Читать книгу Hillwalking in Wales - Vol 1 онлайн

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If you have been put off, please read on because, as I shall now relate, there is at least one walk of outstanding merit.

N ridge (AN18)

I had been walking the Arans for many years before I first sampled Esgeiriau Gwynion's N ridge. Many were the times I had seen it across Cwm Croes and rejected it as too featureless and dull. Then, one sunny afternoon in spring, having lunched by the shores of Creiglyn Dyfi and seeking a change from the long trek down Cwm Croes back to Llanuwchllyn, I climbed Esgeiriau Gwynion from Bwlch Sirddyn (ssss1) and set off down the N ridge.

Looking north-east over Foel Hafod-fynydd (AN16)

Apart from a short break in the middle, a fence accompanies you all the way and provided you stick with it the going is pleasant and dry and the only decision (which matters little) is where to drop down to the farm road in the valley. So far a walk like many others. The difference lies in the views. Nowhere reveals the Arans in more heroic vein as they stand rugged and wild, tall and proud, across Cwm Croes. Not even the Glyders strike a more regal pose. In sun the dark drama of the crags is leavened by the glitter of Llyn Lliwbran – one of the few occasions when it is enticed out of its rocky lair. To the W Hirnants and Berwyns ripple away in a mosaic of pastel hues, and then there is Foel Figenau, the conical hill directly ahead which, despite its modest stature, delights the eye just as surely as any Sugar Loaf or Tryfan.