Views

Brother #1 & I walked up to Aber Falls and on into the lower reaches of the Carnedds, scrambling up the side of Bera Mawr before descending back to the falls and the valley.

There was a light covering of snow above about 1000ft, but a few additional flakes during the walk didn’t amount to much. Indeed there were long bright spells and good views from the top across to the Snowdin Massif (extra) and for most of the walk over Anglesey and Puffin Island, with the Isle of Man and the Cumbrian Fells visible in the distance (main image).

We met mountain ponies and ravens but the biggest surprise was a fox, scavenging an existence at 2500 ft (extras).

Both on the way up and down we passed remains of old settlements and sheep folds, some ancient but all at least hundreds of years old. It was at a hideout in this very spot that Dafydd ap Gruffudd, the last ruler of an independent Wales, was captured by soldiers of Edward I having been betrayed by the Bishop of Bangor. Not long after, he was hung, drawn and quartered at Shrewsbury; Wales became England’s first colony, and, as seems destined, the last.