Crimpiau, Creigiau Gleision and Llyn Cowlyd

At the eastern end of the Ogwen Valley, above Capel Curig, the sweeping curves of the High Carneddau give way to an untidy jumble of peaks - Crimpiau, Craig Wen and Creigiau Gleision. Of these, only the latter surpasses the 2000 feet threshold to earn itself the status of mountain in Britain but - by way of compensation - you do get two summits above this height along its craggy (and often boggy) ridge.

Pen Llithrig y Wrach, Crimpiau, Craig Wen and Creigiau Gleision just showing in the background.
(Picture from a climb of Moel Siabod a couple of years ago.)

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Foel Fadian

Foel Fadian is a hill of relatively small prominence on the fringe of the Cambrian Mountains in mid-Wales. North of its summit, the ground drops away into the fertile farmland of the Dyfi Valley and rises again onto the southern face of Cadair Idris, which stands on the horizon like a fortress guarding the entrance to Snowdonia. To the south, the Cambrian Mountains themselves stretch out before you, vast rolling uplands of moor and heath that have the curious distinction of forming the first proposed National Park to be rejected in England and Wales.

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Tryfan

I was in two minds for a while about whether or not to write up this walk as I'd never actually intended to climb Tryfan when I arrived in the Ogwen Valley in April of this year. I don't mean I set out to climb a different mountain and inadvertently found myself eye-to-eye with a seagull at "Adam and Eve" - I won't deny there's a reason why I call my blog "Occasionally Lost" but I've never quite gone that far astray. It was my first time at the top of the iconic Welsh mountain, though, and I suppose that should be marked with at least some sort of post, even if the weather didn't make for great pictures and my circuitous journey there isn't one I'd recommend or want to repeat.

Tryfan.

Our overnight trip to Wales had been booked for several months, for non-walking purposes, and I'd optimistically plotted myself a walk in the Carneddau to do before we returned home. In the morning, however, as we left the Llandudno Travelodge it soon became clear that the day had no intention of being... well, clear. I was determined not to leave Wales without some sort of hike but I was forced to write off the one I'd planned when we arrived at Llyn Ogwen and saw the clag that shrouded the mountain tops to the north of us. The Carneddau traverse was a walk I'd wanted to do since last year and I had no intention of squandering all that effort to wander through the sort of mist that I'd grown used to seeing when I open the curtains at home in the Peak District.

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Dolgellau Precipice Walk

Whether we were going to do another hike the day after Moel Eilio was the subject of some earnest debate on our overnight trip to Wales. Eventually, over dinner, we compromised on the Precipice Walk just outside Dolgellau. It was a short walk and on a managed trail but it was high up enough, it seemed, for us to get some good views of the surrounding hills, weather permitting.

We were staying in Caernarfon and tucked into a breakfast at the hotel that wasn't much less hearty than the one we'd eaten in Llanberis the morning before. Fortunately, we had an hour's drive to get to the Precipice Walk and by the time we got to our starting point the it didn't feel like we were walking in lead, diving boots as it had done the previous day.

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