Cadair Berwyn

I was longing for some alone time today so was secretly a bit relieved when Grace said that she had to go into work today and couldn’t come for a walk with me. All I wanted was a bit of mountain time so basically found the nearest mountain to me, which I think is the Berwyn range. I arrived at Pistyll Rhaeadr early and it was reasonably quiet but there was definitely evidence of some of the problems they’ve had over the summer, with various ‘please be sensible about parking’ signs for about 3 miles up to the falls. I got cracking and walked up a ridge with the most incredible weather brewing all around me. I’ve only ever done this summit in thick snow before and the visibility was so poor then that I hadn’t even realised that there was a lake at the bottom. It was just totally and utterly incredible and just what I needed. The ridge to the summit was breezy and I did have a few moments of feeling a bit exposed but it was worth it for the incredible views. A few lovely locals at the summit who were up for a nice chat.

Went the long way down, over Moel Sych, which turned out to be mostly boggy and I twisted my ankle and fell flat at one point but the landing was lovely and soft. Spent a good 10 mins finding a way to cross a stream and proved to myself that the waterproofing I’d done on my boots was a good job. A bit more up and over and then a lovely descent into Pistyll Rhaeadr again.

A bit of a shock to see how busy it had got. I made myself a hot chocolate and ate my lunch then hot footed it out of there as soon as I could.

Apart from the crowds at the end, it was a perfect day.