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Making a mistake once, even twice, is said to be acceptable, provided one learns from the mistake and doesn’t repeat it. So what can be said when one makes the same mistake THREE times !!!!!
From this perspective, this is a tale of the sad lack of flexibility in at least one human brain…
.
Having just taken the CEO to the airport from where she’s off for a week on Lanzarote with her sister, I now have a week on my todd. But I’m feeling very tired from the very early start, in a way that I never am after an early start for a day in the hills…. So, somewhat mojo-less, I mooch around for a while ... before then thinking to check the weather outlook. Which is really good for the Sunday! Definite resurgence of mojo!
I walked the Arans some 20+ years ago, but I can’t remember much about it (incidentally, this is a good thing, I think: it means if you ever seem to be running out of hills – like Weaselmaster, Broggy1 and other must be – then you just start again
). Driving through the Bala/Cadair Idris area, though, in the last couple of years, I certainly noticed that this ridge looks very attractive.
So quite late on Saturday, I decide to go for an Arans Ridge walk. It’s a more or less linear ridge, so it looks like the standard closure method using a bike is called for, and will be easy to manage. I mark up the Hewitts on my map in biro – 10 in total; but for once (don’t know why) I don’t link them with a highlighter. This proves to be a significant omission.
A quick timing calculation leads to a 5.30am departure decision.
The plan is to park near Dolgellau, and then cycle up to the Northern start point in Llanuwchllyn.
20170402_072545. The drive to the start point takes me through the hills I expect to be walking in during the afternoon. Looking absolutely marvelous - absolutely no need for a tin of spinach to pep up the mojo!
20170402_073421. I arrive at my planned parking spot just after 7.30, and the sun is just emerging over Waun-oer, my planned last summit of the day.
20170402_074941. A last cup of tea as I unpack the bike and change into walking gear, then out on the road. Cadair Idris is looking most inspiring in the morning sun as I cycle down the single track lane.
In fact the panoramas all day were wonderful - it's worth clicking on the pano pics to get a larger view of them and thereby a better impression of what it was like.
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20170402_084617. Some 20km later I arrive at Llanuwchllyn. The view from the bridge over Afon Dyfrdwy just going into the village, looking up at Aran Ridge, is rather fine!
20170402_090734. The start point is very easy to find - it's a single track metalled road, and there's a sign on the gate at the start of the road. I stash the bike behind a minihydro station building, and then set off up the track. The start of the route is well signposted where it leaves the track on the RHS, and after only a short stretch you can look back and see Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake).
20170402_091354. ...whilst looking ahead towards Aran Benllyn, the path is quite easy going (if a bit boggy) and very clear, running alongside the fence. In the centre field background is (I think) Rhobell Fawr.
20170402_100256. Looking back along the ridge towards Llyn Tegid (LHS), showing the relatively easy walking conditions.
20170402_100626. And looking ahead towards Aran Benllyn. Somewhere around here I hear and then see the first pair of Wheatears I've seen this year. Wonderful - a real sign that spring is here
.
20170402_102221. Another natural but strange sight, repeating what I saw last weekend in the Rhinogs: frog spawn obviously laid when there was a bit of shallow standing water, now dried out. The weird thing in the Rhinogs was that it was within a few metres of a llyn..??
20170402_102712.
20170402_103041. Looking East towards Foel Rhudd on the approach to the summit of Aran Benllyn, the verdant valley bottom of Cwm Croes presents a dramatic contrast to the brown-green of the hillsides.
20170402_103545. ...and looking North back down the ridge ascent, Llyn Tegid in the background;
20170402_103716. The views are superb, this looking West towards the Rhinogs (just left of centre) and Moel Ysgyfarnogod (just right of centre), Trawsfynydd Lake just visible, but the Snowdon range on the RHS wreathed in cloud.
20170402_103928. ...and looking South, the ridge ahead...
20170402_104031.
20170402_104216. ...but the vistas ahead are definitely quite inspiring! The path remains very clearly defined, as can be seen on this pic. Moreover the coordinates of every stile are given on a plastic plate on the stile itself, so it would be really easy to locate oneself in poor visibility conditions.
20170402_105112. The summit itself is a tad uninspiring.
20170402_105422. Erw y Ddafad-ddu is not far away.... Brilliant ridge walking: easy going so one can concentrate on enjoying the views both sides.
[/20170402_110922. Looking South from the summit of Erw y Ddffad-ddu towards Aran Fawddwy. These fellahs are quite high - at 905m not far short of Munro height.
20170402_112615. A BobMcBob moment... ... looking down on to Creiglyn Dyfi.
20170402_112704. The view looking West towards the Rhinogs from the highest point on the walk - the 905m summit of Aran Fawddwy.
At the summit I meet the first walkers of the day, a young Polish couple living in Llanrwst. They’re keen walkers, scramblers and climbers, and have been pursuing these activities all over the UK since they moved here. We chat for quite a while on these endlessly fascinating subjects (
), comparing experiences and routes, then head off in our separate directions (they’re heading back to Llanyuwchllyn from where they started out this morning, about an hour earlier than I).
The next summits in sight: to the left, Pen yr alt Uchaf in the background; to the right, Gwaun y Llynwi, Glasgwm, and Maesglase.
20170402_115730. First I walk straight ahead to Drws Bach, the slight hump to the left of centre, where I contemplate whether to "bag" Pen yr alt Uchaf, which looks anything but inspiring - in fact it's difficult to determine which of the slight hummocks along the ridge it actually is. But there's still time to do it, so I think I might as well... so I leave my sac, and head off towards Drysgol.
20170402_121229. The view from Drws Bach: Drysgol to the left, and out to the right the Pen yr al Uchaf ridge.
[20170402_123633. The route to Pen yr alt Uchaf is straightforward enough, if a bit damp under foot (particularly if your shoes are waterproof-not) and with some peat hags on the gentle ascent to the "summit". This view is looking back North the way I've just come, Aran Fawddwy in the centre, and then 2 summits to come: the wonderfully symmetrical trapezoid of Gwaun Llywyni to the left of AF, and finally on the far left, Glasgwm.
20170402_123709. This strange construction looks like it's the highest point on the ridge, so I guess it's the Hewitt proper. Less than wholly overwhelming!
20170402_130047. A rather dramatic view looking North towards Aran Fawddwy, with the other Arans and Creisgyl Dyfi in the background, taken just at the low point between Drysgol and Drwys Bach.
20170402_130543. Back at the cairn at Drws Bach, which seems to have been erected in memory of a Mountain Rescue guy...
20170402_130527. ...struck by lightning! The only thing more terrifying than avalanches....
It really does seem that a fair number of hill folk get fried in this way...
20170402_131102. Now a gentle ridge walk to Gwaun y Uwyni, and from thence a bit of a heathery yomp followed by a most attractive looking ascent to the summit of Glasgwm (from behind which Cadair Idris is peeping out).
20170402_132638. En route to Glasgwm, the going does get a little rougher...
20170402_135305. Looking back the way I've come: Aran Fawddwy is the main peak, with the unmistakeable trapezoidal top of Gwaun y Llwyni on the RHS.
20170402_141340. The summit cairn of Glasgwm - a grand place. But this is where it goes wrong. In the centre of the pic are the next two hills I think I'm going to: left to right: Maesglase and Cribin Fawr. On the RHS of the cairn is the summit I should be going to, Pen y Brynfforchog... What has happened is that this summit is located exactly on the main map fold, and I just don't spot the triangle I'd marked on the map last night. This has 3 consequences: one, I miss bagging an admittedly fairly unremarkable Hewitt; but more importantly, it means I follow a route picking my way through 500 metres of steep descent in boulder forestry, which takes an absolute age; and it also means I miss the fantastic waterfalls just below Brynfforchog - I only spot these when I'm on the other side of the valley
. So this is the second time I've walked past a summit I was intending to do, and the third time I've missed my way because of a fold in a map. Someone will be recommending I get one of these new fangled GPS thingies soon, I've no doubt
.
But fortunately I didn't discover any of this until I was back home, so it didn't spoil my walk too much (though the battle through the forestry was really a pain).
20170402_141350. A last look back towards Aran Fawddwy before I head down the hill.
I draw a veil over the next hour plus. It was horrible...
20170402_151651. This is pretty typical of the bits where there were no trees...
20170402_161715. The 350 metres ascent up the other side of the valley is hard work too. So it's a full 2 hours later, that I top the Moel Cwm yr Eglwys ridge, at about 500m, which leads up to Maesglase, and I look back at the scene of torture... which looks annoyingly harmless from this distance
20170402_162229. But soon forgotten. Now it's on ahead to Maesglase, thoroughly enjoying the late afternoon sun.
20170402_170248. There appear to be 2 slightly elevated humps of similar height: this one, and the one in the distance. Looking on the map doesn't shed any light: the far one has a spot height of 674m while the near one is at the centre of a large 670m contour ring; so I do both.
20170402_170303.
20170402_171245. Then it's on towards Cribin Fawr along a very satisfying - if slightly marshy - undulating ridge.
20170402_172816. Looking back along the ridge from Craig Portas, great walking conditions for this part of a longish day...
20170402_173201. And looking ahead to the North West towards the penultimate summit, Cribin Fawr. The path runs to the LHS near to the forest, and allows good, quick walking, being on grass, with only a few boggy parts, and following more or less the fence line.
20170402_175456. Cribin Fawr is similarly indistinct and uninspiring. I pootle around a bit trying to see if there's anywhere higher; but the point from which I take this pic looks like the most elevated...
Looking ahead, the cairn on Waun-oer, the last summit of the day, can be seen (and the Cadair Idris group in the background); but it's a little deceptive: there's a 160m drop and ascent to get there.
20170402_181407. However, it's a mercifully short walk in fact, and I'm soon up on the summit. This shot is looking back towards Cribin Fawr (wherever that may actually be!!!).
20170402_182059. This shot looking North features more or less the entire route: the Arans in the far background, LHS, and Maesglase on the RHS.
Now is a simple 2.5km descent on reasonable ground to the car.
20170402_182313. The descent is pretty well straight down the centre of this pic. And it's quite a bit steeper than it looks from the pic.
The only challenge is crossing the Nant Ffrid-fawr stream. Fortunately there are many trees that have fallen across it, and I manage to find one that gets me across fairly easily.
And then a quick drive back to Llanuwchllyn to collect my bike.
Of course, after last weekend's debacle with water shortage, I had 3 litres of water with me, which - Sod's Law coming inevitably into play - I didn't need, since there were many streams at which I could slake my thirst.
. But one can never be too careful in the matter of insensible fluid loss (as Dr Frank has repeatedly warned me); so for the sake of my health, before heading home I repair to an establishment of cultural, historical and architectural distinction, there to replenish missing electrolyte and other liquid.