5 to 7 February 2022 - Three Days in Snowdonia

Richard and Jenny joined us for the first two days of our most recent trip to Porthmadog. Above, they are with Sue, in Beddgelert at the start of a walk to Pen-y-Gwryd - Walk 21 in Alex Kendall's 'Snowdonia South' book.

This, and a further posting, simply flesh out my postings made at the time by way of annotated photos that can be viewed in web version as a slideshow. Two batches each covering three days.

Saturday - original posting here.

We started in Beddgelert, crossing the footbridge over Afon Glaslyn.
 

After a pleasant walk past Sygun Copper Mine and Llyn Dinas, we reached the excellent Gwynant Caffi coffee shop at Bethania. Richard's hot chocolate drew much admiration.

Good paths led past Llyn Gwynant, above which a grassy bank provided a good spot for lunch.

The path near Afon Gwynant led to the hydroelectric power station, the pipes to which scar the landscape here.

The path ascends from here, nearly reaching the car park at Pen-y-Pass before contouring to reach the road near the Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel.

Here's the view back to Yr Aran.

Here's our route - 15km with 500 metres ascent - a thin blue line starting in Beddgelert and finishing in a 'free parking' lay-by beyond the hotel. It took us 4.5 hours. I'm still getting flashbacks of the 'near miss' due to my incompetent driving from this lay-by; thankfully the other driver was more alert!

Click to enlarge

Sunday brought another overcast day on which a low level walk (as for the rest of the week) was the best option for an enjoyable outing. So we chose a circular walk from Dolwyddelan - Walk 9 in Alex Kendall's 'Snowdonia North' book. The contemporaneous entry is here.

We parked on the wide road by St Gwyddelan's Church.

Our path crossed to the south of Afon Lledr and followed the railway for a while, with good views across to Dolwyddelan Castle and Moel Siabod, upon which it would have been very windy today.

The torrent of Afon Hafod-Ilian was crossed via an ancient stone slab bridge.

The woodland offered good protection from the wind for an elevenses break.

We crossed the main A470 road, passed Pont Rufeinig station, and left the railway to find its tunnel under the Crimea Pass road, built during the Crimean War in the 1850s, with the surrounding stone walls being built by Russian prisoners of war.

Turning back towards Dolwyddelan, the track became a road for a while, rising above the castle before descending to pass it.

We tried to find a lunch spot up at the castle, which dates from the early 1200s in the time of Llywelyn the Great. We failed, but we found a sunny spot nearby, in view of both Moel Siabod and the castle.

From the castle, it was an easy stroll back to the car.

Here's the route - about 10km clockwise from Dolwyddelan, with 200 metres ascent. It took us 3 hours.

Later, Sue and I both took snaps from our living room window. We have an estuary outlook this time, as opposed to our usual harbour outlook. 

Monday (see here), and rain drew us to the excellent Roberts' cafe in Dolgellau in the forlorn hope of the weather easing.

Then we went to nearby Rhydymain and embarked on a 12km circuit described by Alex Kendall as Walk 18 ('Afon Melau') of his 'Snowdonia South' book.

After crossing the river, we ascended to mountain tracks below the 705 metre summit of Rhobell Fawr. In better weather we'd have visited the summit. Next time, perhaps.

Rhobell Fawr is up there somewhere...

Eventually we emerged from the murk to a forest path leading back down to the farmland of the valley, returning to Rhydymain above its churchyard.

Here's the clockwise route - 12km with 350 metres ascent, taking us about 3 hours.

That's it for now - the other three days will follow in due course.