Yesterday, I managed to get out for a walk that I've wanted to do for a while now, but I've never had the combination of weather, time off work and no family commitments. I was supposed to be at work this weekend, so I postponed a planned canoe trip, but the work was itself postponed, so I found myself at a loose end in Wales with a brilliant forecast.
I'd walked the 3,000' peaks in the Snowdon Massif and Glyderau in the past, and all that remained was the seven 3,000' peaks in the Carneddau, which I wanted to do in one hit.
Transport organised, I left my car at Aber Falls at the end of the walk and got a lift to Ogwen to start the walk. Whichever way you go, Pen yr Ole Wen is going to be a slog, but at least you get the longest ascent out of the way at the start of the day. I chose the route that starts at the eastern end of Llyn Ogwen and roughly follows Afon Lloer before heading up the east ridge as it offered a little easy scrambling.
Looking back to Tryfan:
Looking up to the scrambly bit:
Looking back down the scrambly bit:
After this, the route continue quite steeply, but with fantastic views over to Tryfan and the Glyderau and the Snowdon Massif. As height is gained, the view extends beyond this to the mountains of southern Snowdonia and the Llyn Peninsula.
The summit of Pen yr Ole Wen ( 3208' or 978m ) is reached quite abruptly, and the way onwards to Carnedd Dafydd ( 3425' or 1,044m ) is apparent:
There is a gentle drop and re-ascent to reach this summit, and it was at this point ( and for the remainder of the walk ) that I was pleased that I'd worn a pair of well cushioned trail shoes rather that the fell running shoes that I'd thought about wearing. The first four peaks of the Carnaddau are very rocky, and even the final three have their rocky / stoney sections. At the end of the thirteen miles my feet would have felt a bit battered in my fell shoes.
Pen yr Ole Wen, the Glyderau and Snowdon from Carnedd Dafydd:
I dropped off the far side of Carnedd Dafydd and watched a rescue helicopter in the Afon Llafar valley. Beyond dropping some orange smoke and scaring some sheep, I couldn't tell what they were doing so I continued towards Carnedd Llewelyn.
Just before the climb to the summit though, I took a small path on the left that skirted across the southwest face towards Yr Elen ( 3156 or 962m ). This path was usually quite distinct, but petered out in a couple of places. After crossing a rocky section it became apparent again, and the well defined path to the top of Yr Elen was easily followed to the top.
I'd met people on the previous two summits, but I had this one to myself. I decided to have lunch and a bit of a sit down here, so I got myself comfortable on some rocks and had a bite to eat and a relax. An indeterminate time later, I woke up from my unplanned snooze when I turned over and got a rock in my hip bone. As I woke up, I enjoyed the views over to Anglesey:
and then got on my way again:
The ascent of Carnedd Llewelyn ( 3490' or 1,064m ) was the final steep climb of the day, and the highest point in the range. From here you can see almost every other 3,000' mountain in Wales, including the final three gentle summits of the day:
Looking back to Yr Elen from the northern side of Carnedd Llewelyn:
I continued on to Foel-fras ( 3090' or 942m ), where I had a chat with a couple of Welsh lads who are doing the Welsh 3000's walk next week. There was also an emergency shelter here, that doesn't smell like wee like the shelter on top of Cadair Idris. It's said of the Cadair Idris shelter that if you spend the night there you'll wake up as either a poet or a mad man. Whichever you wake up as is probably directly proportional to how sensitive your sense of smell is.
The next peak ( or top, depending on who you talk to ), Carnedd Gwenllian (or "Garnedd Uchaf", 3038' or 926m ) is not always included on the list of the Welsh 3,000' peaks as it more of a bump on the ridge rather than an actual peak, but I visited the summit for completeness and was pleased that I did. It's like a small piece of Glyder Fach was dropped onto the Carneddau and forgotten about.
The final gentle ascent of the day was onto Foel-fras ( 3090' or 942m ), where I had tremendous views looking back over the walk and onwards over the coast. I stopped here for a while chatting to a guy who was going to bivvy out, and I couldn't help but think that he looked like someone who might frequent this forum; he had good quality outdoor gear in subdued colours and was looking for puddles to filter his water out of.
The final descent of the day was long one, from over 3,000' to almost sea level. I descended to the col between Foel-fras and Drum:
and followed a faint, intermittent path down to Llyn Anafon:
It was from this point onwards that I was especially glad that I'd opted for more robust footwear than my fell shoes. It felt like a very long way along the rough track from the dam at Llyn Anafon to the car park at Aber Falls:
I was especially disappointed to discover that I could have parked my car about a mile further up the hill than I did, in a small car park that isn't marked on the map. C'est la vie....
For those who are interested, I walked the route in almost exactly 8 hours, give or take a minute or two, including chats and unintentional snoozes....
I'm writing this 24 hours after finishing the walk, and I'm still buzzing. Not only did I finish walking the Welsh 3,000s, but I had a walk that compares in quality with the Snowdon Horseshoe on one of the best days of the year.
As an aside, like many people who walk / paddle / camp on solo trips, I had a couple of songs going through my head all day. In the past, I've had songs going through my head that I don't like, especially when I've been listening to the radio. This time however, I had two songs that I like:
Emmylou, by First Aid Kit:
AT Glastonbury: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO6t-xaXJC4
Album version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPWrX9PJAOs
and the hook to Thrift Shop, By Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. I won't post a link to this as it's very sweary, but if you're interested you can hear it on a well know video sharing website. It's the bit where they describe how awesome things are.
Cheers, Michael.
I'd walked the 3,000' peaks in the Snowdon Massif and Glyderau in the past, and all that remained was the seven 3,000' peaks in the Carneddau, which I wanted to do in one hit.
Transport organised, I left my car at Aber Falls at the end of the walk and got a lift to Ogwen to start the walk. Whichever way you go, Pen yr Ole Wen is going to be a slog, but at least you get the longest ascent out of the way at the start of the day. I chose the route that starts at the eastern end of Llyn Ogwen and roughly follows Afon Lloer before heading up the east ridge as it offered a little easy scrambling.
Looking back to Tryfan:
Looking up to the scrambly bit:
Looking back down the scrambly bit:
After this, the route continue quite steeply, but with fantastic views over to Tryfan and the Glyderau and the Snowdon Massif. As height is gained, the view extends beyond this to the mountains of southern Snowdonia and the Llyn Peninsula.
The summit of Pen yr Ole Wen ( 3208' or 978m ) is reached quite abruptly, and the way onwards to Carnedd Dafydd ( 3425' or 1,044m ) is apparent:
There is a gentle drop and re-ascent to reach this summit, and it was at this point ( and for the remainder of the walk ) that I was pleased that I'd worn a pair of well cushioned trail shoes rather that the fell running shoes that I'd thought about wearing. The first four peaks of the Carnaddau are very rocky, and even the final three have their rocky / stoney sections. At the end of the thirteen miles my feet would have felt a bit battered in my fell shoes.
Pen yr Ole Wen, the Glyderau and Snowdon from Carnedd Dafydd:
I dropped off the far side of Carnedd Dafydd and watched a rescue helicopter in the Afon Llafar valley. Beyond dropping some orange smoke and scaring some sheep, I couldn't tell what they were doing so I continued towards Carnedd Llewelyn.
Just before the climb to the summit though, I took a small path on the left that skirted across the southwest face towards Yr Elen ( 3156 or 962m ). This path was usually quite distinct, but petered out in a couple of places. After crossing a rocky section it became apparent again, and the well defined path to the top of Yr Elen was easily followed to the top.
I'd met people on the previous two summits, but I had this one to myself. I decided to have lunch and a bit of a sit down here, so I got myself comfortable on some rocks and had a bite to eat and a relax. An indeterminate time later, I woke up from my unplanned snooze when I turned over and got a rock in my hip bone. As I woke up, I enjoyed the views over to Anglesey:
and then got on my way again:
The ascent of Carnedd Llewelyn ( 3490' or 1,064m ) was the final steep climb of the day, and the highest point in the range. From here you can see almost every other 3,000' mountain in Wales, including the final three gentle summits of the day:
Looking back to Yr Elen from the northern side of Carnedd Llewelyn:
I continued on to Foel-fras ( 3090' or 942m ), where I had a chat with a couple of Welsh lads who are doing the Welsh 3000's walk next week. There was also an emergency shelter here, that doesn't smell like wee like the shelter on top of Cadair Idris. It's said of the Cadair Idris shelter that if you spend the night there you'll wake up as either a poet or a mad man. Whichever you wake up as is probably directly proportional to how sensitive your sense of smell is.
The next peak ( or top, depending on who you talk to ), Carnedd Gwenllian (or "Garnedd Uchaf", 3038' or 926m ) is not always included on the list of the Welsh 3,000' peaks as it more of a bump on the ridge rather than an actual peak, but I visited the summit for completeness and was pleased that I did. It's like a small piece of Glyder Fach was dropped onto the Carneddau and forgotten about.
The final gentle ascent of the day was onto Foel-fras ( 3090' or 942m ), where I had tremendous views looking back over the walk and onwards over the coast. I stopped here for a while chatting to a guy who was going to bivvy out, and I couldn't help but think that he looked like someone who might frequent this forum; he had good quality outdoor gear in subdued colours and was looking for puddles to filter his water out of.
The final descent of the day was long one, from over 3,000' to almost sea level. I descended to the col between Foel-fras and Drum:
and followed a faint, intermittent path down to Llyn Anafon:
It was from this point onwards that I was especially glad that I'd opted for more robust footwear than my fell shoes. It felt like a very long way along the rough track from the dam at Llyn Anafon to the car park at Aber Falls:
I was especially disappointed to discover that I could have parked my car about a mile further up the hill than I did, in a small car park that isn't marked on the map. C'est la vie....
For those who are interested, I walked the route in almost exactly 8 hours, give or take a minute or two, including chats and unintentional snoozes....
I'm writing this 24 hours after finishing the walk, and I'm still buzzing. Not only did I finish walking the Welsh 3,000s, but I had a walk that compares in quality with the Snowdon Horseshoe on one of the best days of the year.
As an aside, like many people who walk / paddle / camp on solo trips, I had a couple of songs going through my head all day. In the past, I've had songs going through my head that I don't like, especially when I've been listening to the radio. This time however, I had two songs that I like:
Emmylou, by First Aid Kit:
AT Glastonbury: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO6t-xaXJC4
Album version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPWrX9PJAOs
and the hook to Thrift Shop, By Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. I won't post a link to this as it's very sweary, but if you're interested you can hear it on a well know video sharing website. It's the bit where they describe how awesome things are.
Cheers, Michael.
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