Читать книгу Ridges of Snowdonia. The best ridge walking онлайн

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Circle rightwards around the head of Cwm Eigiau to descend the ridge towards Foel Grach. Before reaching that summit, and from a shallow col, bear rightwards to descend a grassy spur to a marshy plateau and signs of vehicle tracks. From the rock promonitory on the far side of the plateau, go north-east down the ridge, now reasserted, to a track leading rightwards to the roadhead (1¾ hrs).

There’s something not quite right about driving north out of Snowdonia to get to the start of a walk – down the Conwy Valley, flatlands and hedgerows, coastward bound with tourists. At Tal y Bont, a bend or two before the scenery turns hopelessly flat, a single-track road strikes bravely up the hillside, serving first a small cluster of cottages, then isolated farmhouses, and finally only the whims of idle walkers eager for the hills. It ends abruptly at a junction of ways, continuing from there as a rough track fit for nothing.

This is a broad place, dominated even at a distance by a dam wall on the far side of the moor. Its sinister shape matches your every step – stone for stride. A slight detour shows it to be an empty threat: breached in its full height, the wall harnesses only more grass and more sheep. A scramble at the breach wins a brazen promenade along its elevated pavement as far as the sluice gate, where the original track is regained.