Another two year hiatus, but we've finally got round to climbing the last, and toughest, County Top in Wales. This involves climbing two other peaks and a bit of scrambling - quite a test for W's brand new boots which were a distress purchase the day before.
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| Looking down on Tryfan and the Ogwen valley |
From the park up next to Lyn Ogwen we walked to Tal y Lyn Ogwen farm at the east end of the lake. The climb up the Snowdonia Slate Trail here is next to Afon Lloer which hurtles down the hillside in a series of little waterfalls. Then it was a turn to the west and a short scramble up through a gully to reach the scree paths leading to the top of Pen Yr Ole Wen (978m). The views of Tryfan and the Glyderau as we climbed up were superb, and eventually Eryri comes into view as well. Once at the summit, we were also rewarded by sunshine and the sight of the Menai Strait below to the North West.
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| View from Pen-Yr-Ole-Wen, with Llywelyn peeking out over the right shoulder of Dafydd |
Then it was off to the next peak along the ridge, Carnedd Dafydd (1044m), along some rather rubbly scree paths to the stone shelter at the top. The mountain is named after Prince Dafydd ap Gruffud who was captured in 1283 during the conquest of Wales by Edward I and executed at Shrewsbury. This put an end to the independent nation of Wales after 700 years of rule by the House of Gwynedd.
Our final peak was Carnedd Llywelyn (1064m), variously cited as being named after Dafydd's elder brother, father or grandfather. Although only 20m higher than its younger brother, there's a descent and another slog of a climb to reach the summit. On the way we passed the first small patches of snow we'd seen on our walk, and although we did have a stop for a sandwich and a chat with some fellow walkers it was brief due to the cold.
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| Last remnants of the winter snow |
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| Stone cairn at the County Top |
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| Obligatory selfie at the summit! |
From here we made our way back down Penywaun- wen (another bit of a scrambly descent) and across Bwylch Eryl Farchog ridge where a steep path to the right took us down to the reservoir below and back along the waterboard path to the main road.
