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My disappointment of not going to Torridon on the WH meet was slightly quenched by this little outing to one of my favourite high wild-camp sites in Wales.
Just about 80minutes drive from home gets me to the west coast of Wales near to the holiday resort of Barmouth.
Pared y Cefn-hir is only a small hill (383m / 1257ft) but is big on statue and views, and it’s only a 20mimute walk to its main summit from the car park at 240meters.
I have camped on the main summit before, back in September 2012, when we (My wife joined me on that occasion) camped on the main summit…some pictures from that night….
This time I fancied camping by Llyn Pen Moelyn, so continued along the ridge, there are some good tracks along the ridge, but some tricky steep short scrambles getting on and off it for the unwary who don’t like that sort of thing.
Once off the main ridge the paths disappeared nearer to the lake, which is strange as I would have thought that more people would venture to the lake. Once at the lake I searched for a suitable place to camp…there wasn’t one to be found, the ground around and about being either bog, heather or rough grass, so back up to the ridge where I found a good spot right next to the eastern summit cairn.
It was a lovely spring evening (at last, after all the cold weather and snow of late) sitting in the sun with no wind waiting for the sunset.
The sunset and sunrise did not disappoint either, I’ll let the pictures tell the story…
Llynnau Gragennen
Llynnau Gragennen
Cadair Idris from Llynnau Gragennen
Cadair Idris from Pared y Cefn-hir
Pared y Cefn-hir ridge (The lake where I wanted to camp can be seen in the distance)
Llyn Pen Moelyn (The lake where I wanted to camp by)
Pared y Cefn-hir East summit
Pared y Cefn-hir Hill-fort
Pared y Cefn-hir sunset
Pared y Cefn-hir sunset
Pared y Cefn-hir sunset
Pared y Cefn-hir sunset
Pared y Cefn-hir sunset
Pared y Cefn-hir sunset
Pared y Cefn-hir sunset
Pared y Cefn-hir sunset
Pared y Cefn-hir sunset
Pared y Cefn-hir dusk
I was up early to start taking pictures of the dawn and sunrise. It had been a cold night, although there was no frost on the tent or summit, as soon as I dropped down slightly I was on frosty ground, and the lake had frozen over at its western end during the night.
Moon-set above Cadair Idris
Pared y Cefn-hir sunrise
Pared y Cefn-hir sunrise
Pared y Cefn-hir sunrise
Llynnau Gragennen
Llynnau Gragennen
Llynnau Gragennen