A very relaxed and easy 5 mile stroll from Moelfryn on Llyn Trawsfynydd to our accommodation near Maentwrog, during which Charles discovers his compass

Date walked:  Saturday, 17th April 2021

Distance: About 5 miles

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

Guide used: Walking the Cambrian Way by George Todd and Richard Tyler (Cicerone Press)

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Paul and I had arrived at our accommodation late last night , exhausted, and  far too late for Paul to cook his famous sausage pasta. But we were not too late to enjoy the welcoming bottle of wine that had been left for us in the warm and comfy living room.

Thanks to owner Marie Forster for the use of this pic

We were staying in The Coach House – a Grade II listed cottage in the grounds of a handsome house near Maentwrog. 

This two-bedroom cottage could not be better placed for us as the Cambrian Way passes within a few hundred yards of the grounds of the property. We had booked it for a week but Paul was needing to return home on Monday so although it might have been nice just to relax and explore our surroundings we agreed over our bacon butty eaten on the sunny terrace that we could manage a short walk.

View of the cottage from near our breakfasting terrace- thanks to owner Marie Forster for the pic

Which meant returning to the scene of yesterdays trauma, though this time in Paul’s car. The sight of our little gully of rocks and beets that we had created to try and support my car as we tried to extract it from the ridiculous position I had reversed it into made me shiver.

So here’s a wee lamb in case, you, too, feel traumatised at the recollection.

I did feel confident, though, that we would have no difficulty keeping to our path today, which was a comfort – to me at least; I don’t expect any walking companion to have confidence in my navigational skills.

The path we had taken on our descent from Moel Gyrafolen joins the single track, No Through Road that stops at Moelfryn Isaf.

The shore of Lyn Trawsfynydd is clearly a popular destination for walkers and our route took a wide gravelled track that gentle climbed above the lake.

Please note Paul’s forearm for foreground interest.

And if we needed any reassurance that we were, indeed, on the Way, we spotted one of the Cambrian Way markers on a gate post as we entered a small oak wood.

This is, perhaps, my favourite time of year for walking, when the trees are just about to break leaf but their skeletons of branches allow views that would soon be obscured as the trees re-cloth themselves.

OK, so not exactly a good example, but I’m sure you know what I mean

We paused at a memorial bench, both being reminded of the Sue Beesley, who is in good health and runs Bluebell Cottage Nursery near Warrington (when she’s not flying or running marathons)

At the brow of the hill we had a fine view over the lake to the now decommissioned nuclear power station. 

With a bonus of curly-horned sheep

Built in the early 1960’s and designed in the Brutalist style by Basil Spence, it was shutdown in 1991. The decommissioning process is still a significant source of local employment. According to the Wikipedia entry this process will not be complete for another 60 years by which time the site will have been completely cleared.   In my view the entire removal of the buildings is  A Good Thing; its difficult to imagine how anyone thought it was OK to erect such imposing structures in such a beautiful landscape. Paul, on the other hand, found pleasure in the sight of these twins and might argue for their retention.  And who knows, plans may change; a case is being made for mini nuclear reactors to be sited here.

From this vantage point the path gently winds down to cross the dam at the North-West corner of the lake.

The Lake itself is man-made, created in 1928 to be a source of water to power the turbines of the new Maentwrog hydro-electric power station that still sits alongside the A496 a couple of miles from  the village. It was subsequently a  source of water to cool the nuclear power station reactors.  The hydro plant produces around 30mw of electricity a year (enough for about 12,000 homes). I’m all for hydro – better than horrid wind turbines.

At this point I consulted the guide for our directions which said that we should “follow the track NE for 120 metres  then ESE for 130 metres and look for a path going left through the forest.”. My electronic compass on the phone plus a consensus about distances gave us great confidence in turning into the wood. Plus, of course, a Cambrian Way waymark for good measure.

Pauls always happy when he knows where we are

It was a very pleasant half a mile through the larch woods, if a little soft underfoot in places.

I had done this section before when I stayed in the Grapes at Maentwrog as a base to climb Rhinog Fawr, so  for once I really really knew where I was.

The path left the wood at another waymarked gate…..

… and from there is was an easy tramp across fields to join a driveway by a house that was having some expensive cladding fitted.

That mountain straight ahead was going to be the destination for our next walk.

The driveway joined a minor road at Bryntirion and as we continued downhill we passed a small farm with a menagerie of free-range ducks, geese and chickens enjoying the warm sunshine.

The chicken came over all shy

As road-walking goes, this was pretty pleasant with very little traffic…….

OOh those shadows!

……and it was less than a mile before we entered Maentwrog passing the (sadly closed) Grapes.

If you go into their car park beware a huge pothole.

Maentwrog sits at the junction of the A496 and A 487. When I walked this part of the Wales Coast Path about 7 years ago I had to come inland to here as the bridge downstream across the River Dwyryd was closed for re-construction adding about 8 miles to the route. Here’s a link to that post.

The Cambrian Way crosses the road bridge and then takes the road on which our cottage was situated but we turned off just after the river to walk on top of a levee that took us directly opposite the drive to the cottage.

It was just half past one and time for lunch. What perfect timing. And over lunch on the terrace we decided that was enough for the day. It was almost like being on holiday.

Many of these images are available at Getty images. Here’s a link. The prices quoted are a fantasy – mostly I get about a dollar an image through big picture buyers having what’s called Premium Access.