Walk Report: The Carneddau
Well, the election has come and gone and I didn't get round to saying anything about it. It was an excellent opportunity to bash the Conservatives but I didn't get around to it. Oh well, the Tories still lost and Michael Howard has gone for that long walk off a short pier, so everything is good in the world. Meanwhile, last weekend I went for a very strenuous walking holiday over the three thousand foot hills in north Wales. It was an extremely tiring weekend that has left me bruised and aching; I must be getting old!
The first of the three days walks, last Saturday in fact, was spent going over the Carneddau, the largest area of hilltop over 3000 feet in the whole of England and Wales (which isn't really saying much). After driving over to North Wales Saturday morning in the pouring rain I parked at Gwernydd (SH6332 6629), which is just off a side street outside Bethesda, and started off walking up the road on the left past Ciltwllan heading up the side of the hill. Once out into open country I followed the vague paths onto the top of the ridge up Y Garth to Gyrn Wigau and then across the grassy plain to cross the rocky Right-of-Way path up onto the top of Drosgl. The rain was still falling and now I was also into the clouds, but that seems to be the norm for this area. The last time I was around here I'd parked at Bont Newydd and accessed the hills by going past Aber Falls. That day it had been wet with low clouds as well and on that occasion I'd missed out Drosgl by staying on the right-of-way so today I righted the oversight and climbed through the boulder field to reach the large summit cairn on top of Drosgl.
My next target was Bera Mawr which is the northerly of two prominences north-west of Garnedd Uchaf. Bera Bach is the higher of the two at 807 m but since it's on the top of the main ridge it has virtually no drop. Bera Mawr, however, is somewhat to the north of the ridge and has a large enough drop to put it on some mountain lists. Despite this it was Bera Bach that I'd climbed two years ago so today I veered to the left of Bera Bach following a faint path at the foot of the rocky out-crop towards Bera Mawr. This is quite a fun lump of rock as a little scrambling is necessary to get onto the top of the out-crop; it was just a pity visibility was nil as I'm sure the views across the Aber Falls Nature Reserve and out across the Lavan Sands to Anglesey would have been tremendous.
Coming down off Bera Mawr I refrained from rejoining the top of the ridge and kept to the contours edging around the top of Cwm yr Afon Goch. I crossed the infant river below Garnedd Uchaf and then swung round towards the top of Llwytmor. This was another hill in the northern Carneddau that I'd never been to the top of and this completed the list of hills I had wanted to bag in this area. The last time I'd been here, two years ago my sights had been solely on the three-thousand-footers. This weekend I wanted to take in some of the other hills near the Munro-types as well as those great hills themselves. After lunch on Llwytmor I headed across the col to Foel-fras and was very surprised to discover significant amounts of snow in sheltered areas on the hill. Last month in the Lake District there had been no snow at all even on Helvellyn, but here in Snowdonia I saw a lot of snow on all the three-thousand-footers in the Carneddau. The snow wasn't icy and most of it showed signs of being in the advanced stages of a thaw, but it was still a surprise to see snow so late in the season.
Following the ridge south-west I headed along to Garnedd Uchaf, the summit of which was quite a hunt in the clouds, but I seem to recall a similar problem two years ago. Those GPS thingies may have come in handy to find the top but a map, a compass and a bit of luck is just as good as any technology. Heading south I approached Foel Grach passing the hut where two years ago I'd sheltered from a particularly violent rain shower. The shelter was not required today as the clouds began to lift and by the time I reached the summit of Foel Grach the clouds had lifted rewarding me with amazing views of the rocky edges of Yr Elen and the massive snow-marked bulk of Carnedd Llewelyn. As if by magic crowds of people also appeared on the hills and so after hours of having the hills all to myself I suddenly found things a little crowded. To avoid a large number of people coming towards me along the main path I veered off to the left staying on top of the ridge, which itself veers off to the left before coming to an end above the top of Cwm Eugiau. The outcrop has no name but someone has given it a cairn despite having no drop to speak of. It may be a hill that's not worth bagging (it's not really a hill at all, merely part of Foel Grach) but at least it kept me off the overpopulated main path.
Turning back towards the south-west I eventually rejoined the path and joined the literally dozens of people enjoying the tremendous views from the top of Carnedd Llewelyn. After the bad weather of the morning it was astonishing how brilliant the weather had now become and how quickly all these people had responded to the clearing weather. I can only surmise that the hills in the northern Carneddau where I'd been walking were the last to be the clear (not really too unsurprising since the bad weather had been moving northwards). Now in glorious sunshine with stunning views all around I headed down to Bwlch Cyfryw-drum and keeping to the very top of Cefn Ysgolion Duon I headed up to Carnedd Dafydd which was also heavily populated (although I suspect they were all part of the same large group).
I now had a decision to make, whether to walk across to Pen yr Ole Wen or miss it out. In the end I decided that since I'd been up there before, two years ago, similarly with Yr Elen, which I'd missed out today, I would begin my descent back to the car. So heading down the scree to the north of Carned Dafydd I passed over Foel Meirch descending enjoyably down along Mynydd Du eventually joining the footpath alongside the Afon Llafar. Following the footpath though the fields I reached the beginning of a road and walked the half-mile distance back to my car. It had been a very enjoyable walk in very changeable weather conditions that just got better and better.
The first of the three days walks, last Saturday in fact, was spent going over the Carneddau, the largest area of hilltop over 3000 feet in the whole of England and Wales (which isn't really saying much). After driving over to North Wales Saturday morning in the pouring rain I parked at Gwernydd (SH6332 6629), which is just off a side street outside Bethesda, and started off walking up the road on the left past Ciltwllan heading up the side of the hill. Once out into open country I followed the vague paths onto the top of the ridge up Y Garth to Gyrn Wigau and then across the grassy plain to cross the rocky Right-of-Way path up onto the top of Drosgl. The rain was still falling and now I was also into the clouds, but that seems to be the norm for this area. The last time I was around here I'd parked at Bont Newydd and accessed the hills by going past Aber Falls. That day it had been wet with low clouds as well and on that occasion I'd missed out Drosgl by staying on the right-of-way so today I righted the oversight and climbed through the boulder field to reach the large summit cairn on top of Drosgl.
My next target was Bera Mawr which is the northerly of two prominences north-west of Garnedd Uchaf. Bera Bach is the higher of the two at 807 m but since it's on the top of the main ridge it has virtually no drop. Bera Mawr, however, is somewhat to the north of the ridge and has a large enough drop to put it on some mountain lists. Despite this it was Bera Bach that I'd climbed two years ago so today I veered to the left of Bera Bach following a faint path at the foot of the rocky out-crop towards Bera Mawr. This is quite a fun lump of rock as a little scrambling is necessary to get onto the top of the out-crop; it was just a pity visibility was nil as I'm sure the views across the Aber Falls Nature Reserve and out across the Lavan Sands to Anglesey would have been tremendous.
Coming down off Bera Mawr I refrained from rejoining the top of the ridge and kept to the contours edging around the top of Cwm yr Afon Goch. I crossed the infant river below Garnedd Uchaf and then swung round towards the top of Llwytmor. This was another hill in the northern Carneddau that I'd never been to the top of and this completed the list of hills I had wanted to bag in this area. The last time I'd been here, two years ago my sights had been solely on the three-thousand-footers. This weekend I wanted to take in some of the other hills near the Munro-types as well as those great hills themselves. After lunch on Llwytmor I headed across the col to Foel-fras and was very surprised to discover significant amounts of snow in sheltered areas on the hill. Last month in the Lake District there had been no snow at all even on Helvellyn, but here in Snowdonia I saw a lot of snow on all the three-thousand-footers in the Carneddau. The snow wasn't icy and most of it showed signs of being in the advanced stages of a thaw, but it was still a surprise to see snow so late in the season.
Following the ridge south-west I headed along to Garnedd Uchaf, the summit of which was quite a hunt in the clouds, but I seem to recall a similar problem two years ago. Those GPS thingies may have come in handy to find the top but a map, a compass and a bit of luck is just as good as any technology. Heading south I approached Foel Grach passing the hut where two years ago I'd sheltered from a particularly violent rain shower. The shelter was not required today as the clouds began to lift and by the time I reached the summit of Foel Grach the clouds had lifted rewarding me with amazing views of the rocky edges of Yr Elen and the massive snow-marked bulk of Carnedd Llewelyn. As if by magic crowds of people also appeared on the hills and so after hours of having the hills all to myself I suddenly found things a little crowded. To avoid a large number of people coming towards me along the main path I veered off to the left staying on top of the ridge, which itself veers off to the left before coming to an end above the top of Cwm Eugiau. The outcrop has no name but someone has given it a cairn despite having no drop to speak of. It may be a hill that's not worth bagging (it's not really a hill at all, merely part of Foel Grach) but at least it kept me off the overpopulated main path.
Turning back towards the south-west I eventually rejoined the path and joined the literally dozens of people enjoying the tremendous views from the top of Carnedd Llewelyn. After the bad weather of the morning it was astonishing how brilliant the weather had now become and how quickly all these people had responded to the clearing weather. I can only surmise that the hills in the northern Carneddau where I'd been walking were the last to be the clear (not really too unsurprising since the bad weather had been moving northwards). Now in glorious sunshine with stunning views all around I headed down to Bwlch Cyfryw-drum and keeping to the very top of Cefn Ysgolion Duon I headed up to Carnedd Dafydd which was also heavily populated (although I suspect they were all part of the same large group).
I now had a decision to make, whether to walk across to Pen yr Ole Wen or miss it out. In the end I decided that since I'd been up there before, two years ago, similarly with Yr Elen, which I'd missed out today, I would begin my descent back to the car. So heading down the scree to the north of Carned Dafydd I passed over Foel Meirch descending enjoyably down along Mynydd Du eventually joining the footpath alongside the Afon Llafar. Following the footpath though the fields I reached the beginning of a road and walked the half-mile distance back to my car. It had been a very enjoyable walk in very changeable weather conditions that just got better and better.
posted by David Keates at 4:59 pm
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