A six mile clamber over the remote and rocky peak of Rhinog Fawr in Snowdonia

Date walked: 10th September 2020

Distance: about 6 miles

Maps used:  OS Explorer OL 18- Harlech, Porthmadog and Y Bala

Guide used: Cambrian Way by A.J.Drake (7th edition, 2016) , though a new guide has recently been published which is much better: Walking the Cambrian Way by George Todd and Richard Tyler (Cicerone Press)

********

I last posted a walk in January, not that long after the World Health Organization (WHO) was formally notified about a cluster of cases of pneumonia in Wuhan City in China. We now know it wasn’t pneumonia, but a virus since named Covid 19 which has  been held responsible for (though more accurately should be described as being associated with) nearly a million deaths around the world. Since then our world has changed and governments throughout the globe have imposed laws and regulations that have impacted on our day to day lives and our civil liberties in ways more extensive and draconian than most living people have experienced before, even at times of war. And we are not at war.

In the UK, deaths since March this year where the dying person has either been diagnosed as having had Covid 19 or it has been recorded on a death certificate currently stands at around 50,000. To put that into some perspective, the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918/19 was said to have caused 228,000 deaths in the UK. No one has yet begun to estimate how many additional people have died as a direct or indirect result of the consequences of our (four) governments actions in response to Covid, but there is no doubt that the knock on effects of those actions on our lives has been massive and will be felt for many years to come. Whether the responses of our governments have been sensible and proportionate will also be debated for many years to come.

Of course one of the main ways in which our governments have controlled our lives since March is through “lockdowns”.  We have been told at various times not to leave our homes unless it it “essential” to do so, have been instructed as to how many times a day we could exercise, how far from home we should be going. Needless to say this has impacted on those of us who like to walk for leisure. So for most of the last 6 months my walking has been restricted  to a two mile circuit from my home for my health’s sake (though I do like to keep up with what my neighbours are up to and many of these outings have offered socially distanced -a phrase unknown to me pre Covid – catchups. )And of course, with hotels and pubs closed and with travel for pleasure either discouraged or illegal and with public transport schedules in disarray it has been impossible to book trips away from home. And any plans I had were cancelled – my walking trip to Spain in May being one casualty.

At the time of writing the talk is of a “second wave” of virus infections, and all our governments are re-imposing restrictions on our movements and giving stern warnings of further lockdowns to come. The Welsh government has imposed lockdowns in 4 of its 22 councils. Whatever you might think of the rights and wrongs of how this is being managed there seems to be universal agreement that life is not going to return to normal any time soon and many are speculating that it never will.

One plan that I had put in place during this crisis was to return with Paul to Snowdonia to do several more days on the Cambrian Way. We had intended to go in April, but that had to cancelled of course, but we had re-scheduled three nights at The Grapes Hotel in Maentwrog in September as a base and had planned to conquer Rhinog Fawr and then continue through three more modest walks  to near Beddgelert.  At this point I must deal, briefly, with the fact that Neil will not be part of this. We had a very painful and acrimonious falling out in the New Year, the result of which was that he no longer wished to be friends; a friendship that had lasted over 35 years. On that I will say no more here.

Unfortunately Paul wasn’t well near the time of our trip and I was desperate to have a break, so with Pauls blessing I resolved to go alone. We would usually need two cars in order to manage the itinerary we needed to do on the Way, but I worked out that I could do the Rhinog Fawr section as a circular walk. And I really wanted to get this done. I felt very deflated when Paul, Neil and I bailed out at the base of this hill last August. And this had contributed to a big knock to  my confidence in my physical ability. In normal times this  6 mile trek and 1300 odd feet climb from the pass of Bwlch Drws Ardudwy to the summit  of Rhinog Fawr should not have been too taxing. Though I fully expected the getting down part to be the hard bit. On reflection, by doing it alone I knew that at least I could do it at entirely my own pace and if I should not feel up to it and gave up I would only have my own disappointment to deal with.

Breakfast wasn’t included in the cost for the “cottage” that I had booked for Paul and I at the Grapes. It wasn’t a self catering let either, so I had brought a toaster and was happy to start the day with a couple of pieces of toast, packing a self-made cheese sandwich for lunch.  A careful study of the map had found a Natural Resources Wales car park at the end of a single track road off the A470, south of Trawsfynydd, that would make a good starting point.

Rhinog Fawr is the biggish bump on the right: it didn’t look too intimidating from here.

I turned off the A470 a little before 11- a very civilised time of day to start a walk, I thought, and far later than my companions would normally countenance.  This little No Through Road was not signposted to or for anything. I passed just one farm before arriving at a small car park with one other car present.

Although it was cloudy I could see the tops of the hills and whilst a sunny day might be nicer, I didn’t have to worry about getting dehydrated or heat stroke. A wide track into the mostly coniferous wood brought me to a clearing named on the map as Graig Ddu Isaf.

A simple but attractive cottage sat opposite a metal Dutch barn and some single story stone outbuildings, a sign on a wall announcing it as a holiday let. This was news to me and given that I knew that I would need to be returning to the area with Paul at some point I walked up to the cottage door to ask about the accommodation. I was accompanied at that point by a young collie who had persuaded me of his good nature and who dashed in to the open door of the cottage to announce me. A friendly faced woman who may have been in her 60’s appeared and on my enquiring about the accommodation told me that it was in the outbuildings and asked if I would like to see it.

The place immediately struck me as really comfortable and I could see myself curled up with a book on the sofa with the log burner flickering away and a glass of wine in my hand.  The only trouble was that the bedroom up in the loft had twin beds and was open to the living room, so for people like me who like a double bed and sleeping privacy it wasn’t going to work for two.

The sofa converts apparently but that doesn’t deal with the privacy bit.

So not one for me and Paul but here’s a link to the Airbnb entry.  Susan, the owner, has been there for 18 years. Off grid (electricity is via batteries apparently) and without wifi or a mobile signal this is the perfect holiday home for someone wanting to get away from it all.

I had uploaded my route onto my phone which is always A Very Good Thing for me as I have a renowned capacity to get off the intended route at the drop of a hat.  Sometimes even without a hat. The track took me to the far side of the wood…..

….and from there south-west on a clear and mostly gravelled path  towards the pass between Rhinog Fach and Rhinog Fawr. The gravel transitioned to stone steps as I gently climbed towards the hills….

…. for which I was grateful as the ground can be pretty boggy around here. The stone section was short-lived but the narrow path remained mostly dry and firm until I found myself staring up at the side of Rhinog Fach that the three of us has painfully descended over a year ago.

I paused to consult the written guide book which refers to a “faint path north up the hillside” around here somewhere. In my experience faint paths can often be the result of sheep or imagination. I thought I saw one amongst the bilberry, so left the track to follow it.

As I progressed up the hillside and the views improved I became more convinced that human beings had been before me…..

…. happy, after a while to find a hole in a wall to crawl though that the guide refers to.

When I walk on my own in places with ill-defined paths the  anxiety that I have gone wrong is never far away. I could mostly make out a route but it seemed to me as I gained height that I was heading around the side of the hill too much.

After checking with my phone map I was convinced that I had over-shot a turning onto steeper ground and forged a way though the heather to quickly find a modest cairn. Now sheep can be sly path makers but as far as I know they haven’t mastered putting rocks on top of each other so I took this to be a sign that I was still on the right track.

From faint track ….

….the route seemed to then take a line of rocks….

….. and then combined the two.

Basically I was still going uphill and in that, and in frequent references to my progress on the map on my phone  I found reassurance that I was doing OK.  Ahead I could see a rounded  stony peak.

False summits are a regular disappointment when you don’t really know where you are but on this occasion as I made the brow I could see ahead the unmistakeable trig point that the creators of the Cambrian Way has designated checkpoint 27  (and on my 27th day of walking it, fancy that!).

For the most part we have come across few fellow walkers on the Way, so I was quite surprised to find several couples wandering around. I stood and chatted to one particularly friendly couple from Nottingham who who holed up in a little stone walled shelter just below the trig point.  Her father, she said, was in his 80’s and still doing long distance walks – with daily distances that I am increasingly avoiding.  Which brought it home to me how far from that level of fitness I have at a mere 65, but hey, I had made it and that for me, was good enough for now. I had another chat with a solitary walker who was happy to take a pic of me on my camera.

Time for a commercial break.

The beady eyed amongst you will notice that I am sporting a rather nice maroon top that has not been seen before.  This has come to me via ISOBAA  and is 100% Merino wool.  

Here’s a better look at it that Anne just took of me. This is called the Mens Merino 200 Long Sleeve Zip Neck (Wine).

I am “Large” and the fit is close without being too tight; it has a lovely silky feel to it and is a bit stretchy. You want a back view? No problem.

This is my slightly longer Lockdown hair style

In fact the very kind people at ISOBAA also sent me a tee-shirt which I was wearing on the walk.

Gosh, you can make out my nipples!

This is the Mens Merino 150 Short Sleeved Crew (Stripe Navy/Denim). Also very nice against the skin and a close but not too tight fit. Also a bit stretchy. How about a side view? Sure thing.

How much to get rid of that double chin?

The ISOBAA products arrive in a neat cardboard box that you might get a classy sandwich in.

This was a first outing but I can say that I felt very comfortable all day wearing this combination. I have tried another brand merino wool tee-shirt and found it a bit scratchy on the skin. Not this. My only quibble with these (admittedly quite pricy) clothes is the care instruction. Hand or machine wash cool and no tumble drying. Non bio detergent, dry flat. Overall a bit delicate you might think but perhaps it pays to look after them. End of commercial break.

So there I was at 2,362 feet and even on this cloudy day the views were pretty good. To the West the estuary at Porthmadog and the hills of the Llyn peninsular.

Due north, future challenges with the continuation of the Rhinog range and the highest parts of the Snowdonia range.

But for now my challenge was to pick my way down over this rocky terrain without crippling myself.

Referring back to the guide book, it seems that I chose not to follow its advice about which of the “large number” of paths off the summit to take. My route was tricky to keep to and at one point I was looking down onto Llyn Du and thinking that I could do with a rope.

But after a bit of wandering around in search of anything resembling a path I found something that would do and made my very slow descent over the boulder strewn hillside, only pausing once to take a snap but many times to select the drop between the rocks that might feel the less jarring on my knees.

Although going down is harder, it was quicker than the ascent and I was soon at the point where last August we had got to by going round the bottom of this hill rather than over the top. Turning right I was thus  re-tracing my steps on a narrow and, at times,  very boggy path.

The path improved and was gravelled once again, catering for those less intrepid walkers. I remember last time we passed a family with two young children in tow, none of who were wearing suitable footwear and who were suggesting that they might go up Rhinog Fawr; we strongly advised they didn’t.

At the edge of the  wood my track now followed the course of the delightful Nant Llyn Du (nant meaning brook in Welsh), its loud rushing waters dropping occasionally over waterfalls that on warmer days might have encouraged one to linger and bath tired feet.

As I passed Graig  Ddu Isaf once more Susan (I had asked her name) was mowing the grass watched by her donkey. Leaving the motor running she came over and asked how the walk had been and what route I had taken. She seemed not sure of the route by my description. I admit that I was slightly disappointed that she didn’t offer a cup of tea.

Sorry about the lack of sheep.