The Bodlyn Horseshoe
Join Nick Livesey on an excursion into the wilds of the Southern Rhinogydd, where the silence is deafening and solitude is assured.
If you spend any time at all thinking of horseshoe walks, your mind may drift off to the Lakeland Fells where they are ten a penny. Snowdonia, you might think, is less endowed with those lovely circular routes that trace the skyline of a glacial cwm before dumping you back at the start to enjoy a decent pint of ale. You would, of course, be wrong...
In north Wales there are ‘pedol’ walks aplenty, in form if not in name. One of my favourites is a route that will take you on a remote mountain journey. Embarking from a nondescript village you’ll enter an enchanted woodland replete with a sea-bound stream before emerging into an austere valley, the scale of which not becoming apparent until many miles have passed beneath your feet. Once the climbing commences you’ll soon be hoisted onto a neglected ridge where (in stark contrast to the toilsome labyrinths met in the central and Northern Rhinogydd) legs can stride out with impunity leaving the eyes free to roam over sublime views of mountain and coast.
Wait for a good day, pull on your favourite boots and savour this horseshoe-shaped feast.