The plan was to do some of the small tops surrounding Cadair Idris as these were on our route to the hostel. The walk started well in brilliant sunshine, but it was gone after about 15 minutes.
We had good views of Bird Rock which I want to return to and go up sometime, it looked a nice place to watch a sunset
We narrowly missed getting savaged by farm dogs on our start of the walk, they got a bit aggressive when they saw us passing their property, but Mike scared them off
Our intended tops of the day were Tyrrau Mawr and Craig-y-llyn. The route starts on a decent track, which deposits you onto open moorland. The place had a very wild feel and we didn't pass anyone all day. It was such a shame we had no views as I got the impressive to the edge of the cliffs we'd have excellent views looking down.
There were no real markers for the tops so you just had to trust you'd been there!
We detoured on our way back to the car to explore the remains of Castell y Bere, it was getting dark at that point would it would be a lovely place to be on a sunny day.
We drove to the YHA at Llyn Gwynant to meet up with everyone. Our room was more cupboard like and seemed to have locked cupboards which ticked. The kitchen facilities for a YHA weren't great either. Our plan for the next day was to join the others for part of their walk then head off to go up Y Lliwedd.
Snowdon wasn't looking that snowy so we left the axes and crampons in the car, but took our microspikes. We took advantage of the path from the lower (cheaper) parking area.
The paths were icy heading up and it was useful to have the spikes on our boots. We headed off halfway up as we were worried about completing our route before dark. There were people in trainers and god knows what behaving like idiots on the steeper sections of the path, I did not feel reassured until we had passed them and they were slipping so much they could have taken one or other of us out if they had fallen. I also had to stop and wait whilst people were sledging down by a drop as I was worried they'd lose control and crash into me.
As we got to the top the bitter wind kicked in and we lost the shelter of the mountain. We huddled in the shelter of the summit cafe outer walls with a load of marines who were out training for the day.
Summit
It was a bit windy, hanging on!
Our plan was to head down the Watkin path and onto Y Lliwedd, the Watkin path gets steep at the top and after looking down it I decided I did not feel confident tackling it without as axe. As it was still early we decided to drop down to Glaslyn then head back up Y Lliwedd, this involved a huge amount of re ascent, a bit like going up another mountain from the bottom! We made quick time though and were back up high mid afternoon. It was fun scrambling over the top, we passed some marines when we were up there who were concerned we were going onto Snowdon, even we weren't that crazy though!
It's a long way back to the valley bottom!
As we got to near the bottom of the valley it started to snow, it was nice to end the day with a bit of a wintry feel..
The slog along the path in the dusk back to the road took a while, for some reason in my head I was thinking as soon as we hit the road we'd be at the hostel, I'd forgotten that on foot it takes longer to go a distance so we had another long 20 mins up the road in the dark. When we got back I was so tired I could barely undo my bootlaces. We headed straight back out to Petes Eats where they sorted me out with a huge plate of egg and chips and builders mug of tea and everything began to feel a bit less tired. It was such an amazing and beautiful day full of adventure. It was nice to escape the crowds of Snowdon and head to the peaceful Y Lliwedd for a little bit of icy scrambling.
Our next day dawned claggy and we headed off to Festiniog to tackle some other little trodden hills. There is still a working slate quarry surrounding them which is eating out the sides of some of the mountains. We had to do pass through part of the quarry, some of it was on a footpath, but the last section wasn't, thankfully no-one had a go at us although they were working on a Sunday as we could hear the trucks zooming about. The route onto our first top was boggy slog and one I don't ever wish to repeat, I have a feeling a complained rather allot. I'd also forgotten my inhaler and was getting quite out of breath on the way up which I was struggling with.
On the top, no views.. camera wet with rain
Moel Penamnen - as we came off it the cloud finally lifted
We got pretty cold when we stopped for lunch as we were quite damp due to how wet it had been. I was not wearing many layers as we'd got very hot going up, but as we cooled down I soon started to shiver. We had the mountain shelter up so I had a bit of a faff trying to get all my layers back on in the close confines of the shelter!
Our next top was Manod Mawr and it was through more horrendous bog!
The lakes looked very pretty, don't think it would be great for wild camping though given the boggyess of the ground!
The day became better as we got onto the top, some nice solid rocky ground, it was all rather pleasant compared to the bog below!
My Brasher boots which are only just over a year old gave up the ghost on this trip
We descended to a rather lovely lake somewhat spoiled by a sinister image of a man on the farside of the shore making duck noises who appeared to have a shot gun. My mind went riot and I imagined all sorts of deliverance moments but thankfully he gave us no grief. Hopefully we scared off the ducks too.
These are not hills I'd got up again in bad weather, but on a nice weather day I think they'd make a rather nice excursion, best get their quick before they quarry them all away!
Some class pictures there, and many miles covered over the three days. I'm not jealous, honest......
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