06
Apr 15

Easter Wales

Thursday, April 2

We hadn’t been to Wales since new year’s, so we were all excited about going for Easter long weekend, even though the weather forecast was nothing special. Booked the tickets online as usual, and on Thursday after work we met up at Euston. Euston was jam-packed as obviously everyone was going away for the weekend but we didn’t worry as we had reservations and it was a direct train. But the train was so full with even the aisles crowded that there was no air and we were also sitting backwards, so overall the trip was quite harrowing. Sometimes I do miss Germany, and these times often coincide with any UK train trips. Nevertheless, we finally got to Bangor, about half hour later than scheduled (yes, half an hour delay on a three-hour direct train), got picked up by Iestyn’s dad, and crashed in bed soon after.

Friday, April 3

We woke up to a morning of incessant rain, but we didn’t mind and decided to go explore a new (for me) Welsh tower Dolwyddelan (or what Iest calls ‘Welsh castle’ but it’s one of those castles that are only like a tower, not like the one in Caernarfon, so it really is just a tower. OK, you might argue that wiki calls it a castle too, but then it shows a picture of a tower, so your call really. It’s a tower. Well built though, proper.). Wiki also adds that “It is thought to have been built in the early 13th century by Llywelyn the Great, Prince of Gwynedd and North Wales. Though the castle was then only one tower with two floors, a second tower was built in the late 13th century and a third floor was added to the first during the late 15th century repairs.” (*tower*, see?)

Tower Dolwyddelan

Tower Dolwyddelan

Up on the tower

Up on the tower

Anyway, the place was really nice, and thanks to bad weather we were there alone. We decided to do some sketching inside, which went great, and we had an awesome soundtrack of the rain and howling wind – very Welsh! It was also by a farm, which had a batch of beautiful new oen bachs, which is the great thing about Easter in Wales too.

Oen bach

Oen bach

Afterwards the weather actually started improving, and we had some great time exploring pretty Welsh places, including the little bit they cut out of the national park, which I wanted to see and it’s actually not as bad as it sounds. We had late lunch in a super old cottage cafe in Aberdaron, and even went to the beach for a bit. By then the sun was already almost blasting. Iest did’t tell me it was on the peninsula though.

Saturday, April 4

On Saturday morning the weather was already great, so we decided to get back on track with our hiking. We decided to do the Moel Hebog ridge, not from Beddgelert but from Cwm Pennant. It was a good choice because Cwm Pennant is very pretty and we also got to pet a cute little day-old one bach, courtesy of a local farm boy. Afterwards we were all ready and ran up via an old quarry to the first peak of the ridge, Moel Lefn (638m). By then the sun was blasting on full force and we had awesome views toward our fav Yr Aran and Snowdon.

Cwm Pennant

Cwm Pennant

Up Moel Lefn

Up Moel Lefn

Views from Moel Lefn

Views from Moel Lefn

From Moel Lefn we followed the ridge over to Moel yr Ogof (655m) and Moel Hebog (782m). Later on Iest remembered that he should have some sunscreen on, so he slapped a bit of my usual sparkly one but too late anyway, and he acquired his first burn of the season. Up on Moel Hebog peak it was a bit windy, so we sat just under the top with our delicious lunch enjoying the views towards Porthmadog and the sea. Since we had plenty time we also did a bit of sketching from that spot before heading back to Cwm Pennant through path down below the ridge. Altogether a beautiful day.

Moel Ogof

Moel Ogof

Moel Ogof ridge

Moel Ogof ridge

Moel Hebog peak

Moel Hebog peak

Moel Hebog sketching

Moel Hebog sketching

Sunday, April 5
Another great day, Iest is burned but that did not stop us from selecting the Nantlle ridge for our day hike as we had not been on that one for years, literally, and it’s a pity because it’s one of the best. Early in the morning (early for us anyway), Iestyn’s dad gave us a lift to Nebo from which we started our trip. The clouds were laying low, sort of lazily snaking and rolling through the valley but we knew the sun was awaiting us just a little hike up the hill. We started our ascent from the lake Llyn Cwm Dulyn and by the time we made it up Mynydd Graig Goch (610m) we were down to the t-shirts. Happily merrily above the clouds we hopped over (yeah there was this almost vertical bit which we thoroughly enjoyed in the blasting sun) to Craig Cwm Silyn (734m).

Llyn Cwm Dulyn

Llyn Cwm Dulyn

 

Mynydd Graig Goch - Iest bottom left

Mynydd Graig Goch – Iest bottom left

Craig Cwm Silyn

Craig Cwm Silyn

From there it was already the usual deal – Mynydd Tal-y-Mignedd (653m) with the obelisk on top, and Trum y Ddysgl (709m), Mynydd Drws-y-Coed (695m) and Y Garn (633m). Then just down to Rhyd Ddu, where we were being picked up again, to make it to the Easter dinner. We were really quite tired from the day, may be not so much from the hike but more so from the day of sun, to which we are not used after the long and dark winter. It was all really nice though.

Looking toward the obelisk

Looking toward the obelisk

Finishing up

Finishing up

Finishing up

Finishing up

Monday, April 6
On Monday we still had a good half day for some family visits and a short stop at Dinas Dinlle, before heading down to the train station. For this trip we did not have any reservations (we had open tickets), we expected the trains to be packed again, and we also knew that due to Euston being under construction, we had to take the long connection via Birmingham. The trip was truly awful, from B’ham onwards we were lucky to be sitting on a half-cheek in the corridor with no oxygen again. Many people in the later stations just plainly did not get on the train. It is really quite strange how the British people insist on the rail services being private in the face of absolutely massive market failures every single time one needs to make a train journey. It is quite obvious that even an incompetent, corrupted, lazy and drunk bureaucrat would central-plan the whole system better than it is run now. Nevertheless, we managed to get safely to Marleybone and then home, super tired but really happy with our Easter weekend.


29
Dec 14

Yr Aran

An unscheduled trip to the dentist for Iestyn this morning meant that we couldn’t spend the whole day up in the mountains. We left Caernarfon (with Iestyn’s teeth feeling a bit better) at around 11:30am. Our plan was to tackle Moel Hebog circular walk, but as we didn’t have that much sunlight left, we decided to head up Yr Aran instead, as it’s a lovely walk – fantastic views, and relatively quiet mountain, once you get off the Rhyd-Ddu, Snowdon bound path.

We parked the van in Rhyd-Ddu’s car park, booted up, and headed up towards Yr Aran, along the gentle slope of the Rhyd-Ddu path. There wasn’t much people walking on it this afternoon, which was nice – the snowline started at around the 500m high mark – just as we got into the old quarry.

We stopped briefly stopped by the entrance to the lake by the quarry to strap on our gaiters, and another warm layer, as the wind had started to whistle down from the mountains. Gina lead the way, up following the wall and fence posts past Bwlch-Cwm Llan, around Y Geuallt and straight up the breezy summit of Yr Aran (747m).

Looking over towards Moel Hebog and Beddgelert

Moel Hebog and Beddgelert

A very happy Gina

A very happy Gina

We stopped to enjoy the views, and had our lunch – pretty much exactly the same as yesterdays on the Glyderau – Cheese ‘n pickle sandwiches, Czech Xmas cookies, and a reindeer flask filled with mint tea. It was mighty cold on the summit, so we didn’t hang around too long. Just enough to enjoy the views, and admire Snowdon and Cwm Llan, as the rolling clouds came over.

Gina on the summit of Yr Aran

Gina on the summit of Yr Aran

And with that, we headed down the same Rhyd-Ddu path, back down towards the van. The wee Welsh Highland Railway had just stopped in Rhyd-Ddu by the time we got there, so Gina went ahead and took a few pics as it chuffed away down the valley towards it’s home in Caernarfon. Another awesome day up in the Welsh mountains.


17
Nov 11

Llyn Bwlch y Moch, Drws y Coed

Llyn Bwlch Y Moch

Tucked away, North of Llyn y Dywarchen, contouring around Clogwyn y Garreg, now lies a strip of marsh lands. Older maps, dating back to the nineteenth century also show a similar site of marsh lands at Bwlch y Moch, but as recently as 1962 – Ordnance Survey maps showes a lake at Bwlch y Moch – Llyn Bwlch y Moch.

The secret to this mysterious lake, can be found if you examine the head and foot of Llyn y Dywarchen, you can see that man is responsible for the lake. Llyn y Dywarchen rests at the natural watershed between Llyn Cwellyn and Llyn Nantlle.

From different books and articles I’ve read – it sounds like the marsh lands which are now Llyn Bwlch y Moch was the natural soak away for Llyn y Dywarchen, which took the water down the Nantlle Valley – flowing mightily on the Afon Llyfni into Llyn Nantlle below.

Then, two damns were built on Llyn y Dywarchen, closing the flow altogether into Cwm Bwlch y Moch – which raised the water level at Llyn y Dywarchen. With the exit into Llyn Bwlch y Moch closed, the flow changed direction into the Cwellyn system, through an artificial water channel – which altered the direction to which it used to flow, which is now South to Llyn y Gadair, just by Rhyd Ddu.

By the North head damn of Llyn y Dywarchen, lies a ruin of an old cottage and some weathered looking Sycamore trees – which could be the reason to the naming of the Cwm (cirque) – as the ruined cottage’s outhouse has a wall with a low aperture, which suggests that Pigs might once have been living here? (Moch = Pigs in Welsh) Another reason might be that Clogwyn-y-Garreg, the crag that overlooks the Cwm looks like the profile of a Pig when viewed from Cwm Nantlle below? Or it might refer to our Welsh prose stories, Mabinogion, where a boar guides Gwydion to Nantlle in search of Lleu?

At the Northern foot of the lake, there’s evidence that the lake once was very important in supplying the old copper-works located below in Drws y Coed, as there is a great stone damn. (Evident in the first picture as a straight line at the end of the  lake) The center of the damn has now been dismantled, to ensure that the lake doesn’t fill up again, which is a shame, as I think this peaceful spot, hidden away from the road would be a fantastic stretch of water.

So, this damn explains why the first Ordnance Survey maps didn’t show any lake at this spot – the lake only existed after the damn was build in around 1840 – to serve the copper mines below, and was still a lake according to the Ordnance Survey maps until 1962, long after the closure of the mines, and after breaching the damn again, sometime after 1962, the lake was drained again, and left to be the marsh lands that we see today.

Dad knows the farmer that lives in the farm directly below the damn, he’s going to enquire more from the farmer about the lake and it’s history for me, so I shall update this page in the future!