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A blustery cicuit in the Carneddau, started with best intentions to take photos all the way round, but either too cold or windy.
Start from the parking area alongside the A5 at the east end of Llyn Ogwen at 09.25, cloud level looked to be around 700 metres, but forecast had promised that the day would brighten up.
- At the start with Pen Yr Ole Wen in the background
Follow the track heading north alongside Afon Lloer, stopping for a photgraph with a choppy looking Llyn Ogwen to the rear.
- Neil with Llyn Ogwen to rear
The path climbs steadily, some of it has been made up with stones, but in the main it crosses fairly boggy ground with marker posts showing the way. After a short while I stopped to look back at the un-mistakeable Tryfan still shrouded in cloud at the summit.
- Looking back towards Tryfan
After crossing the wall (there is a gap in the wall about 6 feet to the left of the style) we continued up towards Llyn Lloer. Previously when ascending Pen yr Ole Wen from this approch I have headed straight up the east ridge, but for a change we decided to continue on to the lake. We skirted round this on the south side before a steep climb up scree (which would have been interesting in full winter conditions) to the narrow col just north of the summit of Pen yr Ole Wen and into the teeth of the wind.
Staggering to the top against the wind we stopped briefly at the small summit cairn then headed back to the col and onwards to Carnedd Dafydd. A quick break in the summit shelter for some fluid and a bite to eat then get moving again quickly before we got too cold.
The route from here to Carnedd Llewellyn is quite familiar from the Welsh 1000m peaks race and although that is always run in the first weekend in June the weather in 2009 was probably worse than today (and I was in shorts then).
A decent shelter at the summit of Llewellyn meant another pit stop and despite not drinking I gladly accepted a slug of Sloe Gin that Neil had brought along. Again though the stop allowed the cold to seep through the layers and we set off for Pen yr Helgi Du.
As soon as we left the summit we were leeward from the wind and it was possible to hear one another speaking and get rid of our outer layers. With the improvement in the weather the views started to open up and one of the first things to catch the eye was the sunlight shining on the water around Ffynnon Llygwy; although I took a photo the limitations of the camera on my blackberry, together with my lack of photography skills meant that the resulting photo failed to capture the moment.
- Pen y Helgi Du
- Looking down to FFynnon Llugwy
A nice little scramble followed up the grassy summit of Pen yr Hegli Du
- Leaving the summit of Pen yr Helgi Du
As we descended we broke into a run, despite the weight of the Scarpa SLs and the continued strong winds. We cut across westwards to meet the road up to Ffynnon Llugwy before reverting back to a brisk walk all the way back along the A5 arriving back at the car just before 2pm.