A Redeye View: Wet & Wild Snowdonia Walk 10-3-2014

After a great walk on Cadair Idris on Saturday and a bit of a mixed bag on the Sunday I decided that I would visit an area I had penciled in for sometime. As the others had left the cottage on Sunday afternoon to get back to there respected homes for work on Monday morning, hard life for some :-), I decided that this day would be the one to visit a quieter part of Snowdonia. Again, it's thanks to a member of the Walkers Forum, Tabbycat, who has put up various trip reports around this area that has inspired me to visit this quiet & wild area. I hadn't really got a plan for the day, more like just see how things pan out as I was in no rush to get home. After packing everything up and saying goodbye to the cottage I drove the 15 minutes to a small car park on a single track lane tucked away in a valley close to the village of Nantmor. I was parked, booted up and set off down the lane by 9.30am in very pleasant sunshine with just a hint of a chill in the air. It was very still, very quiet and very nice to be off walking instead of working and what turned out to be one of the warmest days of the year so far.
A half mile walk down the lane saw me turn off and onto a track that took me on the outskirts of a wooded area, gaining height to an old crumbling building in a area that was quite boggy. In fact for most of the remainder of the day, the ground was to be just that, boggy!! The views though made you realize just why we do this, walk for hours on end in wild places where the only sound to be heard is running water and the early spring bird songs, brilliant :-)

My route for the day @ approx 10 miles

Looking back along the lane

Start of the walk proper

Over the stile or through the gate??

The old building

The old building with Snowdon as a backdrop

Boggy ground around the building

The path from the house led me towards a wall that I followed for a bit before moving into a rocky gully following the Afon Llynedno as it tumbled its way down the valley towards the Afon Glaslyn. A great river walk that provided some spectacular views back towards Llyn Dinas and the Hebog Range. This looks like it would be a great place to visit when all the trees and flowers are in full bloom on a warm sunny summers day as there seemed to be a great variety around. The sound of the waterfalls just added to the scene.

Looking back down to the old building and wall from the gully

Following the Afon Llynedno

Looking back towards a distant Llyn Dinas and the Hebog Range

And from higher up

Following the Afon Llynedno

Another superb look back

Waterfalls

Yr Aran & Snowdon come into view

By this time the views back had really opened up as the Snowdon Horseshoe and the Carneddau had now come into full view. The views were taking my mind of all the squelching going on underfoot as I made steady progress upwards trying to miss out any bog monsters that lay in wait. Unfortunately one got me as I took my eye off the ball for a second. It's a good job I had gaiters on, as I sunk down nearly to knee high!! Oh well, it was a first for me so it's not too bad and the gaiters earned there money :-)

Pano of Moel Hebog, Yr Aran, Snowdon Horseshoe & Distant Carneddau

More wet ground ahead

1-0 to the bog monster :-(

I got to the top of the gully without anymore mishaps to be greeted with a fine view of Moel Siabod and also my first summit of Moel Meirch. Not much in the way of a trig point or anything special but it does have a grandstand view of most of the main northern summit's all laid out in front of me in glorious sunshine with a blue sky as the backdrop, superb

Moel Meirch Summit views of the big guns

Towards Moel Siabod

Snowdon Horseshoe

Llyn Edno from Moel Meirch

This was a great place just to sit and have a good look round taking it all in especially with views in all directions and the sun beating down. Unfortunately, there was a bit of a chilly wind but not as bad as on Friday. I did spend about 30 mins or so here before moving down to Llyn Edno and more wet and boggy ground. This was becoming a permanent feature of the day that wouldn't go away! There is a fence line that I followed round to my next summit of Ysgafell Wen which is marked by a large cairn with Cnicht & the Moelwyns as a backdrop

Llyn Edno

Fence line and boggy ground ahead

Back down to Llyn Edno

One of the Llyns in Llynnau r Cwm

And from above

Ysgafell Wen summit with Llyn yr Adar, Cnicht, Moelwyns & Porthmadog coast line in the distance

Another great vantage point and one where I hung around for a bit. It was at this point that my mind was toying with the idea that I should make a visit to Cnicht as it seemed only a stones throw away. It was in fact a 45 minute slushy, boggy walk away but well worth the effort. I had time on my side and as I was sort of making my walk up on the way round it just seemed to fit in with my no plan of a day. Cnicht is the place where I saw the only other people out on the hills today, an elderly couple enjoying the delights of the day as they made there way round to the old Croesor quarries.

Llyn yr Adar

Llyn yr Adar with Snowdon

Cnicht summit

Porthmadog coastal view from the summit

Hebog range from the summit

Llyn yr Adar was the place where there was a forum wild swimming race in the summer of 2013. Various members of the Walkers Forum stripped off and took part in an impromtu dip. A good way to cool of then as it was hot but a day like today would of been a tad cooler so I left that to the seagulls.
I was now on my ascent back to Llyn yr Adar and from there I picked up the path that made its way through the crags of Craig Llyn-lliag and Y Cyrniau and down to Llyn Llaig. This is quite a distinct path in places and then it seems to disappear in the boggy ground and then re-appear further down. A sure sign that this isn't a overly popular place.

My way down through Craig Llyn-lliag & Y Cyrniau

My descent towards Llyn Lliag

Sun rays over Llyn Lliag

Looking back up to the ridge of Craig Llyn-lliag, I was wishing that I had paid that a visit and made my way over the ridge and then down. Oh well, another day looms :-)

Pano of Craig Llyn-lliag

It was now just a steady descent through bog, path, across streams, past old buildings and past a couple of cottages to get back to the road. Quite a varied ascent really and the views in front of me made it very pleasant indeedy :-)

Old building with Y Aran & Snowdon as the backdrop

Outflow of Llyn Lliag

Another old building

Passing two cottages

Looking back from the lane up to the ridge of Craig Llyn-lliag

Just a short walk back down the lane to the car park where I got back about 5pm, so a good 7 & 1/2 hours in this wet & wild corner of Snowdonia. A leisurely drive up to Plas y Brenin for a photo of the sun going down behind Snowdon finished the day off perfectly.