Snowdonia
12km/7½ miles 5 hours
1 SH632485
Leaving the parking area, turn left and walk down the road for a short distance to Gelli-Iago and then through the gate that leads to the footbridge behind the cottage. The path climbs steeply, passing through two walls before levelling out. Continue along the path with Cnicht straight ahead and go through a tumbledown wall to where stepping-stones cross wet ground.
2 SH636476
Beyond the stones turn right and leave the path for uncharted territory, making your way uphill until meeting a stile. Follow the line of least resistance and you will soon arrive at the most northerly of the Cerrigy-myllt lakes, an anticlockwise circumnavigation of which will take you to a shallow col giving access to the next lake. Another anticlockwise traverse leads to a small but steep hillside. Trend leftwards around its foot and use grassy gullies to guide you down to Bwlch y Battel where the main path is regained.
3 SH637469
Continue along the path and ahead you will spy a peaty pool studded with small islands. A boggy trod makes its way left of the pool and
drops into a narrow ravine that follows a stream before crossing it to pick a way through bracken to an old quarry in a subsidiary valley. On the other side of this valley a steep slog spits you out on Cnicht’s south-west ridge. The way ahead is obvious and climbs steadily to the foot of a steep rock nose and a level shelf where ergonomic rocks provide good seats on which to gather yourself. Fear not, the crag ahead can be tackled easily on huge holds by a fun little gully to its right. After a little easy scrambling, a path asserts itself and ascends airily with one or two hands-on moves at the top of the mountain which offers up a simply superb viewpoint.
4 SH645466
From the summit follow the ridge climbing (or bypassing on the right) Cnicht’s second ‘top’. The ridge then broadens with Llyn y Biswail visible on your left. Before too long, the expanse of Llyn yr Adar comes into view and this is your signal to once again leave a comforting path and make for untrodden ground. Head north-west over a boggy depression and weave a way through outcrops to the top of Craig Llyn-Ilagi. The way forward is largely pathless, but logical in that it follows the crest of the ridge north-east through its various ups and downs crossing the outflow of Llyn yr Adar before more of the same on Y Cyrniau. As the ridge gives up the ghost, head for the prominent knoll of Ysgafell Wen’s north top which was marked by a beautiful cairn before it was recently wrecked.
5 SH663485
Leave the top going northwards to the first lake of Llynnau’r Cwn (Dog Lakes) and pick up a faint path which drops down to the next lake. From its outflow, the lie of the land will funnel you into wide gully where a path delivers you to an old wall beside Llyn Llagi and the outward leg, which can be boggy in places. The path, obvious underfoot but of variable quality, passes through two walls before entering a natural garden of rock and hawthorn trees. Waymark posts guide the way until a damp, flat section leads to a breach in a rocky moraine where polished steps descend to a gate. Beyond the white cottage, cross a stile and then a path heads back to the road where a left turn will soon see you back at the start.