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Looking back to Pen yr Ole Wen from the summit of Carnedd Dafydd on Route A2

Arrival of the ridge proper allows a moment to take stock. The road and its constant hum of cars, coaches and carriers is already far below (the A5 is without equal as a conveyor of tourists and frozen turkeys), and is replaced now by the clamour of seagull traffic over Ffynnon Lloer. No lesser squeal could disturb that calm. But all this is delaying matters: ahead rises a blunt nose of rock, and no promise of an easy way through. Up against it, and the shadows reveal texture; closer still and the texture reveals fissures; and then the fissures reveal holds. And now the holds themselves, large and comforting, reveal the polish of countless other grateful feet. A cool gully; a move or two; and the step is behind. Above is a twisting, heathery path; a sudden view into Cwm Lloer; and then only the great Carneddau sky.

You want to stride out, all power and progress, towards Carnedd Dafydd; but the path is bouldery, and the circling of Cwm Lloer takes longer than you’d hoped. Not that you want to get away; just that there remains a feeling of apprenticeship until Dafydd is underfoot. It comes soon enough, its summit cone like a huge collapsed cairn. There is shelter here on wild days – thanks to a cluster of S-shaped windbreaks; a brief respite in which to unravel your tongue and straighten the squint in your eyes.