as though my memorial tour of Wales, where I was reliving some of my most memorable walks of the last twenty years in Wales, was falling apart. I was unable to do the walks that I had planned, partly because the very thing that had made these walks so memorable was the great weather that I had enjoyed at the time. In desperation I trawled the internet for inspiration until I found a walk on the mudandroutes.com website for a Sarn Helen Walk from Capel Curig, which seemed a good option for a wet weather walk. Therefore, in miserable, drizzly weather, I parked in Capel Curig and set off onto the byway that passes to the north of the village initially on a route that was the same one that I had taken with a load of guys from my church the day after we had climbed Snowdon together in 2011. It was raining for that walk as well. I followed the byway to the road west of Capel Curig and after passing Plas y Brenin (the National Mountain Centre) I entered the woodland of Coed Bryn-engan. Astonishingly I ended up making the same mistake as eight years ago when I missed the junction in the wood and came to the bridge over the Afon Llugwy that is not far from the Plas Curig Hostel (formally YHA Capel Curig).

This time I realised my mistake and retraced my steps to the junction where I took an interesting, narrow path through the woods that brought me to a footbridge over spectacular rapids beside Cobden’s Hotel. Just downstream of the rocks there are shingle islands that are overlooked by overgrown trees that have combined to create a delightful area that was far more pleasing than the view from the hotels on the main road. Continuing south along the footpath beside the river I passed through a meadow to Pont Cyfyng where I turned right to walk along the road for a bit before climbing steeply up a track that soon made me very hot and sweaty in my waterproofs. I didn’t feel much better once the gradient had eased as now the rain was blowing into my face so keeping my head down I made my way across the exposed moorland until finally I plunged into a dull conifer plantation that at least provided me with some protection from the wind and rain. A gentle descent through the wood brought me down to the bottom of Glyn Lledr in the village of Dolwyddelan where I stopped to attend to a pain in my toes and also took the opportunity to buy some food before setting off once again, now following the valley bottom beside the Afon Lledr.

The rain was now very light, almost negligible and the skies seemed brighter though still overcast so I could almost ignore the poor weather as I happily strolled along the quiet valley bottom lane enjoying my surroundings. Eventually I crossed the river at Pont-y-pant and climbed a short, beautifully decorated path onto a narrow road that gradually climbs out of the valley. At the top of the road I continued ahead onto a lane that is the route of the Roman road Sarn Helen. Soon after I started to climb this track I was startled by a motorbike zooming down the hillside towards me and when he passed said, “You’d better watch out there are five of us.” Once the other much slower bikers had passed I continued up the lane passing over the hill and entering another conifer woodland I passed Rhiwddolion just before the stony lane started to descend steeply towards Betws-y-Coed. It became very misty as I descended, which added a spooky and mysterious air to the surroundings as I carefully made my way down the lane to the A5 road that passes through Betws-y-Coed.

Crossing the road I dropped onto a bridge over the Afon Llugwy that is called the Miner’s Bridge and is interesting to cross because it sits at a steep gradient above the churning waters of the river below with stunning views up and down the thickly tree-lined ravine. From the bridge I climbed steeply up to a road now following the route of the Snowdonia Slate Trail which initially follows the road above the steep wooded ravine of the river Afon Llugwy slowly gaining height until eventually I came off the road to follow a good path that clings to the cliffs above the raging torrent below until finally I reached the spectacular Swallow Falls. I have wanted to visit these waterfalls for many years but despite driving past them many times I had never taken the opportunity having eyes only for mountains. Now the poor weather ensured that I would have my opportunity, but I must say I was very disappointed that I couldn’t get a closer look. The viewpoint from this path is a long way from the falls through a narrow gap in the trees so I didn’t really feel as if I’d been to Swallow Falls, but this sort of thing is typical of waterfalls.

On the path above the falls I was now able to follow the riverbank where many delightful wild flowers decorated the scene until I reached the main road beside the so-called Ugly House. Turning away from the river I walked up a ridiculously steep road that totally wore me out and completely baked me in my waterproofs until I thankfully came to a track high above the valley that took me on an almost straight route all the way into Capel Curig. Occasionally at this time the sun tried to make an appearance, but all day it was either raining or drizzling with hardly any end to the miserable conditions. However, this was not a bad walk for the weather, which was certainly not the weather for going up a mountain with strong winds that would have been horrible up high. Ten or fifteen years ago I might still have gone up Snowdon in these conditions, but I’m not as stupid as I was. I had set myself the target of seeing Swallow Falls on this holiday and I’m happy that I was able to take advantage of the poor weather to see the waterfalls that I’ve longed to see for many years.

Tryfan and the Glyderau

Monday 2nd September 2019

As part of my memorial tour of Wales I had reached Snowdonia and the mountains more than three thousand feet high that are around and including Snowdon, but the peak I was most eager to climb was the difficult Tryfan and the north ridge ascent. When I was in Snowdonia in 2015 I was unable to climb Tryfan due to heavy rain and I also encountered poor weather when I had climbed Tryfan in 2009 during a highlights tour of Wales. The last time I climbed the north ridge of Tryfan was in 2007, so I felt a re-ascent was long overdue. I woke to good weather, which is exactly what is needed for such a scramble, but the forecast was for the weather to deteriorate so I needed to make the most of what I had before it went. Setting off from a car park on the A5 beside Llyn Ogwen I walked to the foot of Tryfan and up a manufactured path to Milestone Buttress under warm, sunny skies that soon made me sweat. Before too long I had to come off the manufactured path to face the bare rock and tackle the north ridge. Route finding is critical here and I don’t think I have ever taken exactly the same way up twice, and I have not been particularly good at picking the right scrambling route. Behind me were three guys who seemed to know exactly which route to take, so when they overtook me I naturally followed them.

However, they seemed to be veering towards the eastern side of the mountain and they had climbing helmets on their rucksacks, so thinking they were heading towards a proper rock climb I left them behind and took my own route up. I would gingerly try a scramble to see if I liked the feel of it, and if it became too scary I would back out and attempt something less hair-raising elsewhere, therefore the key is always to never climb what you can’t climb down. Eventually I came across a cairn on a level platform and soon I came across other cairns that reassured me that I was going the right direction with easier scrambling that enabled to enjoy the climb and views behind me towards Y Garn and the Carneddau, but then I hit a sheer rock face that was unclimbable to someone of my limited abilities. I don’t know whether I effortlessly sailed up that cliff-face in 2005 and 2007, but I am a lot older now and more aware of my own vulnerabilities. I saw a path leading around the rock face and hoped that would provide me with a way up, but instead it led me to a steep scramble that had me quaking with my heart in my mouth until eventually the terrain eased and I was able to catch my breath.

Moving back across the ridge I found another faint path that took me up to the north top of Tryfan and with a little rain in the air I carefully made my way finally up the last pull to the summit and the two rocks that mark the top. I can’t say I enjoyed that climb up the north ridge of Tryfan and I may not be eager to do it again soon. Strong winds and rain hit me as I started to scramble down the south ridge, which made the descent really difficult and reminded me of the fact that most accidents on mountains happen when coming down. Despite the rapid deterioration in the weather during the morning I still had views towards the neighbouring mountains with the clouds staying off most of the tops and just brushing the tops of the Glyderau. Eventually I managed to reach the safety of Bwlch Tryfan where I had to decide whether to turn left, right or straight on up Bristly Ridge as I had done on my previous climbs up the north ridge of Tryfan. Turning right would have meant heading back down, which I had thought might be necessary, but the weather was starting to improve slightly with the rain not forecast to come back until mid-afternoon. Since I had not enjoyed the earlier scramble I did not want to do the harder scramble up Bristly Ridge so I turned left along the Miner’s Track.

There is a path up the screes beside Bristly Ridge that I came down in 2003 on my first visit to the area and I have never taken that route since. The faint, rough Miner’s Track is much better and took me up to the top of the main Glyderau ridge where a cold and biting wind forced me to wrap up before turning west, into the wind, towards Glyder Fach. While occasionally the sun attempted to push through the clouds I climbed up the rock-covered terrain until finally I was able to sit beside the mass of rocks that form the summit of Glyder Fach looking across to the distinctive cantilever rock. After eating my lunch I rounded the summit and made way past the fabulous rock formation of Castell y Gwynt, down the rocks to the col and slowly across the bleak moonscape of Glyder Fawr up to the summit. It was very windy as I made my way across the shattered landscape, but also sometimes sunny as the sun continued its hopeless battle to break through. From the summit of Glyder Fawr I slowly headed down broad, dreary scree slopes until eventually the terrain steepened and I found horrendous, heavily eroded scree-runs that were a nightmare to descend, especially with my wobbly knees, and I hated every moment as I slid all the way down.

With rain forecast I was more than happy to head to Twll Du, the Devil’s Kitchen, and the fabulous path that descends through awesome rock scenery with views across Llyn Idwal to Pen yr Ole Wen. It was great fun scrambling down this fabulous path into Cwm Idwal and more than made up for the horrible descent down the screes of Glyder Fawr. Once I reached the bottom of the valley the promised rain started, perfectly on time, as I walked around Llyn Idwal and past Idwal Cottage back to my car. This was a funny day when the weather didn’t seem to be able to make up its mind with the sun repeatedly trying to peak through the clouds even after the skies had clouded over. Even the walk was not wholly enjoyable with some of the scrambling on Tryfan too terrifying, but the highlight of the walk was the descent through Devil’s Kitchen. Tryfan is a very distinctive mountain that cannot be walked up from any direction and requires at least a scramble to get to the summit. I am not good with heights and this does not seem to be getting any better with age, but if successful, an ascent of Tryfan is always rewarding.