Llechog

The beauty of having a ticklist is that it gives you variety; you don’t have to tread old ground and sometimes you are welcomed by a previously undiscovered gem.  But by continually looking at new areas to explore, I am less drawn to the hut my mountaineering club has, despite it being nestled in the foothills of Snowdon with easy access to some good walking and a variety of summits.  The thing is, there aren’t many summits on my ticklist near to the hut, I’ve been on the vast majority of them.

An exception is Llechog, a minor Nuttall summit on the ridge snaking north-west from Snowdon.  It doesn’t provide the biggest day out but I managed to muster a few companions to take it on without heading for Yr Wyddfa, mostly because of the poor weather and partially because of the annual Snowdon Race promising even more people to avoid on the Llanberis path.

We soon reached Hebron station and made a beeline for Derlwyn, the first top of the ridge.  Mostly untracked, we carried on over some varied terrain to gain the intermediate top of Tryfan, which is a lot less challenging than its Glyderau namesake.  The walk to Llechog was a straightforward stroll along the edge of the precipices plunging to the Llanberis Pass, but the low and billowing cloud denied us that view.

We followed the railway and then the main path down to Halfway station where we found walking against the tide of the racers, most of them with heads down and heartrate up.  Soon we were approaching Hebron only to be overtaken by the race leaders, impressively striding over ankle-turning terrain towards their finish line.

But despite my misgivings about whether or not the hut helps me to pursue my ticklist, its drying room was soon working at full capacity as we relaxed with a welcoming mug of tea!

For those who seek routes that are (literally) off the beaten track, the Derlwyn-Tryfan-Llechog ridge would make an interesting and mostly crowd-free way to the roof of Wales.