Llyn Cau

With a perfect winter day forecast, I'd made a plan last night for a slightly longer dog walk today :-)     Around Midday, Meg and I set off up Cader Idris on the Minffordd Path.   The first 600 feet ascent is steep, almost a continual stone staircase.   My legs were fine but the lack of cardiac exercise in recent years took it's toll.  Regular stops .... and a less demanding pace than my instincts wanted ... helped to moderate the difficulty!    Layers were shed.  Warm work in the bright sunshine yet in the shaded areas, where the sun cannot reach at this time of year, frost and ice aplenty.   It was a glorious day for a walk.

I think it's forty years since I made the summit of Cader, so today's target was to make the ridge that looks down into the valley and south across Corris to Plynlimon.   The main blip is taken at our lunch stop, looking across Llyn Cau, a bit over 1000 feet up from the start point, with the summit towering above.  Cold and frosty there, it was a treat to sit in the sunshine a few hundred feet higher - extra pic of the view south, the shaded valley on the right of the view is where last week's blip of Cader was taken from. 

By the time we got back to the car the sun was low in the west, intense golden light streaming up the valley .... and straight into the driver's eyes!   A stop at the lake caught the very last of the sun plus the moon rising over the ridge above the Tyn-y-Cornel hotel - second extra.   A perfect end to a lovely afternoon out.