{"id":168,"date":"2016-09-07T10:27:31","date_gmt":"2016-09-07T14:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/treadsoftlytravel.com\/?p=168"},"modified":"2016-09-08T00:30:50","modified_gmt":"2016-09-08T04:30:50","slug":"scrambling-glyder-fawr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/treadsoftlytravel.com\/index.php\/2016\/09\/07\/scrambling-glyder-fawr\/","title":{"rendered":"Scrambling up Glyder Fawr and The Nameless Cwm"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday May 27th, 2016 – Scrambling in Dyffryn Ogwen,\u00a0Gwynedd<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite having a bit of trouble sleeping my first night in the chilly, empty, mountain valley bunkhouse in Snowdonia, I awoke early and was ready to start my day.\u00a0 <\/span>Fresh farm eggs had been left on the table for me, so I started the day off by cooking\u00a0a healthy breakfast accompanied by\u00a0a mug of strong black Welsh tea<\/a> (only after remembering to turn the wall switch on for the stove to work, often a feature of European and UK outlets.)<\/p>\n

I studied the map on the bunkhouse wall and snapped a picture to\u00a0reference when I started scrambling. Scrambling is essentially hiking using your hands, not quite as intensive as rock climbing, since no gear is required. \u00a0My kind host Gwyn gave me a lift to Idwal Cottage, (at the base of the mountains at Llyn Idwal and the Cwm Idwal<\/a> National Nature Reserve) I’ve highlighted the\u00a0route I ended taking around the lake and through Cwm Cneifion (The Nameless Cwm), up to the summit of the Glyderau<\/a> mountain range. My original intent was to climb up Tryfan<\/a> to the east, but things didn\u2019t turn out accordingly.<\/p>\n

\"You<\/p>\n

We hopped in the truck and drove the mile or so down the road until the mountains were looming around us, and then over a bridge.\u00a0 <\/span>Gwyn told me to wander back to the bridge later and take a peek at the original Roman bridge preserved underneath.\u00a0 <\/span>I made a mental note of that, as I grabbed my water bottle, hiked my smaller day pack over my shoulders and disembarked the truck in the parking lot of the visitor\u2019s centre.\u00a0 <\/span>It was before 9am and the doors were locked.\u00a0 <\/span>I waved goodbye to Gwyn and told him I\u2019d be back at the bunkhouse around 4pm, I hoped!\u00a0 Only a few<\/span>\u00a0other hikers were arriving and setting out down the same path as me.\u00a0 <\/span>My first full day in the UK.\u00a0 <\/span>Day One: Climb a Mountain!\u00a0 <\/span>and I did!<\/p>\n

I started the hike around Llyn\u00a0Idwal<\/a>, with some trepidation, unsure of my route and my ability.\u00a0 <\/span>However, there were\u00a0 <\/span>a few other hillwalkers out and the sun was shining, with only a chance of rain in the late afternoon.\u00a0 <\/span>The lake was bright blue, reflected from the nearly cloudless sky.\u00a0 Welsh Black<\/a><\/span>\u00a0dairy cows, the oldest breed in Britain, raised their heads indifferently at me as I trod down the rocky footpath, passing waterfalls and glancing up at the surrounding vista.\u00a0 <\/span>A father and daughter team passed me as I stopped to snap pictures, their climbing helmets swinging from their packs. Maybe I was unprepared, I wondered.\u00a0 <\/span>I knew I was supposed to veer onto a path heading east, to get to Tryfan but I seemed to be moving away that jagged peak, instead circling the lake, so I caught up to 2 other hikers ahead and asked them the best route.\u00a0 <\/span>They pointed to a diverging path ahead, near a boulder and said that would take me over the adjacent mountain, down a valley to the lake below Tryfan, but it would take probably 6 hours to traverse and usually they start from the other side (Northern entrance).\u00a0 <\/span>It was too late to loop back to the road and then to the starting point on the North ridge, so I decided to plough ahead, leaving the main path at the boulder and heading up the steep rock embankment following a well worn footpath, blended with a rocky mountain stream bed in parts.\u00a0 <\/span>The ascent was steep and I grew weary fairly early on.\u00a0 <\/span>This is mad, I thought.\u00a0 <\/span>Who does this for fun?!\u00a0 <\/span>Oh yeah\u2026me!\u00a0 <\/span>That\u2019s why I\u2019m here.<\/p>\n

I picked my way carefully up the hill, losing and finding paths, which I began to assume only the sheep or feral goats<\/a> used (potentially\u00a0the remnants of goatherds farmed on these slopes\u00a0a thousand years ago). Then, I\u00a0spotted another hiker, halfway up the ridge.\u00a0 <\/span>I called out, but he was absorbed, on a break, reading.\u00a0 <\/span>So, I kept going up the embankment, but slowly.\u00a0 <\/span>Eventually he caught up with me, an older fellow, mid 60s.\u00a0 Calling<\/span>\u00a0across the distance between us, I asked if he was going to Tryfan as well.\u00a0 <\/span>He declared that I was way off course for that location and the path to that valley would be very tricky to get to from our current vantage point. We looked at his trusty OS map and I agreed that it would be hard.\u00a0 <\/span>He showed me his route and was not perturbed when I decided to join him in heading that direction.\u00a0 <\/span>I liked hiking with someone who had a good map, and who had been here before.\u00a0 <\/span>We chatted a bit as we wended our way up towards the Nameless Cwm (Pronounced ‘Coom’), a rocky, theatre like valley pass formed by erosion that headed up to the summit of Glyder Fawr<\/a>.\u00a0 <\/span>I discovered that he was a native Welshman who lived a couple hours north, but had grown up in this area and had been walking these hills and valleys many times.\u00a0 <\/span>Today was simply a training exercise, strengthening his knees after a skiing accident.\u00a0 <\/span>This was a walk in the park for him!\u00a0 <\/span>We hiked for hours and it was hot and arduous.\u00a0 <\/span>He kept the pace and I could barely keep up.\u00a0 <\/span>There wasn\u2019t much wildlife, but when I did look up, past the next foothold, and spun my head around to see the view, the whole Ogwen Valley was spread out before me.<\/p>\n

\"Dyffryn
Dyffryn Ogwen, or Ogwen Valley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

I squinted around back the way I had come, breathing in the air and exulting in my accomplishment thus far.\u00a0 I only snapped a couple photos on the ascent, not wanting to slow down my guide. The scree on The Nameless Cwm was jumbled and precarious.\u00a0 I stopped a few times for water and enjoyed the security and company of my fellow scrambler , especially for the final steps. \u00a0 The grass slope was steep and damp.\u00a0 I was afraid to slip, as I dug my feet into the shallow footholds and flung my body forward and up, grasping against grass clumps and hoping against odds that I would not tumble to my death.\u00a0 I clambered over the edge on all fours and fell forward grateful and exhilarated!\u00a0\u00a0I had done it!\u00a0 PHEW!\u00a0 It was only a short walk ahead to the summit, along the rugged top edge of Glyder Fawr. The terrain was celestial.\u00a0 From 1001m up, on the peak of Glyder Fawr, we could see all of Snowdonia spread out before us.\u00a0 The pointed peak of Snowden to the South, the jagged fin of Tryfan to North. \u00a0The villages of Bethesda and Tregarth could easily been seen.\u00a0Water dramatically separated distant Anglesey from the mainland. \u00a0Far to the West, even Holyhead was still visible.\u00a0 The sky was clear, the air amazing.\u00a0 We met a handful of scramblers at the tallest summit rock.\u00a0 The terrain here was larger rocks, we had to carefully step from one to another to cross.\u00a0 At the boulder summit, we sat for lunch and photos.\u00a0 I had grapes, fresh bread and Welsh old cheddar cheese, but oddly I could only eat half of the bread and I focused on the grapes and water for sustenance.<\/p>\n

\"At
At the top of Glyder Fawr (1001m)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I was curious about our descent down Y Garn bringing us past a small mountain lake and adjacent to a place called Twil-du or The Devil\u2019s Kitchen, ominous sheer cliffs forming a wild chasm about 450 feet long,\u00a0300 feet deep, and\u00a0only 18 feet wide.\u00a0\u00a0The climb down was loose gravel, then progressed to what my hiking companion called \u2018new\u2019 stone steps, carved or inserted into the mountain.\u00a0 They felt as old or established as the mountain itself.\u00a0We had obviously made the ascent less travelled and were now going down a well used path.\u00a0 We passed a few hikers climbing the opposite way, going uphill.\u00a0 Some young men were hiking to camp at Snowden.\u00a0 I wished them well weather, they had a long way to go.\u00a0 Our\u00a0descent down Y Garn was fairly easy and I splashed my face and tasted water from the mountain stream waterfall at the Devil\u2019s Kitchen. We spotted some delightful songbirds flitting from boulder to boulder and hiding in the low shrubbery, as the path wended down and evened out around the other side of Llyn Idwal.\u00a0 \u2018Amazing!\u2019, I exclaimed as I glanced back at the cliffs I had just conquered.\u00a0 We left the main path and headed an alternate way through the fields to the car park, travelling\u00a0through a narrow gorge of slate, projecting dozens of feet tall.\u00a0 It was a mining path from days long ago, the sheer edges reaching 30 ft above.<\/p>\n

\"Cwm
Cwm Idwal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The hill walker offered to drive me back to the bunkhouse and I gratefully accepted.\u00a0 <\/span>It would have been a long walk back and I felt safe with him, for\u00a0if he had wished me any harm, the mountain paths would have been the place for it.\u00a0 I could tell he wanted to see me safely home. \u00a0<\/span>First we made the short walk to the bridge on the road and climbed over the rail to go to the bank of the river and peek under the new bridge to see the ancient Roman bridge still preserved below.\u00a0 <\/span>Wow!\u00a0 <\/span>I clambered down to feel the cool stone and imagine the history, the people and soldiers who would have used that bridge when extending\u00a0Roman rule through Wales nearly 2000 years ago.<\/p>\n

Back above, the trip home down the road was quick.\u00a0 <\/span>I refreshed my water and went around to the main door to check in with Gwyn.\u00a0 <\/span>He asked how I fared on the mountain.\u00a0 <\/span>His daughters and mother were visiting.\u00a0 <\/span>Shy girls, but his mom exchanged some kind words with me.\u00a0 I heard the sad news that the old white hen , whom I had photographed yesterday, had passed, and later\u00a0the girls helped bury her\u00a0in the yard. \u00a0Farm life and death. \u00a0Expressing<\/span>\u00a0my condolences, I chatted briefly and mentioned that I was off again, to hike the hill in the backyard which leads to a track winding down about a 1\/4 mile down the road, then head back into town if time allows.\u00a0 <\/span>\u2018Easy Girl,\u2019 Gwyn\u00a0said with a smile.\u00a0 <\/span>I grinned back. \u00a0I want to explore as much as possible.\u00a0 <\/span>To Be Continued\u2026<\/p>\n