A Carneddau Meander

The rising footpath southwest out of Abergwyngregyn that joins the North Wales Path turned out to be a good warm up.  We continued in the sunshine the highpoint of the path and then took a rising traverse line to join the footpath that curved around the southwest flank of Moel Wnion.  Although there was a breeze, it was surprisingly warm.

At the col between Moel Wnion and the Drosgl ridge we decided to head down towards Aber Falls rather than take aim for Drosgl.  It was mid-afternoon and it was apparent that continuing would put us at risk of walking back in the dark and more importantly, missing the 4'o'clock closing time of the café!

We saw two motorbike scramblers who had come down from the top of Moel Wnion and they made short work of the northwest slopes of Drosgl.  Although envious of their rapid progress, the noise somewhat spoilt the ambience.  The ponies and sheep close to track of the scramblers seemed to agree as we could clearly see them running away from the disturbance.

From the col, Drosgl was the obvious summit ahead and the top of Gryn Wigau at the end of the shoulder was clear but not particularly prominent.  Bera Mawr, although set back behind Drosgl, showed off its castellated top.  Sometimes, actually being at a place to view the lie of the land can make sense of terrain in a way that studying maps doesn't.  I still have these Nuttall summits to tick and this recce gave me a good preview of that future route.

We followed the Afon Garn down to rejoin the North Wales Path and took some photos of the Aber Falls.  The walk out was easy and I was surprised by the number of day-trippers on the path, despite the sunny skies and warm weather.

Reaching Caffi Yr Hen Felin with time to spare, I indulged with a hot chocolate and a big slice of delicious Victoria sponge cake rounding off a relaxing post-Christmas day out.

Christmas Carneddau

It’s not often I head into the hills without any previously unclimbed summits as targets, but this was one of those rare days.  My club had organised a day out in the northern Carneddau and had touched lucky with quite good weather following the country’s battering by Storm Eva over Christmas – it was the only day that was forecast to have a lull in summit windspeeds.

We started from Abergwyngregyn and walked up the road to the North Wales Path, following it eastwards before turning right up the track that led to the summit of Drum.  I’ve rarely reached any hill as easily as this, with the sun shining and no wind.

The ridge to Foel-fras was a different matter and my post-Christmas fitness was sorely tested.  I slowed down significantly and reached the top quite some time after the rest of the group.  From here though, it was mostly downhill all the way.  We descended to the col below Llwytmor and walked up the short rise to the summit which was a new Nuttall for me.

I had hoped to tick Llwytmor but wasn’t necessarily expecting it as walking with a group tends to lead to a route defined either by “follow-my-leader” or consensus.  With today’s company I would have been happy with just getting out on some high summits – which I hadn’t visited for over 27 years!

From the summit a spiked tor beckoned us to the far side of the plateau before we avoided Llwytmor Bach in the increasing wind and decided to take a beeline to the Afon Goch above Aber Falls.  The path to the side of the falls needed some care to traverse as the tributaries made the exposed rock somewhat slippery but after what turned out to be the crux of the route, the easy path led us back to the road for the last mile to the car park.