The last time i walked these hill's i did a circular route and i said to myself that i'd like to do a linear walk next time as i missed a good section of the hill's out because i had to return to my car.Julian got in touch with me and asked if we were available for a walk here so i suggested the linear walk and he said yes to it,so we met Julian and Deb at the disused petrol station in Minllyn where i left my car and we drove up to Bwlch Oerddrws in Julian's.The weather forecast was not brilliant,possible rain shower's and a good deal of sun,as it turned out it was a little bit of sun and a good deal of rain,in fact we walked for 8 hour's and i reckon it rained for about 7 of them! Hey ho,never mind.
It was straight into the wet gear from the off...........
..........and up the steep flank of Craig y Bwlch.
We were soon into the low cloud and zero visibility and we quickly made the summit of Cribin Fawr.
It had stopped raining here but was very windy,i was wearing a baseball cap to keep the rain off my glasses and as Julian pointed and said the mist is clearing i turned my head and the wind blew my hat about 15 metres away,luckily the summit is flat and it landed on the grass.I'm glad we weren't by any of the edges that we walked near later on as i wouldn't have seen it again.As we left the summit the cloud parted and left us with great view's for the rest of the day.Looking up to Waun Oer.
Leaving Cribin Fawr.
And looking across to the forest track we were to take later.
Julie was struggling with her asthma and didn't fancy the steep climb up to Waun Oer,so with us having to return to the bwlch after bagging it she decided to wait for us to return.Me at it's summit.
The sun made a brief appearance here and i contemplated taking my wet gear off but i looked down the valley and fast approaching was the next dollop of rain so i left it on.By the time we had returned to the bwlch it was pouring down again,we found a little shelter in the forest for a quick cup of tea and something to eat.
The forest track.
The steep ascent up to Craig Portas had badly eroded since i was last here and it was a difficult ascent on the slippery bare rock.
A pleasant 1.5 mile walk now took us up onto the bulk of Maesglase and the summit of Maen Du.
Last time i was here i returned to my car via Maen Du's steep north face and missed out on walking along Craig Maesglase and seeing it's waterfall,but not today.
We had our dinner at the top of the waterfall before heading for Bwlch Siglen.My radar malfunctioned here for a while and i took us the wrong way,sorry chap's.Getting back on track it was a very steep descent down Bwlch Siglen and up to Foel Dinas.
A little detour from the path to grab a geo-cache by the remain's of the quarry winding gear.
We then walked down to the disused Minllyn slate mine for a look around.
A pleasant path through the tree's took us back to my car before we drove back up to the "Bwlch" to retrieve Julian's car.We then drove to the Brigands Hotel in Mallwyd for a pint.
We walked 10 mile today with 3,350 feet of ascent.
MILEAGE 318
ASCENT 72,700
TOPS 74.
