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Y Lliwedd from Bwlch y Ciliau

WALK TWO

The Rhyd Ddu Path and the Snowdon Ranger

The Snowdon Ranger Path snakes above Clogwyn Du’r Arddu to Snowdon summit

Formerly known as the Beddgelert Path, the approach to Snowdon by the Rhyd Ddu Path is probably the least used. Yet it passes across outstanding mountain landscapes and, for those out late in the day, offers the prospect of incredible sunsets beyond bulky Moel Hebog and the undulating Nantlle Ridge. As a line of ascent, it is preferable to the Snowdon Ranger. You can judge for yourself, as the route continues over Snowdon and down the Snowdon Ranger, although it abandons the full descent in favour of a cross-country route that eliminates road walking.

The Route

Walk across the car park and continue alongside the railway track, and then turn right through a gate, crossing the railway line, to continue along a well-defined track. On your left is a ruined round tower that was the powder house for Ffridd Slate Quarry, now disused.

When the track divides, bear right, climbing gently as the track passes between the waste tip and the ruined buildings of the quarry, which closed in the 1860s. Cross a stile and soon you reach a gate/stile with views to your right of Llyn y Gadair and Y Garn in the distance. The track beyond the stile soon bends to the left, bringing into view Llyn Cwellyn in the valley to your left. Presently you reach another gate/stile with an easily missed sign on the rock opposite: ‘Snowdon, first gate on left’. Just beyond this point, the path bears to the left. The path coming in from your right is an alternative start of the Rhyd Ddu path from Pitt’s Head and Ffridd Uchaf, although parking is very limited at this starting point. The track in front of you is the old miners’ route to the slate quarries at Bwlch Cwm y Llan, below Yr Aran, and it is now used to reach Yr Aran, or Cwm Llan and the Watkin Path up Snowdon.