Readers may have noticed the occasional reference to 'Alex' during last week's postings from Porthmadog. That's because we were trying out some of Alex Kendall's 60 routes, detailed in his Cicerone guides published in 2019 and 2020.
The eight routes we walked proved to be varied and excellent, and as Porthmadog is at the southern end of the 'North' book, and the northern end of the 'South' book, it's a perfect place from which to explore these routes.
The spring colours in the woodland were wonderful, as they would be in autumn. Whilst Alex doesn't go into great detail regarding the flora and fauna, he does add snippets of information about the places the walks pass through, so it's more than just a case of following the route descriptions, which we found easy to follow with occasional reference to the 1:25000 scale maps that are inserted in the text.
Cicerone also provide .gpx file downloads for purchasers of the books. I found these downloaded easily into Anquet's android phone app, but whilst I opened the relevant file on my phone before each walk, we'd have managed perfectly well without them.
So if you are a walker, not addicted exclusively to summits (although a few summits are reached on these walks), and plan to visit Snowdonia, I can heartily recommend these pocket guides by way of inspiration for getting you to scenic spots you may not have visited previously.
The nearby Llŷn Peninsula, a brilliant venue for walks in the area - especially when Snowdonia is engulfed by poor weather - is not covered in these books. I recommend David Berry's Kittiwake guide for another 30 walks in that area.
So that's 90 routes to choose from, plus those we devise ourselves, and all the mountain walks. We'll be back!
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