Carnedd Dafydd
Pen yr Ole Wen, Carnedd Dafydd, Carnedd Llewelyn, Yr Elen and Foel Grach, Wales.
Heights – 978 metres, 1044 metres, 1064 metres, 962 metres and 976 metres.
Map – OS Landranger 115.
Climbed - 31 October 2010. Time taken – 9.75 hours.
Distance – 19 kilometres. Ascent – 1350 metres.
Trip Report Details
This was my first adventure to Wales and I was hoping that in six days I would manage to climb the fifteen Welsh Furths, or as some know them the Welsh Munros, mountains over 3000 feet.
The clocks had gone back an hour during the night so we managed an early start. We found our way onto the A5and just east of Llyn Ogwen, parked at the side of the road. There was no other vehicle there so I was bit concerned that parking wasn’t permitted at the edge of the roads in Wales but a chap from Cheshire arrived a few minutes later and parked behind us.
We crossed the road and followed the marked path passed a bungalow and on towards Tay Llyn Ogwen. Just prior to this farm the route was signposted up the side of the burn, Afon Loer. The path was wet and muddy in places and we forded the burn a couple of times. There were views back across Llyn Ogwen to Tryfan but they were short lived as the cloud soon lowered and engulfed us. We followed the path which led to a rocky gully and involved a bit of scrambling. Once above the gully there was an obvious path that took us onto the summit of Pen yr Ole Wen. On this section of the ascent the cloud broke briefly and we had a view of the top of Carnedd Dafydd.
With no views from the summit we descended Pen yr Ole Wen’s north-east ridge where we saw a couple of Brocken Spectres. We were passed by a large group of youths as we climbed to the cairn at Carnedd Fach where we stopped for a coffee break. After this break we headed along the ridge, Cefn Ysgolion Duon, where we saw several Brocken Spectres, although the photos don’t do them justice. Another ridge, Bwich Cyfryw-drum was climbed before we reached the second Furth, Carnedd Llewelyn.
Visibility was poor on this summit so we took a bearing and descended north-west following a path then climbed Yr Elen. I found it difficult to decide which was the summit but once we were satisfied that we had been on all the high points we returned to Carnedd Llewelyn.
The weather hadn’t improved and we headed down Carnedd Llewelyn’s north-east ridge but lost the path and went slightly off course. Once relocated, we climbed to the summit of Foel Grach, the final Furth for the day, as we had insufficient time to continue to the northerly two.
We returned to Carnedd Llewelyn and as we approached the summit for the third time the cloud started to be break up a bit and we spotted some ponies. The south-east ridge was located and we descended Bwich Eryl Farchog with glimpses of the nearby hills as dusk approached. The descent involved a bit of scrambling before following a steep and eroded path to Ffynnon Llugwy Reservoir. The path continued along the east side of the Reservoir before joining a tarred access road which led to the A5. In darkness we walked back along the main road where occasionally there were sections of pavement.
Photos taken on walk.
