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My recent 'Welsh Corbett Compleation' was a bit tongue in cheek, but it was all part of my eventual desire to climb all of the summits over 2000 feet in Wales. I first picked up on this idea in my late teens, but it was soon forgotten as I moved to Scotland and got stuck into the Munros instead. At the time I didn't even have a list to work from, much less an idea of when I might finish.
It was through reading
Poppiesrara's 2011 Walkhighland reports as he worked his way around the Welsh Hewitts that I realised that I'd missed out on a lot of good lower hills. While I'd done almost everything in northern Snowdonia, things were more patchy south of Blaenau Ffestiniog. Using the Hewitts list, I could see that I had 64 of the 138 2000ft summits left unclimbed. I didn't do anything about it immediately, as bagging Welsh hills from Scotland is a bit daft, even with a base available at my parents house on Anglesey. However with work drying up in 2011, I found myself moved Shropshire temporarily, and decided that the Welsh Hewitts would be the perfect way to while away the weekends that I couldn't get back to Inverness. I climbed my first new Welsh hills in about 8 years on the Snowdonia Walkhighlands meet in October 2011, and kept going from there.
The decision of which hill to finish on had been bothering me since christmas. I had done all of the iconic hills in northern Snowdonia dozens of times over, and didn't want to finish on a boggy pile of heather in the middle of the Berwyns. Once I picked up a lightweight tent at easter, the answer became clear - a full traverse of the Rhinogs, which would give me my unclimbed summits at each end of the range, and also fulfill another forgotten desire. While I had originally thought the traverse would make a challenging day walk, it seemed much more pleasant to split it up with a high camp. It would be a first for me as well as the end of the line, as I've never done a full-on backpacking wild camp route before. Previous expeditions had always involved car camping, bothying or campsites. I was hoping this would be the first of many overnighters with the tent.
I was going to save this trip for a weekend with gauranteed good weather, but I soon realised that I could be waiting for months! This weekend looked half-decent, so I decided to take a chance. As it turned out, it paid off very well
. I opted for a north to south traverse, getting the rougher part out of the way on day 1 and leaving Diffwys as my final summit. Although all of the Rhinogs are fantastic, Diffwys looked somehow more shapely and fitting to finish on than Moel Ysgyfarnogod.
SaturdayHewitts: Foel Penolau, Foel Ysgyfarnogod, Rhinog Fawr, Rhinog Fach
Date: 14/07/2012
Distance: 21 km
Ascent: 1700m
Time taken: 9 hours 15 minutes
Weather: Patchwork sunshine and breezy. One minor shower.
Having had the misfortune to be relocated to Birmingham last week, I had to get up earlier than usual for the first train. As on my previous visits, I made good use of the cafe in Machynlleth station (good roll and sausage) and was getting off the train at Llandecwyn station for 10:40am. I had hoped to sleep a bit on the train, but the journey is so spectacular from Machynlleth onwards that this was an impossibility.
Start of the walk at Llandecwyn:
There is no single obvious route onto the northern Rhinogs, so I made my own up. I followed a narrow valley up to Llyn Tecwyn Uchaf, then rounded the south shore for a short way. Despite the intrusion of some large pylons, this was a scenic start. The path around the shore was actually quite slippery and awkward, but soon I was on a minor road, then passing Tallin farm. Over a hill next to a mast, then down into a marshy area before picking up the track to Nant Pasgen. The marked footpath here wasn't obvious on the ground, so I didn't bother trying to follow it. My first hills were now in view, and I was hit by a short shower. Many more were forecast but this was the only one that hit me the whole weekend
.
The valley leading up to Llyn Tecwyn Uchaf:
Llyn Tecwyn Uchaf:
Foel Penolau and Moel Ysgyfarnogod:
Nant Pasgan:
Behind Nant Pasgen, a good path wound up the hillside, petering out at the 350m contour. Then it was just a case of following the stream to the col between Foel Penolau and Moel Ysgyfarnogod. I was feeling the weight of the rucksack here, as it should theoretically have been my heaviest ever load (I have a feeling that I probably took more heavy rubbish with me on some early bothy trips though
).
I could see a large group descending Foel Penolau, and I chatted briefly to the guy bringing up the rear. They were crossing the Rhinogs at 90 degrees to me, from Trawsfynydd to Cwm Bychan. It was a bit of a surprise to see such a large group (there were about 15 of them) on what is probably one of the roughest and least frequented parts of the Rhinogs.
Foel Penolau had a couple of scrambly moves as the rock kept rearing up in abrupt edges. This made for an interesting ascent. I had dumped my pack at the start of the scrambly bit, and retraced my steps to it before catching the group up again on Moel Ysgyfarnogod.
Glaslyn Estuary from Foel Penolau:
Group on the summit of Moel Ysgyfarnogod:
Back to Foel Penolau:
I had lunch with the group and chatted to them some more. They were a walking group from Aberystwyth, and one of the leaders had a soft spot for this particular part of the Rhinogs. I soon left them to it and continued with the most scenic part of the northern traverse. There was rock everywhere - in big pavements, angled slabs and bouldery outcrops. Many people refer to the Rhinogs as being the most Scottish of the Welsh hills. While I agree completely, it's hard to put a finger on which bit of Scotland exactly. Answers on a postcard please!
So it was up, down and around for the next few hours, with faint bits of path in places, but mainly the chance to pick your own route. I crossed Clip, which appears as just another bump on the traverse, but has a really pointy and prominent profile when seem from Cwm Bychan and the lower Roman Steps. The cloud gradually lifted off Rhinog Fawr as I went along.
Across Clip to Rhinog Fawr:
Glaslyn Estuary from Moel Ysgyfarnogod:
Llyn Du:
Back to Moel Ysgyfarnogod and Moel Penolau:
Cwm Bychan from Clip:
The Glaslyn and the Lleyn Peninsula:
Clip from Craig Wion:
The going was slow but fun until just before Llyn Morwynion. This is said to be one of the nicest of the small pools in this area, so I tried to take a shortcut to it. Before I knew it I was in knee deep heather with loose boulders underneath trying not to end up trapped under a rock! There was 200m or so of really hard going ground before I reached a sketchy path and thankfully Llyn Morwynion. Time for another stop!
Rhinog Fawr and Llyn Morwynion:
The clamber out to the Roman Steps was almost as difficult, and on the south side, I ignored my own advice and climbed straight up steep heathery, bouldery slopes to get to Llyn Du. Having done this before on an ascent of Rhinog Fawr, I should've known better and descended east on the Roman Steps a short way to pick up a path. Instead I got another 200m of agony.
Agony or not, Llyn Du is in an impressive spot under the cliffs of Rhinog Fawr. This is one of the few places where Rhinog Fawr looks quite shapely from - it normally appears quite sprawling.
A steep scree path later and I was finally on the summit, surprised to have met no-one since the large group. Great views and the summit to myself
Rhinog Fawr and Llyn Du:
Llyn Du:
North across Llyn Du from Rhinog Fawr:
Nantlle Ridge to Snowdon (in the cloud):
Gloyw Lyn from Rhinog Fawr:
To me, the most impressive bit of the Rhinogs has always been Llyn Hywel. Although I've only been there once (in miserable weather), photos of it, Llethr and Rhinog Fach implanted a desire to camp there long ago. I was finally going to get the chance. The only thing that stood in my way was the infamous southern slopes of Rhinog Fawr. Everyone had warned me about the nastiness of these - guidebooks, my dad, and one of the guys I met on the summit of Moel Ysgyfarnogod. He advised me to head west, drop down into Cwm Nantcol, and then climb back up to Bwlch Drws Ardudwy, rather than descend directly. This was probably good advice, but I was impatient, and started descending too early. I got the worst ankle-grabbing, heather covered boulderfield experience of my life, all the while having to look for ways to scramble down little rock terraces that kept appearing. I would probably have been better going further east than this - at least there is some semblance of a (nasty) path there! So take note - if you go west, go a long way west.
Rhinog Fach and Llethr. Hoping to camp in the gap between the two:
Still, at least Rhinog Fach and Llethr were looking increasingly impressive as I got lower down. Crossing the stream, I picked up a path on the south side of the pass which led me easily up Cwm Hosan, complete with its little pool. The path took me directly to the outfall of Llyn Hywel, where I took in the impressive scenery ahead.
Closing in on Rhinog Fach:
Cwm Nantcol and Moelfre:
Llethr from Rhinog Fawr:
Looking back onto the awkward slopes of Rhinog Fawr:
Sunlight over the Lleyn:
I soon found a patch of grass on the north shore, right under the summit cliffs of Rhinog Fach. I was much more knackered than usual for the length of walk, and decided to relax and have dinner before deciding my next move. Tent up, stove on, felt much better
.
I had booked a late train home on Sunday, so I had plenty of time to do Rhinog Fach in the morning. However I thought I might get some interesting light up there in the evening, so I started walking again after dinner. It was much more pleasant without the rucksack - in fact I had always planned to do Rhinog Fach without the pack, as it is quite awkward to fit into the linear traverse due to its steep northern flanks.
Llyn Hywel and Llethr from the ascent of Rhinog Fach:
I took a direct route up the scree and rocks behind me, passing the crags to the left side. It was steep, but it took less than 20 minutes to get to the summit, via a herd of goats. I was able to descend slightly onto a promontory at the top of the crags and look down directly onto my tent.
The long distance views were inferior to those from Rhinog Fawr, but the descent to Llyn Hywel is the bit that makes this my favourite of the Rhinogs.
Goats:
Lleyn again:
Ridge between Rhinog Fach and Llethr:
Looking right down on my tent:
Descent:
I was back to the tent within 50 minutes (plenty of sightseeing time included), and almost decided to settle in for the night. However the light suggested that it would be worth my while ascending the little knoll behind the tent for the last seaward views of the evening. This was definitely a good idea
Last light over Bardsey Island:
...and a short glow of sunset on Llethr:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SundayHewitts: Llethr, Diffwys
Date: 15/07/2012
Distance: 16 km
Ascent: 590m
Time taken: 5 hours 15 minutes
Weather: Patchwork sunshine and breezy.
Having done Rhinog Fach yesterday, I was extremely lazy on Sunday morning. Despite unzipping my tent to some gorgeous early sunlight, I closed it again and read/slept until after 10am. Once up I was even able to dry out my groundsheet before packing away. Quite a novelty - usually striking camp involves throwing the saturated tent into the boot of the car to be dried out at home
.
Rhinog Fach about to collapse onto my tent in the morning:
Morning view:
I was finally on my way by 11:30, knowing I had plenty of time and a relatively short day ahead. The weather was good again so I thought I would savour my compleation day
. Climbing onto Llethr from the west side of Llyn Hywel, the ground had a Knoydart/Moidart sort of feel to it. Views back to Rhinog Fach were stunning and ever changing as I got higher.
Rhinog Fach across Llyn Hywel:
Suddenly I was on the summit ridge of Llethr, where the character of the landscape changes completely. Gone is the heather and angular boulders, replaced by rolling grassland and arrow-straight drystone walls. There are still crags and small lakes but the lie of the land is much smoother. The summit of Llethr itself (the highest of the Rhinogs) is slightly disappointing, as the wall is on the high point, and it almost blocks out the views on the south side of the mountain. It is nicely lined with barbed wire too, making crossing awkward.
A change of scenery - south to Diffwys:
North across Rhinog Fawr to northern Snowdonia:
Diffwys, Craig y Grut, Llyn Bodlyn and Llyn Erddyn:
Along Crib y Rhiw to Diffwys:
While totally different, the walk southward over Crib y Rhiw was top notch with great views on both sides. Things got a bit rockier on the final ascent of Diffwys, and suddenly I was at the trig point of my final Welsh 2000 foot summit. I can't say there was any massive elation, as the weekend was more about the traverse than any individual hill, but I was pretty pleased. Since I only set the challenge to myself last October, there wasn't the same feeling of building up slowly to the end as there was on the Munros - it just sort of happened.
However, I had pressured myself to finish by the summer as I knew I might be finishing up down south soon after. I definitely felt this on more than one occasion, usually when planning a trip away. I would feel that I had to do a particular route in order to keep to the schedule, even if the weather looked rubbish or I wanted to do something else. As it turned out, I had a pretty good hit rate with the weather over the last 9 months, and enjoyed all of the walks, even if there was the odd frustrating moment. I don't think I'll be setting any end dates for the Corbetts and Grahams - much more enjoyable to just keep doing them as I fancy.
Llyn Bodlyn and Moelfre:
Last ascent to Diffwys:
Mawddach Estuary:
Back to Llethr:
What a gimp! At least the kitchen sink enjoyed being along with me...
There were quite a few folk about on the summit, and I chatted for a while with a guy from Oswestry. In keeping with the low-key compleation theme, I didn't mention that it was my last Welsh Hewitt. I hadn't even remembered to bring a dram along with me - made do with water instead.
Down to the Mawddach:
Next was the long but easy walk out to Barmouth along the western, then southern ridge of Diffwys. There isn't a great deal to say about this - the going is mostly grassy and the coastal views are magnificent. Further down, great views open up to the Mawddach Estuary, and Cadair Idris looks more and more spectacular all the time.
The long ridge to Barmouth:
Looking back to Diffwys:
Across the Mawddach to Craig y Llyn:
...and Cadair Idris:
I finally got off the ridge at Bwlch y Llan and descended grassy tracks. I met a Brummie who had been completely taken by the area and had lived in a house on the hillside up here since the late '70s. We chatted for a bit and he pointed me the best way down to Barmouth.
Cardigan Bay:
Barmouth railway bridge:
Soon enough I was descending some ridiculously steep and winding streets to the centre of Barmouth itself. It was breezy down here, and the weather was clouding over, but the town was busy with holidaymakers. The perfect spot for a fish supper to celebrate a cracking weekend before the train journey home.
...and finally Barmouth itself:
My trip around Fisherfield and Letterewe in April is going to take some beating, but I can safely say this was my favourite weekend of walking in Wales this year despite plenty of other highlights - a pretty fitting way to finish things off
