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When we visited Snowdonia last year the weather was poor, so poor in fact it felt as if we barely scratched the surface. One of our few decent days was on the Saturday when we were due home and we took advantage by walking up the Devils Kitchen to Llyn y cwn. This walk gave us a hint of just how fantastic the Glyders were but our limited time meant we could go no further.
With a perfect forecast for the Sunday we decided to take full advantage on the first day of our holiday and drove to Ogwen Cottage to explore this range properly. We set off up the well-made path to Llyn Idwal but this time we crossed the bridge and headed for the ridge up Y Garn.
Llyn Idwal by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
This route up Y Garn is my idea of hill walking heaven with amazing views improving with height as you ascend this well-defined route. The going under foot is good almost all the way to the summit with only a little scree to contend with. If the views on the way up are great the views from this top are truly wonderful. The alternative name for this mountain, The Eminence is certainly well deserved.
Pen yr ole wen by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Llyn Idwal and Tryfan by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Acsending Y Garn by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Over Snowdon's Llanberris ridge by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Y Garn summit by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Grace on Y Garn by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
We had a bite to eat before making our way down easy slopes to Llyn y cwn. You could descend the Devils kitchen if you wanted to at this stage but as we had loads of time and a great forecast we continued up the scree path to Glyder Fawr.
This path was nowhere near as bad as we expected and we made steady progress up to the moonscape summit plateau of Glyder Fawr. We spent some time admiring the stunning rock architecture that in my experience is quite unique. The other half of our lunch was enjoyed with the stunning view spread before us.
Looming to the North East was the impressive looking summit of Glyder Fach, guarded by the Castell y Gwynt (castle of the winds).
Looking back to Y Garn by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Glyder Fawr by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Glyder Fach from Glyder Fwar by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Shattered rock by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Grace on Glyder Fawr by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Tad scrambling on Glyder Fawr by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Crown of Thorns by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Glyder Fawr summit view by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr (click for large version)
The route across Bwlch y Ddwd –Glyder was very straightforward with more jaw dropping views before we came up against the the Castell y Gwynt. A quick look confirmed suspicions that we would be going around and not over this impressive obstacle. The relatively easy going up to this point came to a halt as we set about the absorbing task of clambering over the huge boulders on our way to the polished summit plinth.
Aproaching the castle of the winds by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Australia lake by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Cwm Idwal by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
If Glyder Fawr had been unique then Glyder Fach was in another league again. Just what forces left this summit in this incredible state boggle the mind. The summit takes the shape of a huge cairn constructed by giants. If the human contingent thoroughly enjoyed this amazing natural playground the canine among us hated every moment of it and the poor little thing wore the expression of being totally traumatized by the whole experience.
Next up was the Cantilever Stone. Turned out this was fun but not really scary at all. We all got the obligatory photo (saving Hughie more trauma by allowing him to stay put on terra firma).
On the summit of Glyder Fach by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Glder Fach summit view by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr (click for large version)
Cantilever trio by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
We certainly didn’t want to attempt scrambling down the Bristly ridge (I strongly suspect it would be way beyond our abilities) and not knowing much about the bypass path we elected to take the long way around.
On our descent to the col we came face to face with the familiar figure of TV comic and celeb hill walker Ed Byrne. Both myself and Nicola considered saying something along the lines of, “you’re that Ed Byrne bloke of the TV”, but decided to leave the man alone and a quick “all right there!” sufficed.
Tryfan by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Evening Light on Tryfan by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Bristly Ridge by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Heading home by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
This descent route awarded us with some wonderful views of the mighty Tryfan and took us across some wonderful wild country but it was rough most of the way down and extended a long day even further. In the end the day was a bit of an epic but totally unforgettable. I would say that in my experience only the Cuillin is a more jaw dropping place than these mountains and anybody who loves hill walking should make visiting the Glyders a priority if you haven’t yet done so.