Llyn Crafnant & Llyn Geirionydd

SNOWDONIA

WALK

Llyn Crafnant & Llyn Geirionydd

Wednesday 18 September 2013

The weather had been difficult over the past few days to say the least and the forecast for today was not much better. In the hostel, the talk over breakfast was about the heavey rain and strong winds forecast for today.

Having spent much of yesterday drying out my gear and trying to get my satnav working again, I decided to pick a low-level walk for today.

From the hostel, I walked along the road and up to the junction at Capel Curig. From there I took a path heading uphill to the east and along underneath Clogwyn Mawr.

The wind was already picking up and the rain holding at just above ‘drizzle’ and in these conditions, even the relatively small Clogwyn Mawr at 347m gave the impression that it would require some considerable effort to climb.

I continued along the path that follows the Nant y Geuallt stream below Crimpiau (475m) until it joined a track which took me over a bridge and down the side of a wood before reaching the norther side of the Llyn Craftnant Reservoir.

At the end of the reservoir the track joined a road. I had some trouble here. The road was gated and locked but the path I needed was some 200m further along by the car park so I had little choice other than to climb the gate and continue down to the car park and toilets.

Just opposite the car park was the footpath I needed and I used this to take me through an old quarry. Parts of the path along this next section would prove to be quite challenging. Large overgrown ferns made it difficult to see the path brambles made it had to walk it when you could see it.

Eventually I made it to the northern end of Llyn Geirionydd and the monument to the 6th-century Welsh bard, Taliesin, an early poet of the Welsh language.

From Llyn Geirionydd, I followed the path along the western shore and then forest roads toward Llyn Bychan and down the western side of Llyn Goddionduon. Navigation is tricky on forest roads and maps rarely reflect what you see on the ground and so it was inevitable that I would find myself heading in the wrong direction on more than one occasion.

It didn’t help that the rain was now absolutely chucking it down and I found my enthusiasm draining by the minute.

My original plan had been to get back to the path below Clogwyn Mawr but I saw an alternative path through a field, not shown on my OS map, that seemed to promise me that it would exit on the A5 at Bryn-Glo which is only a short distance from the Tyn y coed. A warm, dry and friendly public house.

I felt my enthusiasm returning and, lured by this ‘new’ path, made my way down through the fields and on to a track that did indeed take me down to the A5 and, of course, the Tyn y Coed where I found a glowing real fire and real ales.

David Welch – View Profile

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