Walking

[mull]

Thanks for the info Hugo.
Nice to see the pipeline is being run underground in such a senic area.
Pity they can not do it with the wind turbines.
A drive up the M74 over Beatock is now heartbreaking, a beautifull area has now been smothered in windmills.

Back to topic.

[Yorkie]

The whole of the M74 is heartbreaking.  I always travel through Dumfries and up through Cumnock to Kilmarnock.  Much prettier route.  Then on the ferry over to Arran from Ardrossan when we had the annual car meet there. I lived in Scotland in the late sixties and early seventies and enjoyed every day of it despite being housed in East Kilbride.   

[Hugo]

I've noticed the tower perched on the edge of a cliff every time  I have driven past Llanddulas and the caves at the foot of the cliff have also fascinated me too.    Anyway, curiosity got the better of me so my friend Pete and I decided to have a closer look at them.
We parked the cars in Clip Terfyn Llanddulas and we followed a rough stony path to the disused quarry and made our way up to the first of a group of 6 caves in a large limestone outcrop overlooking the Irish Sea.  We didn't go into the first cave but climbed over the wall and took a path that was to lead us to the other caves. The next cave we did go in and it was a 5m high winding passage 24m long with a smaller 6m passage on the right at the end but my head torch wasn't bright enough so we carried on to the last caves which you can see from the A55 and the bigger one on the right has a  7m diameter entrance which  immediately splits into two passages. The left ends after 10m. The main right-hand passage passes beneath a rift in the roof leading up to the surface.   Outside of the cave a group of climbers were scaling the face of this vertical cliff and I thought rather them than me.     From the caves we dropped down to a well defined path that in turn led to a track which after a while forked. We took the left track which took us to the gates of Gwrych Castle and the gates were well and truly padlocked.   It was a shame looking at this once grand old building deteriorating rapidly and especially as I can remember having some banqueting feasts there in days gone by.
We returned along the track and took a steep and very slippy path upwards that led to a decent forest track.  Further along we took a narrower path that was to lead us to the limestone tower that you can see as you are driving along the A55.   We were ready for our refreshments by then so we went inside the empty building and sat down by the north facing window.  The views were spectacular from this high vantage point but then Pete said "have a look straight down"   which I did.     All I can say is that I could guarantee that if anyone had a constipation problem then this view would cure it, immediately!      I didn't even know it was called Lady Eleanor's Tower until after I read up on it after the walk.   We then carried on along the edge of the cliff until we came to a series of man made steps and followed them back to the caves and to the quarry where we sat for a while and looked at the views.   We hadn't seem much in the way of wildlife but one thing we both noted was that we hadn't seen as many Bees before.  The Cottoneasters  were flowering in masses and all types of Bees were swarming around these plants in was quite an impressive sight.
After making our way down to the cars we then drove down to the Beach Cafe to finish off a good day with a delicious coffee and in my case a large slice of cake too!

[Hugo]

Tan Yr Ogof caves and Lady Eleanor's Tower

[Hugo]

Yesterday, we went further afield and travelled down to Dolgellau to do the Old Precipice walk.   This circular walk of just over 3 miles does not follow a public footpath but a private walk over a particularly beautiful part of the Nannau estate, which dates back to the twelfth century.  It  passes through an interesting variety of habitats which include deciduous woodland, a conifer plantation, meadows, lakeside and sheep-walk. But the main attraction of the walk is the incomparable views down the Mawddach Estuary and of the principal mountain ranges of Snowdonia.  We set off from the car park and passed an old stone cottage before coming to the first signpost.
The official walk goes anti clockwise around the hill but the clockwise way,  I believe is the best way to appreciate just how beautiful this area is. We went past Llyn Cynwch and stopped to talk to a local guy who was fishing there for Rainbow Trout but he hadn't had any luck up to then catching any fish.   It's a good track to the end of the lake but sadly we couldn't see Cadair Idris as the clouds were low and covering the peak but as we turned the corner we could see the beautiful Mawddach Estuary.  Pete was made up as we saw the increasingly rare sight of a Yellow Hammer perched on the top of a tree and took some great photos of it.    At the point where the path turns around the hill again we had a rest on a wooden bench and took in the views of the estuary and the deep valley that the A470 goes along,
We hadn't been sitting there long when the weather took a turn for the worse and it rained and rained but we had to carry on as we had gone so far already.   We followed the narrow path and while Keith did a fine impersonation of Mary Poppins as he walked along with his umbrella up, the rest of us got absolutely drenched.   It seemed like ages until we got back to the car and we had to eat our lunch in the vehicle as it was still pouring outside.     Afterwards we set off for the Coed Y Brennin Centre and by pure chance we met Geraint there (another of our walking group)  as he had been working in that area yesterday.   Once inside we discussed our next walk in the area and he will be taking us to the other side of the valley and up to the Gold Mines there, so fingers crossed for better weather next time.    One thing about the walks I go on is that I have a good group of friends and we always have a laugh and make the most of the situation.         

[Hugo]

Old Precipice Walk Dolgellau

[Hugo]

With good weather forecast for Thursday we headed up to the north west of Anglesey to Church Bay or Porth Swtan as it is called in Welsh.  It's a much quieter part of the island but does have a well known seafood restaurant there called the Lobster Pot and an excellent seaside cafe.    Our walk was a coastal walk to Ynys Y fydlyn followed by a return walk inland along the narrow country lanes.  We left Church Bay and followed the Coastal path as it climbed up and followed the cliffs and soon we had good views over to Holyhead.  The narrow path was quite undulating and at times was dangerously near cliff edges.   At one such cliff we looked down and could see a cormorant nesting below us so Pete was busy with his Nikon Camera 41 x zoom taking photos of the nesting pair.  There was a great variety of bird life all along the cliffs but we were fortunate to see many Choughs all the way along it.   We passed  an unusual rock formation shortly before we descended steeply on to the beach at Ynys Y Fydlyn and stopped at the island for lunch.
We could see the  Skerries lighthouse  and there have been numerous ship wrecks there over the years.   The Skerries lighthouse became the last privately owned one in the country before it was eventually sold in 1844 for £440,984.00  in 1844.  A rather curious wreck occurred in this are in the 1740's when an unknown boat sank leaving two young boys as the only survivors. They came ashore lashed to a raft but couldn't speak either Welsh or English.   One of the boys was adopted by a local family and given the name Evan Thomas. He eventually learnt to speak Welsh and he found that he had a gift for setting of bones which he later developed into a successful business .  His descendants founded the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopedic Hospital near Oswestry.
After having our refreshments we spent some time exploring the island and the caves near to it and then headed uphill past the marshy area of Llyn Y Fydlyn until we came to open countryside and then to a lane which was to take us past the beautiful Church of St Rhuddlad and then back down to Church Bay.   We all had a brilliant day and finished it off by going to the cafe and having a delicious cake and drink courtesy of Pete,  while basking in the warm sunshine.

[Hugo]

Church Bay and Ynys Y Fyflyn

[Hugo]

Yesterday was our long awaited trip to the Dolgellau area to do the New Precipice Walk.   It was a linear walk starting from near the old bridge at Llanelltyd and ending at Penmaenpool on the Mawddach Estuary and we took one car to Penmaenpool and the other was parked in the village.   Geraint, who was originally from the village led the walk and and provided us with loads of information about the area as we were walking along.    The first part of the walk took us gradually uphill through the forest  along a narrow tarmac lane until we came to a footpath on our left and we followed this uphill where the route takes you past the gorgeous hidden lake "Llyn Tan y Graig" (which is around 500 feet up)   The view from there was incredible, we were blessed with warm sunny weather and the whole of the Cadair Idris massif was clearly visible and down in the valley you could see the ruins of Cymer Abbey.   We then had a rather steep but a pleasant climb through the forest until we passed the "Barracks" which was connected to the Gold Mines that are littered about in these hills.     Not long afterwards we were rewarded with a sight that words or photos cannot really do it justice.  This was what Geraint had brought us up to see.  The New Precipice Walk is one of the Mawddach Estuary’s classic trails, and is now home to an ambitious scheme to make such spectacular viewpoints accessible to a wider range of people.
The estuary is glacial in origin, and as the ice sheets pushed their way to the sea,  they carved out a characteristic U-shaped valley with a flattish bottom and steep sides. The Precipice is a flat track cut into the valley side on the slopes of Foel Ispri, and makes use of an old tramway built to serve the long abandoned workings of the Voel Goldmine.
There are stunning views down the Mawddach estuary as far as Barmouth viaduct and across to Dolgellau and the Arans in the other direction and immediately below us we could see the wooden toll bridge of Penmaenpool which was our destination.  We walked along the well defined track and at the end of it took a steep grassy bank that was to lead us to some of the old goldmines that once used to be worked in this area.     After having a good luck around the spoil and not finding any gold we started the steep descent down a narrow, winding lane and then crossed the main road and made our way across the toll bridge at Penmaenpool.  The weather had got much hotter since we started our walk so we quickly made our way to the George III pub where we all had a well deserved drink on the balcony there.    It's one of the nicest walks I've ever done, the weather was perfect, the company great and all done in an area of outstanding natural beauty.    We we so impressed with the area that we have decided to return again and walk along the disused railway track from Penmaenpool to Barmouth.   

[Hugo]

New Precipice Walk

[Hugo]

New Precipice Walk

[Hugo]

Yesterday I repeated a walk I did last year with my friend Harry just to get it out of our system.    We did the Cribben Ridge in the Ogwen Valley last year and everything was fine until we got on the plateau and then the clouds came down  and visibility was practically nil.  There had been a fatality in that area  the previous week and I opted for safety and went down the valley on the western side and a descent that would normally take us two hours to do took us five hours and I was totally shattered after so much walking.
Anyway this time we parked by the Ogwen Lake and took the steep uphill path across the marshy ground until we came to the stone steps that go up to Llyn Bochlwyd..  It's quite a pull up these steps but we stopped often for breaks along the track and on one of the breaks I noticed a Hawk hovering below in the valley and then it swooped down and seemed to attack something on the ground.  We soon reached Llyn Bochlwyd and stopped there to have a rest and a drink before we tackled the Cribben Ridge.   A Skylark was hovering about 30 foot off the ground and we were watching it when suddenly there was an awful noise and then there was the Hawk there just hovering with it's prey before taking off and soaring away.  It was probably the same one we had seen earlier in the walk.  It's surprising how quickly you ascend on the ridge because we saw a jet flying about a 1000 foot below us in the Nant Ffrancon Valley.
This ridge gives you outstanding views on either side but I was keeping my eyes on the clouds that covered the peak of Glyder Fach (3278 ft ) and thinking of our last walk up there.   Eventually we reached a rocky outcrop that requires some scrambling to get to the top and we managed that quite easily although Harry did say that it was out of his comfort zone.    Once on the stony plateau we looked for a suitable stop to have our refreshments and afterwards carried on walking as the cloud cover was changing all the time.   We made our way along the stony surface and took the Bristly Ridge scree path down to Bwlch Tryfan.    That path is extremely loose and unstable but we made our way down without any real problems and then took the path down hill and back to the car park.   The walk down hill was just under two hours so was an improvement on the five hours it had taken previously and better still we had no falls this time.   

[TheMedz]

I've been meaning to walk up Snowdon since I moved into the area. I've now had a call from friends saying they want to come here early morning walk up and down and then return home to Warrington the same day. Could somebody tell me which is the best (and by best I have to admit to meaning easiest and risk free) route and starting point to take.

[Jack]

The shorter routes (Pyg and Miner's track) both start at the Pen-y-Pass car park. The Pyg track is 7 miles there and back with the least climb (2371ft).

The Llanberis track follows the railway - it is longer than the Pyg route and personally I find quite dull.

My favourite route is the Watkin path from Bethania Bridge to the summit and then descend the southern ridge but this is quite a long way to do the mountain.

You need to allow 6-7 hours to get up and down the mountain and of course it might be sunny at the bottom and freezing and blowing a gale at the cafe on the summit.

[Hugo]

If it is your first walk up Snowdon I would suggest that you do the Pyg Track from the Pen Y Pass car park and then descent the same way but drop down to the Miner's track on your way back.
The paths are easy to follow and you'll meet a lot of other walkers on the route.
The only thing I can advise you on is the cost of the car park at Pen Y Pass (that's if you can get in it as it's normally full by about 9.00am ) and the cost for over five hours is £10.00.
We always park in Llanberis for free and catch the Sherpa Bus to Pen Y Pass as it's free to us OAP's