Northern Rhinogydd, Snowdonia
If you like it wild, you’ll love the northern Rhinogydd. Time for a real walk on the wild side...
The Rhinogydd massif has a reputation for tough walking, and it’s definitely well-earned. In some places, the tricky combo of jumbled boulders and knee-high heather can reduce even the strongest walker to a standstill, plummeting average speeds well below Naismith’s. But if you have to work hard for something, it always feels good when you get it, and these summits are no exception.
Moel Ysgyfarnogod is rare among its peers, with a grassy summit rather than the usual gritstone, but its neighbour, Moel Penolau, more than compensates for this with an almost impenetrable defence of lofty turrets crowned by a sloping slab. Diffwys is also hard won but worth it, and the final summit of Moel Gyrafolen, keeps the bar high. The final retreat down Cwm Moch has a wonderfully remote feel to it and is a fitting way to end a great day out.
1 SH629371 With Llyn Tecwyn Isaf on your right, continue along the road, ignoring a left fork and keeping right at a junction. Climb to a gate on the left (Caerwych Farm) and follow the zigzag drive up past the buildings to a gate ahead. Go through and turn immediately right onto a grassy track. Follow this up through sheep pasture, keeping left at a fork to go through a gate beneath an obvious rocky outcrop (Y Gyrn). Stay with the clear path and follow well-spaced posts around the head of a bog to a junction with another footpath.
2 SH646352 Keep straight ahead and then bear left to climb to the amazing cairn circle of Bryn Cader Faner, visible on the skyline. Here, turn right to follow a faint path down and across the small brook issuing from the small lake. Now strike directly up the grassy hillside, heading south-east so as to aim-off slightly, to reach the clear track that runs east-west to the shores of the kidney shaped Llyn Dywarchen. Turn left onto this towards the lake.
3 SH653348 Break right at the tip of the lake and follow faint paths south and south-east, following raised ground into a deep saddle west of Moel Ysgyfarnogod. Bear slightly left in the col and follow faint tracks north-east up onto the shoulder of the mountain. Turn right to head southeast to the trig point and cairn. This is the summit of Moel Ysgyfarnogod and the high point of the walk.
4 SH658346 To descend, keep ahead to drop slightly and keep left at a fork to drop into another col, this one directly beneath the rocky walls of Foel Penolau. Bear right to go through a gap by a wall, then bear left to climb up onto the peak, continuing between the rocky outcrops until you can bear left and scramble easily to the summit cairn. Retrace your steps off the rocks, then bear left to continue between the rocks to the far end, where you can bear right to contour around to a narrow path that drops alongside a wall. Continue over awkward ground on Diffwys – crags, slabs and bogs – then keep steep ground to your right to locate a path that drops down a wall into another deep col.
5 SH670351 Cross the ladder stile and take the path up onto Moel y Gyrafolen’s summit cairn. To descend, continue in a northerly direction down the ridge, following a narrow and faint path. Cross a stile at the bottom and keep ahead to meet a clear path that leads you into Cwm Moch. Cross a flagstone bridge and a ladder stile then continue to a gap in the wall on the right, where a grassy path leads to a ruined building. Bear left through a gap in the wall and then turn right to follow a vague path over boggy ground where it soon becomes clear and stony and drops to a bridge on the right, then the farmstead at Nant Pasgan-bâch. Turn left here onto the drive and follow it down to Caerwych, where you retrace your outward steps to finish.