Читать книгу Hillwalking in Wales - Vol 2 - Peter Hermon - Страница 34

Carnedd y Filiast

‘The Hill of the Lady Greyhound’ is a melancholy place. Presiding over the N tip of the Glyders with heartwarming views (from Lleyn to Llandudno, Anglesey to the Carneddau and back over the Glyders) it ought to be a popular haunt. But the way-out position that makes it such an outstanding eyrie, coupled with the proximity of the largest slate quarries in the world, is too great a deterrent. So it is, instead, a haven of quiet, far removed in spirit from the bustle of its Glyder peers.

What visitors there are usually arrive across the crisp sheep-cropped saddle from Mynydd Perfedd. An easy, breezy walk with a splendid view of the smooth slabby cliff face that Carnedd y Filiast presents to Cwm Graianog. Near the same spot a stile over a wall ushers in the summit cap; a windshelter surrounded by a ramble of mossy boulders that are disconcertingly slippery when wet.

Of the three routes below, Cwm Graianog amply repays half a day of anyone’s time; the others only if they fall into place as part of a longer round.

Cwm Graianog route (GL31)

Leave the old road near the elbow at 630637 and work your way across the marshy ground S of Cwm Ceunant, with crags L, to get onto the ridge almost directly above Tai-newyddion. Scraps of track gradually merge into a gritty path that takes a while to make up its mind, but eventually steers a heathery course between the grassy hollow of Cwm Ceunant R and boulder slopes containing Cwm Graianog L. Towards the top the latter coalesce into a wall of extraordinarily smooth, tilted, rocky slabs. These are clearly visible from the old road near Maes-caradoc. Easy angled, they are nevertheless out of bounds to walkers and even climbers are set a few problems as holds and belays are few and far between. Above the slabs a scree and bilberry slope goes straight to the top.

Deiniolen route (GL32)

Best used for a circuit of Llyn Marchlyn Mawr from Deiniolen (GL H3).

Walk down the reservoir road from 595631 as in GL27. Pause to admire Llyn Marchlyn Mawr and then, depending on your stamina, it is simply a matter of choosing where to cross some marshy ground before scrambling up to the NE ridge, dodging outcrops en route.

NE ridge (GL33)

A descent that is desolate and unutterably sad and, unless you love quarrying as well as hills, pointless.

In bygone times, long before the age of slate quarries, this must have been an enjoyable walk, facing the sea and the setting sun. The ridge starts NW before veering E of N in a gentle decline that enters the quarry works near the Glyders’ last buttresses around 623644. Quarry roads then lead to the A5 by the layby at Ogwen Bank (627654).