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After a week of daily checking weather forecasts, the bank holiday weekend was here. The forecast was not brilliant but Sunday looked like it might be ok.
Myself, son Nick and his mate Ali set off at 5.00am on Saturday 29th for our adventure to North Wales.
We were camping at the foot of the mountain in a field attached to Cwmrhwyddfor Farm.
The toilets and showers here are quite basic but a brilliant setting and view to wake up to.
Saturday was wet but we were able to pitch tents early afternoon. We decided to take a short walk in the afternoon with the expectation of getting wet!
We followed the Minffordd path up to Llyn Cau where the cloud level was probably at about 1500ft. A pleasant walk around the Llyn with a few scrambley bits then it was back to the tent to dry out.
One odd sight on the way up to the Llyn was a group of about 20 Iranian people descending wearing very unsuitable clothing to say the least. Some were carrying umbrellas and the rest were wearing what looked like plastic cake covers on their heads.
Hopefully tomorrow would be clearer than today!!
It was!!
We were away at 9.00am after a hearty breakfast. We were soon back at Llyn Cau and could now see our route up and around the rim of this fantastic mountain.
There is a large boulder here on which we had a play before continuing
The walk up Pen Y Fan a couple of weeks ago must have done a bit of good as we had made pretty good time so far.
Unfortunately things now slowed up a bit as we climbed to the first point at Craig Cwm Amarch .
At this point we had a bite to eat on the edge of cliff looking back down at the Llyn.
![From Craig Cwm Amarch.JPG]()
- With the wind picking up a bit we stayed clear of the edge!
Looking up to Penygadair the path looked like a gentle gradient but that was not the case as we climbed to our next target.
We had the shelter to ourselves for a few minutes then we were swamped by a party who filled the place. Time to move on I think.
After a brief look down to the fox’s path which we planned to do tomorrow, we headed for Mynydd Moel which was a pleasant stroll with great views across Barmouth and beyond. It was now really clear with Anglesey now visible and I am sure we could see Snowdon in the distance but I could not be certain.
I had planned the route to include Gau Graig down the steep path from Mynydd Moel before making our way down the mountain. On our return from Gau Graig we did not fancy the idea of climbing the steep path to re-join the conventional descent path so planned a short cut. We re-traced our steps to a stile then cut across the heather between the crags until we found ourselves back on track.
We followed this descent to the point where the path takes a right over the stile to rejoin the Minffordd path and the steps back to the car park At this point we turned left past the wrecked shed (shelter) and continued on a very eroded path across the top of the crags below. Over a stream then skirting around the hill descending into the back of Cwmrhwyddfor Farm. Looking back up the hill it looked a bit hairy where we had been but was quite a safe return route and was great to be off the beaten track where few had trodden recently.
From here it was the most difficult manoeuvre of the day. The only thing between us and our tent was the Farmyard where 2 loose sheepdogs and 4 dogs tethered by chains to their kennels.
Fingers crossed, we briskly walked across the farmyard with the 4 dogs barking and straining at their chains, which safely kept them from us!!!
Not sure where the other 2 got to but we were home. Phew!!
A great day out on a fantastic mountain and well worth the 300 miles each way to get here.
