Arenigs 25th May weekend

The plan was Steve H and chums were going to climb and I was going to walk with chums and meet on day 3 for a walk. Chums all bailed out so it was just us. I'm still not feeling confident about belaying though and still recovering from my back injury was not inclined to go climbing..

It was just us (minus Emma) so we headed off for a weekend of wild camping and mountain stomping..Steve had to work and drive from Newbury so we didn't leave Bristol till half 7 ish.

I've not uploaded my photos to Flicker, so excuse the quality of the facebook shots

We arrived at our parking spot near Llyn Celyn - a nice little layby just before the disused quarry.


We'd already missed the sunset and were setting off about 9.45pm, there was still some nice light about though.


On the map there was a black dotted line path which we failed to find in the half light so we stayed on the track above the lake then decided to descend through the heather to try and find a camp spot. Leading up to the choice to head down led to some debate - I was shattered and couldn't face the long walk to the far shore which looked like it had the best camping, but it really didn't look like there was any camping on the nearer shore. On the verge of a tired melt down and cursing the dense heather I ploughed on down. We arrived at the only tiny grassy/tussocky spot on that shore, which was just big enough for a pitch. We even had our own rocky beach we could  use to cook on the following morning.



Pitching up went fine, and we were soon to bed. The wind really picked up a notch and I began to get the fear the tent would blow away. Think I must have laid up for about 3 hours worrying. I stuck my head out at one point to see if all the pegs/lines were still in - I caught sight of the sky and it really was the most amazing sky I have even seen- so many stars it was impossible to know where to look. I've camped many times in the countryside but have never seen such an amazing sky before. The wind seemed less scary outside the tent and I went to sleep soon after that.

We woke to a slightly less windy morning - I had a dip in Llyn Arenig Fawr which was chilly and very rocky - refreshing but could have done with my wet socks and slightly less choppy water!





We packed up and it was off to conquer Arenig Fach.. We passed the Bothy en route and had a nose inside. You can sleep there for free and it has a fireplace. There would barely be room for 4 though..



The slog up the slope was tiring esp with a heavy bag. The stiff breeze made it a bit more bearable though



Steve headed off on his own to tackle some of the steeper stuff whilst I stayed low still feeling pretty weak



Arenig Fawr coming into view



It was pretty windy once up high, think Steve was glad climbing had fallen through...



We split off again as Steve wanted to take a higher path. I enjoyed a nice scree descent. At one point something came up behind me and I thought it was Steve, it turned out to be a Collie dog belonging to two other walkers - only the second lot of people we had seen so far..



Then we met up again on the top



It was stupidly windy so we didn't stop for long on the top - we stayed for such a short time I forgot to bag the geocache :(



We had a quick stop further down for some food and found a geocache right by wear we had stopped we cheered me up. Then it was onwards to the other tops of the mountain .It has 3 official tops, all of them Nuttals so I had to bag them all so I could tick them off the list. I'm glad I did as it was a lovely area with little miny tarns and rocky undulations everywhere. Reminded me of the Molwyns area of Snowdoina, Ysgall Wen etc.





Leaning into the wind (I lost my hat somewhere round here to a big gust!)





We then had one big slog up Moel Llyfnant  - thankfully the wind was behind us!

It's a lovely top and we stayed for sometime eating our food and trying to name the surrounding hills. It was so hot outside it was nice to have the wind blustering about.

Our descent down wasn't much fun with the rocky ground and wind trying to push us over, so it was a relief to hit the forest track at the valley bottom.

We joined up with the footpath not long after and sat in the shade of a tree watching the lambs mess around

We went a bit wrong trying to find our way through the next bit of woodland and ended up in a boggy, tussucky mess. Eventually we found our way out - god knows where the footpath had gone, I don't think many people had gone that way before...

We stopped at the Afon Trywern to refill our bottles before crossing the road..

We had decided that we would carry on up Arenig Fach then descend to the lake at the bottom. Doing the peak was probably a bit much, but it didn't look too far on the map.. these things never do! Once over the main road we had to hop over a fence to access the access land (could not see any other access points in either direction) It was then a straight up slog through dense heather. I'm not quite clear how we had the energy to get through it (it was about 4pm at this point and we'd started somewhere around 8.30am). 

We found one lone rock to have a stop behind and catch our breath

And finally we were on the top! (where the path situation wasn't much better, but at least there was a path!)

Our way down was then through more rocks and heather taking the line of least resistance through the crags - easier said than done with a heavy pack on your back! We found a nice scree gully though and it was a relief when the lake came into view. We had the usual where to camp debate and managed to find a little area out of the wind surrounded by big boulders, but close enough to the shore to fetch water etc. I had another swim whilst tea cooked. It was a great swim, with the craggy side of Arenig Fach to look up at and the silky water soothing my aching muscles. It would have been warm enough to have quite a long swim but my hunger got the better of me so I soon got out.

Once pitched we headed back up onto the hill to watch the sunset. It was a good one - looking over at the Glyders and Snowdon was fantastic.We got quite chilly though so headed back to the tent as soon as it had gone.





There was less wind than we expected in the night and we slept soundly. I delayed the mornings afairs by having another swim (had to be done though!)



Arenig Fach in the morning

Once packed up we headed down to Nant Y Llyn and it was onwards to do the Nuttals on the other side of the valley. As the wind had dropped it was already boiling hot at 9am and the going was tough esp over the bleak slightly featureless moorland. The area had a feel of desolation about it..

 

Our first top of the day was Carnedd Llechwedd Llyfn - it has no marker and is not obvious. The GPS confirmed we were somewhere round about the top so I consider it uninspiringly bagged!






Then it was onwards to Cardnedd Y Filliast - another mini slog up hill. There was the reward of a light breeze on the top though..




The next top was a bit of an out and back job, we were thinking of leaving our packs and dashing there and back, but even on a boiling hot sunny day I still had reservations about leaving my beloved pack behind, so off we went packs and all, Steve cursing my Nuttal bagging ways! The area was full of peat bogs and hags and really wasn't of much merit. It was okay on a sunny day but you really wouldn't want to be up there in bad weather and no views. The paths (aside from the tracks) are all pretty faint.

Waun Garnedd Y Filliast



Then it was back to Cardnedd Y Filliast for some noodles and a rest. It was still pretty windy!



Our way down was via a nice wide track which ad good views to the heather chopped/burnt valleys below



If only there was time for a swim..



Pretty valley



Round about this point I felt ill with the heat. Even dipping my head in the stream was providing little relief. As we continued along the track the heat coming off it was unbearable - the temp on the tops was 27 so it must have been somewhere round the 30 mark at this point





We came off the track to take a short cut to the road, thankfully the burnt areas of heather made it easier to descend and after a few fence hops we were down. We then had some nasty road walking to do along the shores of Llyn Celyn. The road was horribly busy and there was barely a verge to walk on. We came off it at one point to look at the memorial chapel and to refill out bottles at the Llyn. The valley was flooded years back to make a reservoir to supply Liverpool with water (and other nearby areas) people that lived there had to leave their community behind and it caused allot of contraversy at the time. Read about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llyn_Celyn


It was then back onto the road for a short while and then off the road onto footpaths back to the car. Our footpath off the road though could not be found. We found where it was supposed to be but there was a big sign on the gate of the house saying 'private' and no right of way. The key on the map showed the path as big green spaced dots - I'm not clear if that means perhaps a permissive path, by consent of the landowner maybe. I was not happy to have to continue along the road, but didn't want to risk going wrong so on we plodded along the road. It was a relief to finally come off and cross the Afon Tryweryn back onto another footpath. We imediately found a shady tree to crash under.



Still bluebells up North



Then we had a slow plod along the lane back to the car. Thankfully we found chips on the way home which made it was better....

A fantastic weekend of walking, it was a shame the last bit of the walk was spoiled by the bit on the road. I must also remember not to be so ambitious when route planning a backpacking trip, especially if such hot weather is forecast!

We did somewhere in the region of 23 miles and 2000 metres of ascent.