District Southern Snowdonia Cadair Idris
in terms of visual drama it certainly scores highly. But it only takes about 4 hours – not long enough for a full day’s walk – and is very popular.
I’ve climbed Cadair Idris many times and in various ways, including traversing the ridge from end to end as a linear route. But it’s the western end of the escarpment I always relish the most, usually having it entirely to myself, unlike Penygadair, which, on a fine sunny day, is bound to be busy. Or so one might think….Yet on just such a day, admittedly one of the hottest of the year, I did indeed have it all to myself, without a soul in sight.
The day had started down in the Dysynni valley, where I was based at Maes y Wennol, owned and let by the everwelcoming couple who farm the surrounding area including the slopes of Cadair Idris. Up the coast, Porthmadog had recorded a temperature of
32°C that day. I reckoned it was even hotter than that down here as I set off in the early afternoon up the valley of the Afon Cadair, a tributary of the Dysynni. The track up via Hafotty Gwastadfryn to the top of the pass at Rhiw Gwredydd certainly isn’t the most dramatic approach to Cadair Idris, but it’s much quieter than the more popular Minffordd and Pony Paths. And the views back down the valley are a pleasure. I met no-one until a lone man at the col. He’d come up the Pony Path on the north side, intending to continue to the top of Cadair Idris, but the heat was too much.
Undeterred by the temperature, I carried on uphill to the trig point atop
Penygadair where, beneath a flawless blue sky, and the only company a Welsh Mountain ewe and her lamb, I quenched my thirst and revelled in the solitude. Then it was back down to the pass and along the grassy ridge to Craig-las and on to Craig-y-llyn and Craig Cwm-llwyd. Wonderful views all the way: below, the indigo blue Cregennan Lakes, embedded like sparkling jewels in the ground; and beyond, the lovely Mawddach backed by the southern Rhinogs with the long finger of the Lleyn peninsula in the distance. From Cwm-llwyd my return route to the Dysynni Valley took me down over Mynydd Pen-rhiw (yet more rewarding views and yet again unknown by most). A beautiful full moon over the Tarrens made a fine end to a memorable day.
Birds’ Rock & Dysynni Valley from Mynydd Pen-rhiw;
Trig point atop Penygadair; View from Craig-y-llyn towards Craig-las
Further information
Maps: OS 1:25,000 Explorer sheet OL23 (Cadair Idris & Llyn Tegid)
Transport:
1
Start/Finish
Parking by phone box at Forest Coal Pit
GR: SO285211
Walk S from lay-by towards Forest
Coal Pit and fork L on lane to
Chapel Farm. Continue ahead
via two gates to Open Access land
at N end of Bryn Arw.
Turn R uphill, with wall on R,
and veer L after 300m to
climb E to broad open ridge. Walk
S to end of ridge, descend path and
double-back along grass terrace
to pass cairn on lower slopes. Turn
L on path, steeply downhill, to
track and turn R through gate to
meet lane to chapel in Bettws.
Turn L at junction and follow
lane S for 1km. Turn R to
pass through farm at Great Gott
and follow grass track SW, uphill,
to pass through gate in wall and go
L via another gate by ruined house.
Continue for 100m to next gate
and Open Access land.
Go L, cross track and
continue S to meet ridge at
Deri. Now turn N for 2km, pass
National Trust sign for Parc Lodge
and veer L on paths towards
summit of Sugar Loaf.
Descend N from top, via
spur on W side of Cwm
Nant-du, and cross stream at
bottom to join path by wall.
Continue through trees for 500m,
take stile on L and follow path
over four more stiles to descend
fields to stile at lane.
Turn R to return to the start
in 1.5km.