I recruited Adrian a local Welshman to come on the walk and we set a plan in motion (he pulled a sicky).
The original plan was to park in Llanberis and make our way up Moel Eilio, Foel gron. Foel Goch, Moel Cynghorion, and Llechog.
After the tour of Llanberis (we didn't have a road map just an OS 1:25k) we were having a hard time finding the road to take to the start of our route so we decided to park at the Snowdon railway and head up the Llanberis path then Hourseshoe over to Moel Eilio instead, or else we'd be touring Llanberis all day.
The Llanberis path is supposed to be long tiring slog up, but as Adrian and I have never walked together before the banter was flowing and we were up to the steep bit in no time. the major topic of conversation was how someone recently drove a 4x4 up to the top of Snowdon. We were blessed with good views and were constantly trying to find a do-able route for driving up, but concluded it was a mystery as every route we could think of had a boulder field to traverse before continuing.
- Moel Cynghorion from Llanberis path
- Looking to Crid y Dsgyl from Llanberis path
- Me infront of Moel Cynghorion beside random Cafe half way up the path
- Looking back along the Llanberis path Lechog is the peak in the Center
we weren't heading to Snowdon summit as Adrian had done it half a dozen times and I've done it three times this year. As we got near the top to where we decided to stop for lunch we spotted a ruin from a little cottage just below Crib y Drsgl and got out first views of the Moel Hebog group over Beddgelert and I got a very Atmospheric picture of Moel Hebog.
- Moel Hebog from top of Llanberis path
Views of the Nantle ridge and Mynydd Mawr were stunning but slightly blue and hazy as the sun we only just behind them
after lunch we spotted the top of the Snowdon ranger path and with a quick conversation we decided not to nip up to Snowdon and get on with the ridge ahead.
- Foel Goch, Foel Gron, and Moel Eilio from the top of the snowdon ranger path.
- Moel Hebog group from Snowdon ranger path.
- Moel Cynghorion from Snowdon ranger path
- Y garn and the start of the Nantle ridge
as we started to head up Moel Cynghorion we'd not seen any walkers and had these next three hills all to our selves away from the Snowdon crowds!!!
The climb from the saddle to the summit took 20 minutes and as the sun passed over above us now the blue haze had started to lift off of the mountain ranges west of Snowdon.
- Mynydd Mawr from Moel Cynghrion
- The western Glyders from Moel Cynghorion
we counted 11 3000ers could be spotted from the top of Moel Cynghorion
- Snowdon and Crib y Drsgyl from Moel Cynghorion
we quickly headed down to the saddle and over to Foel Coch again we timed the walked ot the top and it took 30 minutes with 2 breaks
- Foel Gron and Moel Eilio from Foel Goch
- Moel Hebog group and Nantle group from Foel Goch
as you can see from the pics these hills are rolling and grassy so the going was very easy and in no time we found our way off foel Goch and on to Foel Gron.
- Mynydd Mawr (Big mountain translated) and it's is a very appropriate name
we stopped and had our second lunch (yes second Adrian can eat for Wales!!) on Foel Gron
- Adrian with Foel Gron summit and Moel Eilio in the back
- Mynydd Mawr (Big mountain translated) and it's is a very appropriate name
after our second lunch we just had Moel Eilio to do and then it was time to head back down to Llnaberis.
there is almost no climb involved in climbing from Foel Gron to Moel Eilio and the summit was quickly had.
- Heading up Moel Eilio
- Looking back to the ridge just traversed, Snowdon and Crib y drsgyl.
the views over to Canaefron and Menai straight were lovely
and we couldn't keep our eyes off some distant peaks on the coast or the Irish sea.
- Distant Coastal peaks.
- Moel Eilio summit. my last Snowdon top.
- Snowdon and crib y Drysgl and Moel Cynghorion where we spent today.
- Llanberis with Eilidir Fawr
we headed down to Llanberis with this strange September heat wave baking out backs
thanks for reading!!
