Mountains beginning with C (and a few others too.....)

8/9/10.4.14
Walking with; Nobody

  Wales in the sunshine, there can be few better places to spend a couple of days. I left Manchester under cloud but by the time I arrived in Conwy the sun was shining and the sky was blue dotted with a few cotton wool cumulus. The YHA http://www.yha.org.uk/hostel/conwy is a modern building perched on the hillside above the old town, and, as well as offering excellent views from the dining room and roof top viewing area, it is perfectly located to attack Conwy mountain or Mynydd Y Dref (Mountain of the town). At 244m, mountain might be stretching it a little but it's an interesting spot affording amazing views along the coast and across into Snowdonia. The summit ridge is dotted with remains of Neolithic huts and of a very substantial Iron Age hillfort. It made for a very pleasant couple of hours of strolling, there were spring Lambs finding their feet in the fields and Gulls and Ravens wheeling over head and I was reminded of the pleasures of walking by the sea. I finished my day with a walk around the old walls of the city, a mooch along the harbour arm where the Herring Gulls scrounged chips from visitors and a few pints in the excellent Albion alehouse http://albionalehouse.weebly.com/index.html, a gem of a pub situated in the heart of town.
  Wednesday, I headed into the Ogwen valley, one of the most spectacular spots in Wales, possibly even the UK. I parked at Idwal Cottage and set off on to the rocky lower slopes of Pen Yr Ole Wen. I'd admired this mountain many times from excursions up Tryfan,Y Garn and the Glydderau, and it had always looked like a gnarly, scrambly route up, and it proved to be exactly that. Apparently the name means "Head of the White Slope" and by the time I had made my way up on to the surprisingly broad, sloping summit dotted with snow on the North face, the name seemed to make sense. The 360 degree views were stunning and worthy of a short rest after the steep, rocky scramble up. The climb up onto Carnedd Daffyd, Wales's third highest peak and named after Dafydd ap Gruffud, the younger brother of Wales's last independent prince. Dafydd met a grisly end at the hands of Edward I and, as he was in the shadow of his regal brother, so the hill named for him sits in the shadow of Carnedd Llewelyn named after the last Welsh prince. The ridge between the two, known as Ysgolion Duon, is a fine walk with nerve shredding drops on one side, but once traversed the climb up to Llewelyn's summit is an easy one. I descended back on to the ridge before dropping down towards Llyn Ogwen and making my way back to my tent in the grounds of the hostel. I did a night nav that evening around Llyn Idwal, it's a very eerie area, the huge bowl of rock sitting around the lake and there are many myths and legends associated with it.
  Thursday, I drove out of the Ogwen valley and parked in Capel Curing in the shadow of Moel Siabod. I had heard that Plas-Y-Brenin use the area a round Crimpiau as a navigation practice area and had decided if it was good enough for them, it was good enough for me! It's a really beautiful area of lumps and bumps, hummocks, tussocks, marshes and rocks. Buzzards wheeled overhead "mewing" and soaring, Ravens cronked and Wild Ponies picked their way across the rocky slopes. I spent hours aiming off at spot heights, seeking out contours and drinking in the views of Siabod and back down the valley. From the top of Crimpiau itself (name very aptly means fine, high ridge) I watched a navigation workshop taking place far below and then followed the ridge line along to the pretty, turtle shaped Llyn Y Coryn and then onto Clogwyn Mawr which, after a short, steep scramble off the edge, I made my way back to the Moel Siabod cafe where I was rewarded with coffee and an excellent buttery, syrupy flapjack.
   So, a cracking couple of days walking in one of the most beautiful areas of Wales. Lots of mountains beginning with C and a fair few more of Wales's tallest peaks. However, the substantially lower peaks of Crimpiau and Conwy Mountain proved to be more than equal in terms of enjoyment. I can't wait to head back and maybe pick out a few decent wild camp spots tucked in and amongst these magnificent peaks.

To view the full album please click on the following link; https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.862885987060690.1073741860.597048676977757&type=1

Come walk with me UK's 100th post!

Wow! 100 posts, who'd have thought I would have got this far :-) Having reached this landmark I thought it might be appropriate to look back on the blog thus far and pick out a few highlights!

 Pool between Moel Hebog and Moel Yr Ogof- July 2013

Sprinkling Tarn- August 2013

Langdale Pikes- June 2013

Harter Fell- June 2013

 The Cantilever Stone- November 2012

 Frosted trees near Fernilee Reservoir- January 2013

 Cloud inversion from the Pike O'Stickle- October 2012

 Ruthy at Llyn Idwal- August 2012

 With Ros and Emily on South Head- February 2013

Parkhouse Hill- February 2013

Al on Y Garn- November 2012

 Cream Tea- January 2012

 Long-tailed Tit- January 2012

 Kinder Downfall- March 2012

 Mud- March 2012

 Bleaklow- March 2012

 On Pendle Hill- May 2012

With Ruthy on Pen-Y-Ghent- June 2012

CWWMUK highlights........Wild camping in Snowdonia in the Moel range, Tryfan, the Pike O' Stickle, Kinder in the snow, the many faces of Wasdale, Blencathra, Helvellyn, Malham Cove, 2 of the 3 Yorkshire Peaks, starting ML training, Bristly Ridge and many, many more.....

Thanks due to Ruthy, Al, Greg, Emily, Ros, the Peak District Rangers, Nathan, Rob and Helen, Rich, the good folks of the Pendle and Peak District walking festivals and all the others who have helped me to enjoy the fantastic walks we have done together, here's to the next 100 and the continuing success of Come walk with me!

Tryfan and the Glyders

29.10.12
Walking with; Al

A last warm up walk before heading off on my Mountain Leader Training course and what a cracking day it proved to be. Tryfan is one of those iconic mountains that really look the part, the Matterhornesque summit of the type that kids sketch when asked to draw a mountain. Tryfan is the fifteenth highest mountain in Wales at 915 metres and is topped by the twin rocks of Adam and Eve, neither Al nor I nor any of the other sumiteers whilst we were there attempted the leap between these two biblically named pillars and I tip my hat in salute to those of you brave enough to have done this.
We set off from Llyn Idwal and soon began the climb/scramble up the North face. Whilst there is theoretically a path it wasn't long before we had given up following it and as we picked our way through the rocks and gulleys it was easy to see how in poor visibility it could prove to be tricky. We found the Cannon Stone and posed for an obligatory photo although the rock is now worn smooth and there isn't a lot of grip left, so instead of noble "yonder, the Ogwen valley" shots, mine looks like a drowning man clinging to a life raft! We continued to pick our way through gullies, scree slopes and up the odd body contorting scramble until we reached the top, Adam and Eve and some spectacular 360 degree views to enjoy with a coffee and flapjack!
Looking across to Glyder Fach the unpromising scree slopes threatened an arduous, strength sapping ascent, but as we dropped into Bwlch Tryfan a fellow walker suggested Bristly Ridge as a more interesting route. Wow!! One of the highlights of this busy year in the hills and mountains. Www.ukscrambles.co.uk describes Bristly Ridge as "an absolute classic scramble, the best Grade 1 in Wales without any doubt", and who am I to disagree........It was a truly exhilirating half hour or so, nerve racking, exciting, challenging and fun and I emerged onto the wind blasted summit of Glyder Fach grinning like an overdosed adrenalin addict. The name Glyder is believed to be derived from the Welsh word gludair meaning heap of stones and the exposed summit is strewn with rocks not least the Cantilever Stone (another essential photo stop) and the spectacular formation of Castell Y Gwynt or the Castle of the Winds, both these features were used in the Disney film "Dragonslayer" and certainly the place has a fantastical feel to it. Circumventing the Castle we headed onto Glyder Fawr, our highest peak of the day which our map told us was an agonising 999 metres, however in late 2010 it was resurveyed and is now believed to top out at 1000.8 metres! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-11375937. Either way it is the fifth highest peak in Wales and whilst not as pretty as it's sister still affords incredible views across to Angelsey.
Our descent from here was hard on the knees, skidding down the scree towards Llyn Y Cwn and then taking The Devil's Kitchen path down towards Llyn Idwal. By the time we got to the bottom the clouds were scudding across the top of Tryfan and it was fantastic to be able to trace our whole route behind us. Definitely one of the best days our of the year so far!!!!

To view the full album please click on the link below;
https://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=oa.292351124217133&type=1

Y Garn, Snowdonia

14.8.12
Walking with; Ruthy

"Staycationing" this year on the Llyn Peninsula it seemed a wasted opportunity to make our way there from Manchester without having a night in Snowdonia. We had booked into Idwal Cottage YHA, the oldest hostel in Britain which opened in 1931 and is beautifully situated in the Ogwen Valley surrounded by the epic peaks of the National Park and full of climbing memorabilia.( http://www.yha.org.uk/hostel/idwal). Jeroen, the hostel manager, was a mine of information and recommended a couple of 4-5 hour walks, of which we decided on the ascent of Y Garn.
Y Garn is one of the Welsh 3000s and is ranked as the tenth highest peak in Wales at 947 metres. It rises from the basin containing the Llyn Idwal and forms part of a spectacular ridge that when we set off from the hostel was hidden in forboding cloud. Llyn Idwal is a magnificent spectacle and only a ten minute stroll from the car park, subsequently it was busy (even in the teeming rain) so we headed on up towards the slopes of scree that flanked our eventual goal. As we climbed the wind got up and whilst it pushed the clouds off the summit it made it heavy going. Frequent view stops to look back down towards Bethesda and Llyn Ogwen provided respite, as did views of Ravens surfing the thermals and photos of the Heather coming into bloom. Eventually we reached the ridge that led up to the summit and found ourselves admiring the views of Tryfan as the peak slipped in and out of the clouds, sheltering from the wind in the lee of the summit cairn and refuelling ahead of the knee crunching descent of The Devil's Kitchen.
The sun was out as we headed down the slope from the top towards the lonely tarn of Llyn Y Cwn and we started to come across a few more walkers, it seems as if the path up The Devil's Kitchen is the preferred route, although I wouldn't fancy descending the scree slopes we came up. The Devil's Kitchen is justifiably famous as a path and although hard on the knees is a spectacular descent with the whole of the Cwm Idwal stretching out below you and waterfalls crashing down the rock face. There were a group of climbers testing themselves on the exposed rockface and we saw Redstarts, Meadow Pippits and Jackdaws as we picked our way down the rocky staircase. By the time we reached Llyn Idwal, the paths were very busy and we headed back to our car and onwards to the wild, windy expanses of the Llyn Peninsula where, unfortunately, the weather prevented too much in the way of walking except for a gentle stroll along the Coastal Path from Tir Glyn to Aberdaron.

To view the full album from this walk, please click on the link below;
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?id=718985691&tid=136991043086476&skipClustering=true&qn=1345467934&success=20&failure=0&set=oa.261525060633073#!/media/set/?set=oa.261525060633073&type=1