Dulyn bothy, first Snows and Tal-y-fan

[Rekrab]

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Dulyn bothy, Squaddies, First snow, and Tal-y-Fan.

With a small window of kind-of okay weather Alan and I headed to the Northern Carneddau for a night in Dulyn Bothy and a wander in the morning.
We arrived in Caerhun Where we would leave the car at the end of the road in a small car park just down the road from the Bron-y-gadair outdoor pursuits centre.

tal-y-fan from car park

Carneddau from the North.

heading through the valley to Dulyn bothy

we headed SW into the valley on a terribly boggy path.
we had a decent path until we hit Ffrith-y-bont where the path disappeared and continuing throught this thick heather and boggy ground meant I needed to put on the gaiters before crossing the Afon Ddu, getting very y fed up of the terrain we needed to head to higher ground so weheaded up slightly where we found a stile and after two more small burn crossings and two one more stiles we were descending to the Bothy!.

Dulyn bothy

bothy x-mas tree

We found it empty and COLD! But it was nice to be out of the wind, as we got in it started to sleet and it seemed we had reached the bothy just in time.
we got the fire going and got unpacked after about an hour of being in and having our first brews we heard some voices outside and thought we’d have a few people joining us tonight, as the bothy door opened the people just kept pouring in soaking and cold every time I turned around there were more of them until all eight of the were inside and out of the weather.
they were all swearing and carrying huge packs so I asked one of them if they were Squaddies and they he said yes, and that they’d been out for a week and he’d been instructing them on a ML course.
They quickly took over the next room and brought in all their wet gear to leave around the fire. We sat up until late listening to all their stories as they had all been in Afghanistan at some point in the last wee while, and had a lot to tell.
we told them we were heading up to Foel-Fras in the morning and they said we were crazy, they said that tomorrow was their last day on the course and they had to learn how to do a safe river crossing with the temperature outside 1°C and a bitter wind I didn’t think we were the crazy ones as we didn’t have to jump into a river the next morning for a couple of hours.
we all packed it in and in the morning parted, they headed in the direction in which we came and we headed in the direction in which they came, up.
we headed N from the bothy and once we were across from the Cliffs high above Dulyn reservoir we turned NW it was here that we disappeared into the mist.

cliffs high above Dulyn reservoir.

it was a sloping slog up to Foel-fras and once we reached the fence line the grass was all very frosty and ice covered nothing there was a very light dusting of snow but it was clear that it was very frozen up here.
after the fence turned E we followed it to Foel-Fras summit and to a frozen trig point the N wind was howling and the wind chill was bitterly cold.

foel-Fras summit ridge

Frozen rock wall

Mountain star on Foel-fras

we hopped over a rock wall and took shelter from the wind for a minute before continuing onto Drum.
on the Descent once we hot 750-ish meters we came out of the cloud and I was surprised having just been in winter conditions to see no snow or any frost at all on Drum.it was very clear and this would be the first time I’ve laid eyes on this hewwit.

Drum en route to saddle from Foel-fras

we were at the top in no time at all and I’d even call this one a doddle, once at the top Alan said that he didn’t fancy continuing to Tal-y-fan and that he’d go back to collect the car descending off Pen-y-castell then meet me on the road after I ticked Tal-y-fan and Foel Lwyd.
I thought this was acceptable and we parted from the summit shelter.

Tal-y-fan and Foel Lwyd from Drum

last time I climbed Drum I got very wet and I remember the descent being very long and I was completely raging by the time I reached the road because I had no idea how long the descent was going to be as I couldn’t see that the road below was behind two smaller hills; Carnedd Ddelm and an unnamed top at 665m these both needed walked over before the decent could be made.
Looking at the walk out now I can see why I was raging in the previous walk.
the road at the pylons was reached and I took off the pack here to get a bite to eat before heading straight up Foel Lwyd from the roman road. Didn’t think I’d see much of a path up here so I thought I’d just follow the fence line up and use the map to reach the top.
Little did I know this hill is like Arthurs seat in Edinburgh and has way marked paths. I found myself on Foel Lwyd in no time at all as it was very steep going from the Roman road.
I could now see Tal-y-fan and was looking at my last Tick in the Carneddau.

Tal-y-fan from Foel Lwyd

the walk over to Tal-y-fan seemed like it took ages the summit seemed like it kept getting farther away I found the stile at the saddle of the two hills and thought about leaving my pack but just thought I’d get on with it after a couple more minutes climbing I spotted the cairn and was looking at Llandudno, and the quarries on Conwy Mountain.
I sent Alan a text letting him know I was heading down and was down back at the Roman road in what seemed like 20 minutes from the stile.

Looking back to the Carneddau from Tal-y-fan. sun breaking through the cloud.

I must admit I have enjoyed every one of the walks I’ve done in wales where I’ve gone out with the intention of just ticking one (Moel siabod, Mynydd Mawr) and if this hill wasn’t so remote I’d climb it quite regularly as it could be a very quick stretch of the legs.

Thanks for reading.
MacKenzie.

[mountainstar]

Nice one Mac
What none of the Squaddies story's!
Most I fear would have an "X" certificate!

Just one I think story I can share....One of the guys who was in Afghanistan was there when David Cameron was visiting. He made him a mug of tea, and was so angry when Cameron never thought to say thanks when he was handed the brew that he then Licked all the biscuits that were then eaten by the PM

Not many people can say that they have licked David Cameron's hob-knobs!

Here's a few of my pictures and a very short video of a great couple of days and a cracking night

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EABVQPTa0Fw[/youtube]

[Mal Grey]

Really interesting report, thanks.

I've often wondered about trying out Dulyn, but always worried that it would be really busy being within easy reach of many large towns & cities.

[malky_c]

Nice - I have barely walked around this side of the Carneddau. Was going to walk up past the bothy for a look in at the start of November, but got distracted by Moel Eilio instead. Good to see some snow (sort of!) on the Welsh hills - there wasn't any further south.