Carnedds

The Carnedds are a mountain group in Snowdonia. They are named after the highest peaks in the range, Carnedd Dafydd and Carnedd Llewelyn. They also include the largest continuous area of high ground in Wales, as well as seven of the highest peaks in the country

Everything from Bangor to Conwy to Betws y Coed and up the A5 to Bangor. Surrounded by the A55 to the north, A5 south and A470 to the East.

The full round of the Carnedds is part of the Welsh 3000s challenge.

You enter the Carnedd range from the A5 road where you head north to Pen yr Ole Wen. The ascent is very steep and rocky (no scrambling though) and unless you're a hike 1 type, it will take you over an hour.

Pen yr Ole Wen often fantastic views, and the author was lucky once a clear day to see all the way to the Isle of Man! Looking south you're treated with amazing views towards the Glyders.

From there on, if you follow the ridge line, you tick Carnedd Daffydd, from which you head west along the path following the rocky edge, after which you turn north.

The next peak along the map is Carnedd Llewelyn, but if you are doing the Welsh 3000s or you just want to tick all the peaks as efficiently as possible, you need to traverse west before you reach Carnedd Llewelyn. The traverse starts approximately at the 900 meter contour and that will leave you on the westward path towars Yr Elen.

Yr Elen offers maginificent views and a big drop on the north side. From there you can follow the westward path towards Carnedd Llewelyn, which gets very steep towards the top. The summit plateau is quite big and in a foggy day you might work hard to find the summit!

From there it is best to head north to Foel Grach. The terrain here gets much easier, the path is a lot nicer. You tick Foel Grach and keep heading North. After some time you will see a small "bump" on the ridgeline, which is Carnedd Uchaf. If you are doing the Welsh 3000s you need to tick that before heading north east to Foel Fras which is the last of the Carnedds.

The best way back is to keep heading North and just before Drum to start descending to the lake Llyn Anafon, but be aware - it is boggy and slippery and the author fell a couple of times on his backside in the mud!

At Llyn Anafon you will see a road that leads to Abergwyngen, where hopefully some transport will be waiting for you.

Zhelyo Vasilev