#38.MOEL DYWYLL + MOEL FAMAU.25-7-11.

With the weather still very sunny and warm me and Julie took in this walk after she had finished work for the day.Starting at 4 pm for the village of Cilcain we took to the deserted lanes and immediately got swamped by flies,i dropped my bag and grabbed the deet and sprayed us quickly and the flies disappeared.I love this walk but it's the worst one for getting attacked by flies,always has been.Anyway passing to 2 new lay-bys we got our first glimpse of Moel Famau in the distance.

Although it turned cloudy it was very warm,we walked in t-shirts and shorts.We had a break on "Edgar's" bench,taking in the great view and peace and quiet.Top reservoir and Jubilee Tower below.

When we reached the bwlch we had a great view of the distant Snowdonia mountain's.

Our next stop was on top of Moel Dywyll,a lovely hot drink of tea.I have never seen the distant mountain's looking so clear,from left to right i could see the Berwyn's,the Aran's,the Cadair Idris range,the Arenig's,the Moelwynion,the Nantlle,Moel Siabod,Yr Wyddfa,the Glderau,my beloved Tryfan,the Carneddau and the Great and Little Orme.Moel Dywyll's cairn with Moel Famau looming large.

The last steep climb to the summit of Moel Famau and the sun is shining down on a deserted Jubilee Tower.

What a contrast to our last visit on a saturday afternoon where there were hundreds on the summit.

A few last photo's of Eryri before we headed back to Cilcain.

Steeply down along side the forest and onto the lane that leads to Cilcain the flies decided to pay us another visit so i quickly sprayed us again and we had a trouble free walk back to the car.6 miles and 1,350 feet of ascent.



MILEAGE      277
ASCENT       66,550
TOPS            73.

#37.TRYFAN via Little and North Gully.24-7-11.

After seeing a trip report on the walking forum that Julian posted when he ascended Tryfan via these gullies and with me never have done them i asked him could he show me the way up them,his reply was yes so we hatched a plan to take in Bristley Ridge,descend Gribin,enter the Nameless Cwm and ascend Senior's Ridge,descend to Llyn y Cwn,ascend Y Garn and then take the Sheep Path back into Cwm Idwal.A few phone call's and we have 7 in our group,namely me,Julian,Glyno,Cogstar,Howie,Dave Hall and Photopaul.Assembling in the walled car park at the foot of Tryfan,suited and booted and we're off,we picked our way across the boulder field to the high stile at the top of the wall to pick the North Ridge up.Layer's started to come off as it was getting hot under a lovely blue sky.This is the view down to Llyn Ogwen.

We ascended the north ridge for a while and then left it to traverse across to the Heather Terrace.

Passing Nor Nor i noticed some rope climber's.

The cloud's above Tryfan were amazing,i couldn't stop looking up at them.

We took a breather at the bottom of Little Gully and then got stuck into it.It is a relatively easy scramble and i really enjoyed it.

The scramble lead's right to the foot of Adam and Eve and as we neared the summit we could see some people jumping them to gain "Freeman of Tryfan status".

We summit'ed 2 hour's after we started off and enjoyed a break at the top.Photopaul jumped Adam and Eve and i duly followed,my 15th jump on my 29th ascent of Tryfan.Replenished with food and drink we quickly descended to Bwlch Tryfan.Heading for Main Gully on Bristley Ridge Cogstar lead the way.Into the first difficult chimney he quickly made his way out and over the top and out of sight.Glyno approached the wall and was undecided how to ascend it,so as Julian and myself were a little way below him we had a better view of the wall and told him to take the left line,just as he made to move off a shower of stone's came cascading over the lip ,there must have been about 30 of all sizes and before Glyno could react the largest hit him on top of his head.Julian and myself had a bit more time to react and curled up into a ball,luckily only the smaller stone's showered us.Glyno immediately clutched his head and blood started to ooze out from between his finger's.I told him to come down to us as we were in a better position.The blood was running down his forehead and nose by the time he reached us.The only bit of first aid kit we had was Julian's,so Glyno put 1 buff on his head,i put a gauze bandage on the wound and put Glyno's second buff over it.A bit of blood seeped through but it stopped quite quickly.Amazing Glyno said he felt ok and was willing to carry on but i persuaded him to leave the mountain.Unfortunately Cogstar could not descend so had to finish the scramble on his own and met us by Llyn Bochlwyd and we all walked back to the car park.Happily Glyno suffered no further pain and had a good night's sleep and was able to go to work the next day.Our curtailed walk came in at 3 mile's in distance with 2,200 feet of ascent.



MILEAGE       271
ASCENT         65,200
TOPS              71.

#36.CRIB LEM SPUR HORSESHOE.9-7-11.

Today's walk saw me revisit the Carneddau to take in Carnedd Dafydd (via the Crib Lem Spur),Carnedd Llewelyn and Yr Elen accompanied by Julie and Julian and Deb off the walking forum.We were to meet Julian and Deb at Ogwen Cottage and whilst we were waiting for them i had a chat with the warden in his office and asked him what the weather forecast was for the day.He proceeded to tell me that it was for light rain in the morning ,heavy rain for the afternoon and low cloud all day,exactly what the BBC had predicted.After meeting the other's we drove up to Gerlan to park and we all resigned ourselves to getting wet and not seeing much all day.We took the minor road out of Gerlan that lead's to the Afon Llafar and followed this river all the way to the impressive cliff face of Llech Ddu.
 First glimpse of Llech Ddu and the low cloud.

       The quartz band above Llech Ddu that herald's the start of the scrambling.                 

Although cloudy it was very warm as we were sheltered from the wind and i tried to get a drink of water from our new platypus but as hard as i sucked nothing was coming out,so on closer inspection we noticed there was no hole it the end of the spout.Deb came to the rescue and produced a knife so i could pierce the end of the spout and enable the water to flow out.As we neared Llech Ddu it started to rain so we all donned our waterproofs and we made our way steeply up to the left of the waterfall on our way to the quartz band,

Halfway up the waterfall the rain stopped and we got a break in the cloud and the sun started to shine so we took off our wet gear.Below is Foel Meirch and Mynydd Du.

Assembled at the quartz band the scrambling started so it was trekking poles away and all hand's on deck.

The weather was improving all the time with the cloud slowly dispersing giving us better view's as we gained height.Could the weather forecaster's have got it wrong?,surely not.

Crib Lem is a varied scramble ranging from very easy to some really tricky bit's that requires you to take great care or to even miss bit's out and find an alternative way up.

By now the cloud had lifted and we could see the top's of Yr Elen and Carnedd Llewelyn.Below,the cloud lifting over Ysgolion Duon.

No time to hang around,back to the scrambling.

Scrambling over all that is left is a short trudge up to the summit of Carnedd Dafydd where we had some food and drink to set us up for the rest of the day.Although now cloudless and very sunny the wind had a bite to it,me and Deb feeling it more than Julie and Julian who walked all day in their t-shirt's whilst me and Deb wore our fleece and gloves as we suffer from Reynauds.Summit photo.

In contrast to the solitude on the scramble where we never saw a sole there were alot of other walker's about enjoying the high Carneddau.We made our way above the Black Ladders on route to Carnedd Llewelyn giving us fine view's down to the Llafar Valley and our scramble.

      Ahead lies the steep climb up to Carnedd Llewelyn.                                   

                                                             
 Julie at the summit.

Ahead lies the shapely peak of Yr Elen,one of the quieter mountain's of Eryri.

From here you get a great view of Carnedd Dafydd and the Crib Lem Spur.

Leaving Llewelyn on route to Yr Elen.                                                 

                                                             
Summit photo.

Leaving Yr Elen via the scree we headed for the minor top of Foel Ganol,now out of the wind and very hot in the sunshine,what happened to the rain and mist,bloody forecaster's.

 Looking back to this fantastic walk.                                                       

Another fantastic day in the hill's with fantastic company and weather.We then drove to the Ty'n y Coed and met up with Howie,Julia,PistonPete and Sue where we had a meal and a few scoop's.Distance walked was 9.5 mile with 3,900 feet of ascent and 3 tops.


MILEAGE         268
ASCENT           63,000
TOPS                70.

#35.ANGLESEY COASTAL PATH.1+2-7-11.

With the weather set fair i booked an overnight stop in Holyhead for me and Julie and we took in 2 fine walk's.On the friday with the tide going out around dinner time i thought it would be a perfect time to walk to Porth Cwyfan and see "Church Island" with the tide still in.Parking at Aberffraw we took the path along side the Afon Ffraw with it's great view's to the mountain's of the Lleyn Peninsula.

Even though it was early in the morning it was very warm in the sun and when we reached the coast we had extensive view's to all of the high Snowdonia mountain's,this really is a fantastic viewpoint.The path now head's above Braich Lwyd.

Soon we got our first glimpse of the church perched high on it's little island.

We had a short wait until we could cross the causeway to reach the church.

After a short break on the island we retraced our step's back to Aberffraw.

On saturday we parked by the lifeboat station and took the road that lead's to the Breakwater Country Park.Today was even hotter and i soon got bit by a cleg so we paused to put on some deet and were not bothered again all day.After passing through the park we took the steep incline heading for Holyhead mountain.

Me and Julie at the summit trig point.

We dropped down onto the coastal path which took us to the North Stack.

From the signal station the path head's along a lovely stretch of path close to the cliff edge.

The Skerries.

The view back to where we had walked.

The 2 walk's totalled 11 mile with 1,600 feet of ascent.


MILEAGE         258.5
ASCENT          59,100
TOPS               67.