Nantlle Ridge 2002

Andrew Nelms's Report
Date 16 / 11 / 2002

Description
The walk stared in the village of Rhyd Ddu. The car park was priced for £1.00 per day. It has toilet and baby changing facilities (which were not required!) The carpark is also a construction site for the reinstatement of a train station. The footpath around the north side of Llyn y Gader to the foot of Y Garn at 561 524 was taken. This was very wet and marshy in places despite an attempt to lay flagstones to combat this. From here the path directly up the side of the hill was used to quickly gain height to the first peak on the ridge at 633 meters above sea level, climbing 400 meters in a kilometre. Before the tricky ascent of Mynedd Drws-y-coed was attempted it was decided by the majority vote of the group not to continue and return directly to the car park due to the slippy nature of the rocks. The descent was taken down Cwm Marchnad which was very steep towards the bottom. The opportunity to inspect the disused quarries at 565 518 was taken and is definitely worth a visit again for interested parties. The walk back to the carpark was taken along the old welsh highland railway branch from the quarry back to Rhyd Ddu.

Due to the early return to the car park at 14.00 the group travelled to the car park at 593 469 in the Aberglaslyn Pass. A route was taken south down the west side of the river as far as Pont Aberglaslyn over the bridge and back up the welsh highland railway track bed to the footbridge 592 474, including walking through the enormous railway tunnels which are now closed to the public due to the possible reopening of the railway. Access was gained by simply walking around the gate. The footbridge had been removed for the same reason and so the group walked up to Beddgelert for afternoon tea, returning to the minibus at 16.30. The paths south of Beddgelert were being upgraded with concrete surfaces and as such a huge mess had been made of the surrounding area which made pleasant walking almost impossible. The use of machinery also meant wading through liquid mud up to 4 inches deep in places – not pleasant.

Club Members on Walk
Andrew Nelms, Richard Wheatcroft, Sarah Hignett, Graeme Calvert, Helen, Karin, Jon Smith and Claire W (Later on)

Lessons learnt / suggestions

 * Not continuing with the Nantlle ridge causes one or two members of the group disappointment. However, all enjoyed the walk through the Aberglaslyn pass.


 * The Nantlle ridge could be attempted by those with less confidence during the summer months when the rock could potentially be drier and less greasy.

Description
Started from car park in Rhyd-Ddu. Toilets are available in the car park. It costs £1 to park there for the day. The footpath is found immediately opposite the carpark and route finding up the fist mountain, Y Garn GR 551 526, is easy. Care should be taken when navigating across the ridge from Y Garn as there is a possibility of following the wrong wall off the top when visibility is poor.

There is a bit of a scramble aclong the ridge to Mynydd Drws-y-coed GR 551 519. The scramble was only made hard by the fact that the rocks were slippery. There was nothing above a grade 1 and it was not too exposed. The scramble section is short and is the ONLY scramble along the whole Nantlle ridge.

We the followed the ridge along an obvious path taking in the following peaks:
 * Trum Ddysgl GR 544 516
 * Obelisk on Mynydd Tal-y-migned GR 535 514
 * Craig Cwm Silyn GR 526 503
 * Garnedd Goch GR 511 495

The best route from Garnedd Goch to Mynydd Graig Goch is to follow the wall around the top of the gulley as this reduces the amount of descent and ascent dramatically, and makes route finding along an other wise difficult moor land with no footpath.


 * Mynydd Graig Goch

We then descended on the big grassey ridge to Llyn Cwm Dulyn. Navigation through the farmers fields to Talysarn porved difficult as the farmers have moved their malls / fences / gates since the maps were drawn and no alternative sign post have been put up.

Club Members on Walk
Claire Raisen, Peter Tubby, Matthew, Mark, John Lavander, Mark, Mark and Phil.

Lessons learnt / suggestions

 * Micro navigation through farmers fields is a ball ache, try to avoid it.
 * The ridge walk is a long walk and should only be done when on tour (to allow early start / late finish)
 * The pubs in Talysarn are rubbish - full of 12 year old local scallies