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A1: CARNEDDAU: NORTHERN RIDGES

A remote, high-level ridge walk through the heart of the Carneddau.

Distance/Time:

18 km (11 miles). 5 hours.

Ascent:

1000m (3300ft)

Major Summits:

Pen Llithrig y Wrach – 799m (2622ft)

Pen yr Helgi Du – 833m (2733ft)

Carnedd Llewelyn – 1064m (3485ft)

(Foel Grach – 974m (3196ft))

(Foel Fras – 942m (3092ft))

(Drum – 770m (2529ft))

Terrain:

Mostly easy walking over grass. Some sections of rocky ground.

Ascent of Pen Llithrig y Wrach from the north on Route A1. The ridge (partly in cloud) circles Cwm Eigiau to the summit of Carnedd Llewelyn (back right)

Main Summer Difficulties:

Two short scrambles either side of Bwlch Eryl Farchog.

Winter Conditions:

Not suitable except under light snow cover or when well consolidated. Scrambling sections awkward under deep powder (and in those conditions the whole route is exhausting).

Emergency Alternatives:

Descent south into the Ogwen Valley from Bwlch Eryl Farchog (695633).

Special Problems:

Route-finding in bad visibility from Carnedd Llewelyn to the finish point.

Note that there is no longer a telephone at Llyn Eigiau dam.

Approach:

From Tal y Bont on the B5106 between Conwy and Trefriw. A surfaced, gated road – steep and sometimes impassable in winter – leads into Cwm Eigiau (not the road to Llanbedr-y-cennin).

Start:

At the roadhead (732663). Space for numerous cars (avoid blocking gate).

Finish:

As above.

ROUTE DESCRIPTION

A rough track leads from the parking place to Llyn Eigiau dam. Cross the outflow and take the higher track to Hafod y Rhiw.1 Now bear up left to gain the ridge at a shoulder above its first step, continuing steeply to the first subsidiary top. An intermittent path then leads along the broad ridge before rising more steeply to the summit of Pen Llithrig y Wrach2 (1¾ hrs).

A grass ridge leads down to Bwlch y Tri Marchog3 and rises again – there is a good path now – to the summit of Pen yr Helgi Du.4 Continue along and down a rockier ridge to Bwlch Eryl Farchog5 (where Variant (a) arrives). More scrambling up a blunt nose leads to the rim of the Craig yr Ysfa Amphitheatre. A steady rise now, up an open slope, leads to the final scree dome of Carnedd Llewelyn6 (1½ hrs)

Circle rightwards around the head of Cwm Eigiau to descend the ridge towards Foel Grach. Before reaching that summit, and from a shallow col, bear rightwards to descend a grassy spur to a marshy plateau and signs of vehicle tracks. From the rock promonitory on the far side of the plateau, go north-east down the ridge, now reasserted, to a track leading rightwards to the roadhead (1¾ hrs).

There’s something not quite right about driving north out of Snowdonia to get to the start of a walk – down the Conwy Valley, flatlands and hedgerows, coastward bound with tourists. At Tal y Bont, a bend or two before the scenery turns hopelessly flat, a single-track road strikes bravely up the hillside, serving first a small cluster of cottages, then isolated farmhouses, and finally only the whims of idle walkers eager for the hills. It ends abruptly at a junction of ways, continuing from there as a rough track fit for nothing.

This is a broad place, dominated even at a distance by a dam wall on the far side of the moor. Its sinister shape matches your every step – stone for stride. A slight detour shows it to be an empty threat: breached in its full height, the wall harnesses only more grass and more sheep. A scramble at the breach wins a brazen promenade along its elevated pavement as far as the sluice gate, where the original track is regained.

From a little way above the romantically situated Hafod y Rhiw, the circuit of ridges can now be seen almost in its entirety. Up on the left is the broad shoulder which begins the steady rise to Pen Llithrig y Wrach; while at the apparent head of Cwm Eigiau (the cwm is in fact longer and curves rightwards out of sight) stands the peak of Pen yr Helgi Du, beyond which a long ridge leads up to Carnedd Llewelyn at the true head of the cwm. The rest is hidden; although its lower arm can be seen, raised up from the far bank of the lake. All in all it seems more than a fair distance for a walk, which indeed it is.

Once on the shoulder itself, an appreciation of the scale of the undertaking is taken out of mere contemplation and planted firmly in the reality of choosing a thousand footfalls across the uncountable acres of pathless upland. And yet progress is made, height won, views gained – including an awesome glimpse down improbably angled screes towards black Llyn Cowlyd. One little jump…

The summit of Pen Llithrig y Wrach is an unpretentious place. Just a little pile of stones against which to lean a rucsac; and a small field in which to strut and flex your shoulders. There are strange views into Ogwen: of Gallt yr Ogof, unusually dominant; of Moel Siabod, a restive whale; and of Tryfan, pinched up from the valley base like a troublesome pimple. Over there is another land, another day; but the way ahead lies east, instead, along the rim of this more immediate place, more pressing day.

Descending Pen Llithrig y Wrach on Route A1. The ridge passes above Craig yr Ysfa (just right of cloud) then ascends to the summit of Carnedd Llewelyn

The descent to Bwlch y Tri Marchog is a shameful waste when height, so recently won, is lost and must so soon be won again. In a way, Pen yr Helgi Du, this next summit, is the real beginning. Here begin tantalising glimpses towards the buttresses of Craig yr Ysfa and worries about the ridge ahead; while throughout, the looming bulk of Carnedd Llewelyn further belittles your meagre progress.

Steep and intricate though it is, the descent to Bwlch Eryl Farchog is not so bad at all. The holds are massive. It promotes confidence. Down left is the Ffynnon Llugwy reservoir, its rude access road wiggling behind like a tail on a tadpole. Perhaps here there will also be a few grunting climbers, toiling up the final slope en route for a day – or more likely half a day-on Craig yr Ysfa. There is a cairn at the col – to guide, in mist, the mystified – where winds can spill over into a different valley. Migrating insects collect here at certain times: brought up on a breeze, trapped in eddies, and no doubt wondering – just like the resting walkers – whatever to do next.

The ridge of Route A1 crosses Bwlch Eryl Farchog then ascends to Carnedd Llewelyn

A slender green tongue of ridge ends abruptly at a rock knoll. Luckily, the knoll is an illusion of difficulty, shattered at a closer approach by the appearance of a zig-zag staircase. The path continues beyond by weaving through upright stones and nearing the dust-edged lip of Craig yr Ysfa’s Amphitheatre where, on dry summer days, the rock-walled chute echoes to the urgent calls of climbers informing their partners and everyone else of their every deed and intention. Envy their situation for a moment – and they yours – because there is no time for steep rocks on this walk.

For such a big mountain, Carnedd Llewelyn takes quite a bit of finding on misty days (one pile of stones can look very much like another when the ground which supports them is a pile of stones itself). Carnedd Dafydd is only half an hour or so away; but the day is already long enough without tacking on any summit-bagging excursions. Yr Elen, too, is left untrodden; but it is no less shapely for it when, on the way north towards Foel Grach, its simple outline materialises beyond the ungainly dome of Carnedd Llewelyn.

There is a distant sense of return now; an inevitability of success which supercedes even the weariness of a hot afternoon and the slow drag of feet over tufted slopes. Foel Grach is near, but unnecessary; instead the slope falls away to a broad shoulder between friendly Eigiau on one side, and the unknown hollows of Dulyn and Melynllyn on the other. Only a growing awareness of scale allows you to interpret this plateau as a ridge. There, in mist, you might wander for ten minutes in any one direction without noticing a change of slope. On a clear day, though, a distant thin line of crags will betray the edge known to exist above Llyn Eigiau. Here is one last chance to feel rock and sit on summits; and at one minor top, a rare opportunity to retrace the whole walk backwards as far as its misty beginnings on the ridge of Pen Llithrig y Wrach, which is now quite near again – in distance if not in time or recollection. Enough: the lower cwm is already in view, lost in a sea of grass even the dam wall could not restrain.