23rd August 2021
After a 20 year absence we are returning to Snowdonia, for a week of family camping! Now that we have moved south to Cumbria from Orkney, the Welsh hills that I once knew so well are again within reach.
We were initially camping on a busy site near Abersoch (more of that later), and top of my son’s itinerary was Snowdon. I chose the Rhyd Ddu path as I have always found it to be quiet in the past, and it provides a pleasant if unexciting way to the summit.
We arrived rather late at Rhyd Ddu, but the car park wasn’t busy, and we were delighted to find that the pay and display machine was out of order! The drive over from Abersoch had taken longer than expected, distracted as we were by a photo stop in the beautiful Nantlle valley. We finally got on the hill at 0945.
The Rhyd Ddu path starts easily, a gently graded slate track leading up past a disused quarry onto the open access land beyond. As we climbed, the views of the hills to the south and west unfolded, and it felt as though I was meeting old friends after a long absence. To the south were rough Moel Hebog, Moel yr Ogof and Moel Llefn, to the west, the eastern end of the Nantlle Ridge, a superb and varied walk, and, standing alone, heather and scree clad Mynydd Mawr. To the north west was Moel Eilio, the highest point on a ridge of grassy hills stretching westwards from Snowdon – these make an excellent approach to Snowdon from Llanberis, joining the Snowdon Ranger path after Moel Cynghorion, a change from the routine plod up the Llanberis Path.
A crossroads is reached at Pen ar Lon after a mile – we stuck to the Rhyd Ddu path, which turns left up onto the open hillside. The path climbs gently at first, but eventually steepens as it climbs towards the Llechog Ridge. Sadly, we could see that the clouds were down on Snowdon, but the expanding views behind us made up for that.
The path became steeper and in places was badly eroded, and we started to see more people about, perhaps bunching up on the steeper ground. We plodded on, and eventually the ground levelled off as we gained the Llechog Ridge. Unfortunately we had entered the clouds, so were denied the views down the steep cliffs into Cwm Clogwyn to our left.
We were now at an altitude of over 700 metres, so were more than half way up, but we still had to climb up onto the South Ridge, the loose path climbing the grassy slopes in a series of zig zags bounded by a decaying wire fence. We stuck to it though, and it wasn’t too long before we gained the crest of the ridge.
The South Ridge (Bwlch Main) is nice and narrow, with the ground dropping away steeply on both sides, but it can hardly be described as a scramble. The clouds parted and we enjoyed fleeting views to our right down into Cwm Tregalan, and of the ridge rising up ahead.
Once or twice we had to wait whilst people passed, but this was hardly a problem; the path did not feel at all busy. This changed once we reached the junction with the more popular Watkin Path, suddenly there were a lot more people about. A last climb up a steep and loose section, and then the summit cafe building loomed up out of the mist. Despite all the media about crowds of people on the summit of Snowdon, we were totally unprepared for the reality – dozens of people were milling about in the mist, and we saw the infamous summit queue stretching away out of sight in the direction of Llanberis – I was told that people were waiting 45 minutes for their summit selfie.
Thankfully my son wasn’t bothered about climbing up to the trig point, so after a brief stop for a snack we turned tail and retreated to the relative quiet of the South Ridge – what a relief! I suspect that this will be the last time that I climb Snowdon.
Rather than retrace our steps down the Rhyd Ddu path, we decided to descend all the way down the South Ridge to Bwlch Cwm Llan, before descending westwards past the disused quarries towards Rhyd Ddu. At the first right hand bend of the zig zags, a faint path heads across the slopes to the left (east); this soon joins up with a bigger path that descends directly from the South Ridge. Shortly after, we enjoyed a second more leisurely lunch stop, below the clouds now so we could savour the excellent view of Yr Aran and, in the distance, of Tremadoc Bay. A handsome raven was cawing throatily from a nearby rock pinnacle and I thought that it would be a good idea to capture it on film, but as soon as I had my camera lined up, it took off, did a lazy, almost contemptuous, flip in the air, and disappeared into the depths of Cwm Tregalan below!
We continued on down the ridge, meeting a family with young children that we had passed low down on the Rhyd Ddu path, still gamely plodding on, but I couldn’t help but think that it was all a bit too much for the youngest child – I hope that they made it to the top.
Lower down, the ground roughened, and quite suddenly we were above some steep rocky ground, the easy scramble down a pleasant surprise to me, although comments were made about my route finding abilities! I must have done something to my right knee whilst climbing down though, as it started to hurt as I continued on down the steep path, a sharp stabbing pain that almost bought me to a halt on the steeper sections. I told my wife and son to go on ahead and really took my time, making full use of my walking poles and trying not to bend my injured knee. Thankfully, the pain eased once I reached the easier ground around Bwlch Cwm Llan.
From the top of the bwlch we took the path that heads westwards towards Rhyd Ddu. This passes through some substantial disused quarry workings, and suddenly some long disused synapses fired – I remembered being able to walk through a level to a large quarry pit. Sure enough, I found the level in question, a bit low at the entrance but safe enough to enter, and there was the light at the end of the tunnel!
After this welcome distraction, we continued on, the path leading us through the substantial workings, down inclines and past more pits and levels. An easy mile along what was now a substantial quarryman’s track took us back to the junction with the Rhyd Ddu path at Pen ar Lon, from where we retraced our steps back to Rhyd Ddu and a swift pint in the Cwellyn Arms.
I have mixed emotions about this walk – as I mentioned earlier, it has been 20 years since we left Snowdonia, and seeing the likes of Moel Hebog and Mynydd Mawr was like meeting old friends, but the summit area is totally despoiled, worse than I remember it. Still, the time on the top formed only a small part of the walk, and my son has now climbed Snowdon, got it out of his system, so to speak, and can move on to better things, as we did later in the week (Rhinog Fawr, for example).
The first part of our holiday was based near Abersoch, on an overcrowded, cramped and noisy ‘family’ campsite. We had hoped to spend a day walking along the lovely coast of the Lleyn Peninsula, or more correctly Pen Llyn, but we had to spend the best part of our first day shopping for a new tent in Porthmadog, as we discovered that our large family tent was covered in vile black mould – we must have failed to dry it out properly after our last camping trip in 2019. The replacement was a cheapo Eurohike Avon 3 dome tent (£80 from Millets), plenty of room for my wife, dog and I, whilst my son slept in my vintage Saunders Jetpacker!
We did manage a few short walks along the coast though, the beach at Porth Ceiriad being particularly beautiful, and the sea was lovely.
Click here for our next walk – Llyn Irddyn and Pont Scethin.
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