North Wales 19th April

North Wales 17th/18th April 

Betswy-Co-Ed/Llanberis/Llandudno

So, on our way from Ruthin across into Snowdonia and Llanberis via Betswy-co-ed on a showery/cold and windy Wednesday. 

 

Betswy-co-ed - looked around some shops, drank a coffee, ate a choccy muffin, then onward to Llanberis.

Things looked bleak as we neared Llanberis, cold and even windier with horizontal rain!

The digs were OK though (Llanberis Lodges - £70 per night, incl a huge cooked brekky, not cheap, cheap, but the going rate really)

Don`t think the baclony will get much use though. We bravely ventured out in the wind and rain to the infamous "Petes Eats" and filled up on burger and chips, nice!

Thursday looked a little better, but a trip to Anglesey saw the gardens/house we hoped to go around shut, so we sloped off to Llandudno, and got wet.

Friday 19th April - Capel Curig (AM)


Friday, came around too soon, but better weather, and decision was made to do 2 short walks, one in the morning, one early afternoon.

Pathfinder Guide: North Wales, Snowdon & Offas Dyke
Walk #8, Capel Curig (4 Miles)

 

 

 We left Llanberis behind and headed towards Betswy-Co-Ed and parked near to the Plas-Y-Berin mountain centre in Capel Curig. (Free car park nearby opposite the main road)

  

 

The day was dry with little or no wind (great), and this low level short walk promised to give good views across the Snowdon range without a long hike up on a travel home day.

 

Easy paths and good views, after a while we turned back 180 degrees but taking a different path through woodland.

 

 

Descending form the woodland to a school we followed the path adjacent the main road, and past the Tyn-Y-Coed hotel, then across a bridge right following the river Llugwy.

 

 
A walk through a forest section took us behind the Plas-Y-Brenin National Mountain Centre.

 

 

Crossing the lake via a footbridge brought us back to the road in Capel Curig

 

We crossed and headed across open tracks and back to the car park.

 

A steady, low level short walk with good views across the Snowdon range, and enough scenic variation to make it interesting.

 

Our Walk Score: 6.5/10

 

 

 Friday 19th April - Aber Falls (PM)

We headed away from Capel Curig, heading North near the coast and Aber Falls, a few miles off the North Wales coast road near Conwy.

Pathfinder Guide: North Wales
Walk #2, Aber Falls (2.8 Miles)

Parked in pay and display car park after drving down narrow track for several miles.
Headed off along road, following signs to Aber Falls.

Very high power lines sweep across the valley (highest/longest in Britain?). There were workers pulling up a new cable as we passed by.

Walk was nearly 1.5miles to the falls, along easy paths. Paused to take in impressive drop of falls and took plenty of pictures, before heading back the way we came.

 

 

The falls are well worth seeing and quite a pleasant walk to them, just under 1.5 miles each way. We arrived back at the car around 14:15, and headed back home to Lincolnshire having had a few days of mixed weather in Wales, with 2 reasonable walking days. Should set us up for the Lake District at the end of April.

 

 Our Walk Score: 6.5/10

North Wales 15th April 2013

North Wales Monday 15th April 2013

Susans birthday, and we headed for Cheshire Oaks retail outlet at Ellesemere Port on our way to Ruthin in North Wales.

Mc Arthurglen cheshire-oaks-designer-outlet

The new(ish) vehicle ("The Bus") ran well and we arrived in good time to a not so busy shopping centre.

                                                                       The BUS  (7- Seater)

After a little birthday retail therapy we set off for the short trip to Ruthin Castle our digs for the next 2 nights. We stayed here last year as part of a 3 night KGB deal (£119). The deal in 2013 was not so sweet at £99 for 2 nights and in a smaller room. still good value though, and the peacocks were still around.

 

We dined in "Berties" restaurant at the hotel, and, whilst not cheap, the quality of the food/service was good and can be recommended.

 

 

Tuesday 16th April

 

Moel Famau

(Pathfinder Guide: North Wales: Snowdon & Offas Dyke)

(Walk#25 Cilcain & Moel Famau - 9 Miles, 5 hours)

 

 

 

 

 

We took the short drive around 8 miles, after an excellent "Bakery Breakfast" at Ruthin Castle and arrived at Loggerheads country park around 10am.

 

Loggerheads country park has a large car park (Pay & Display £3 all day), and good facilities, including an information centre/cafe/shop and loos. The name "Loggerheads" is thought to have originated from a lengthy feud in the 18th century between two local landowners over estate boundaries and mineral rights.

 

 

 

The route led us out of the Loggerheads centre along a good path signposted "Devils Gorge" along the "Leete Path".

The protected footbridge crossed over "Devils Gorge"

This path runs alongside and then above the river, through woodland area and old calcite mine workings. These were signposted as dangerous and to keep well away - which we did, though the path is a little away from any entrances.

The path narrowed with some drops to one side, turnnig downhill into pasture and then a lane into Cilcain village. Passing through the village and the White Horse Inn, an ornate church and then a lane out of the village we alighted in more open country.

Passing a small reservoir, and along narrower, less defined paths we saw the main objective ahead of Moel Famau (1818ft)

The ruins of the old "Jubilee Tower"  on the top can just be seen.

 

The path began to get steeper as we neared the Moel.

 

 

The views about half way up were clear and you could see right across to the Dee Estuary and the industry around there and Liverpool.

The final pull to the top, and the wind had really increased now, especially inside the Jubilee Tower, as it acted to allow the wind to blow violently right through the structure.

The tower was built in 1810 to commemorate George 3rds Golden Jubilee, and was much higher but partially destroyed by a severe storm in 1862. Judging by the wind today, I can see why that was possible!

As soon as we left the structure the wind dropped remarkably and we paused at the triangulation pillar.

The descent was OK, a bit steep in places, but overall not bad, with good views as you can see as we descended down.

 

The path was easy to follow back to Loggerheads and we arrived back to the car park around 15:20, taken 5 hours (as per the guide really).

 

First decent walk for 6 months, so we were both a bit tired!

 

 

 

Our Walk Score:7/10