A curtailed hike across the south-western region of the Mawddach estuary, approaching via the Afon Dyffryn valley to the new 500m top of Esgair Berfa and returning via an optimally rapid retreat to Barmouth.

This was planned as a three day hike to Dolgellau but was aborted after the first day due to a bloody mishap on the Dyffryn track as detailed in the report.

The weather stream had been described on one forecast as a ragged low pressure area, giving generally overcast skies and low mist in the mornings with variable cloud and sun in afternoons, the best of the clear skies and sunshine in the far west. Geographically accurate as it turned out, but very limited sunshine even here and a quite strong gusty wind made things chilly at height.

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A trek through the Moelwnion hills to the north-west of Blaenau Ffestiniog. This is the route we originally intended to walk on our recent Crimea Pass trip that we were forced to abandon earlier in April and improvise a new one.

This time we followed our easy ascent line through lower Cwm Lledr via the westerly rail underpass using the excellent track made for the construction of the Blaenau tunnel air shaft, culminating with a steep direct ascent to the summit of the very rarely walked Moel Dyrnogydd.

The middle section continues the westward arc of hills to the high point of Moel Druman and descends a splendidly wild, trackless line to Cwm Corsiog.

The final section crosses the Rhosydd quarry area to ascend Moel-yr-hydd and continue via the Stwlan mine track below the cliffs of Moelwyn Mawr and Craigysgafn, a new path for us that we have never seen described before.

Another heatwave was forecast for this period and hydration was a primary consideration, though a decent breeze at height helped a lot with the blistering temperature. The final low section of the route via the Stwlan access track and valley road, the quickest option chosen due to time constraint, reminded us that even when well hydrated, there is still a danger purely from the temperature: we were feeling seriously grim as we slowly plodded into Blaenau and found relief in the shade and air con of the Co-op.

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Squeezed between clinic appointments, this is another short two-day route centred around the Warland group of reservoirs: Blackstone, White Holme, Light Hazzles and Warland.

The outward line from Smithy Bridge station follows the southern shore of Hollingworth Lake and ascends to join the Pennine Bridleway (PBW) around the flanks of Stormer Hill, leaving it to climb via a new approach up the slopes of Cowberry Hill to Blackstone Reservoir and the Pennine Way (PW) track around the reservoirs.

The return line continues the PW as far as Stoodley Pike and follows the Dick’s Lane route to cross Erringden Moor for the final descent to Mytholmroyd station.

This route was designed to use the same excellent Stony Edge camp as on our Warland and Ramsden trip to this area last year, a most unlikely pitch spot amid the large gritstone boulders and rough heather. Once again we carried all our water from the start.

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A hike through the western hills of the Cadair Idris range, including first visits to two mountain lakes.

The outward line crosses the Mawddach estuary to ascend to the westernmost hill Braich Ddu and traverses the cliffs of Craig-y-llyn and Tyrrau Mawr to the major path junction at the centre of the range.

The mid-section follows a line below the cliffs of the eastern mountains to the corrie lake of Llyn y Gadair. The descent follows the lower section of the Fox's path to the lane near the Gwernan Hotel, leading to the fine woodland track that borders the Nant y Ceunant down to Dolgellau.

This extraordinary long spell of dry weather for Spring and early Summer continues, blue skies and sunshine for days on end in many parts. With a forecast of west Wales for the best conditions, we set off on this route that I mostly designed a few years ago, the section from Braich Ddu onwards being the intended latter part of our ill-fated Western Tarrens trip.

Below the Cadair cliffs the route uses a path, shown on the map as a pecked line, that I have never seen described anywhere except in a book from 1991 that briefly mentions its existence. In our new enforced slackpack mode, an unknown path in a mountainous region is a risk, this time we got away with it but only after much debilitating effort.

The first half of the trek is the unfashionable western arm of the Cadair galaxy where few walkers venture, but was completely deserted despite the unbroken sunshine. The big surprise though was the eastern half where we saw only three walkers. The Fox's path and lakes were deserted too.

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A very short 3-day route through the Crimea Pass north of Blaenau Ffestiniog, improvised late on the first day to replace our intended trek that proved too much for the circumstances.

The route follows the Afon Lledr to gain Access Land north of Moel Dyrnogydd, rising to join the excellent track around to the Crimea Pass and onward to the Llynau Barlwyd lakes.

The return descends via the quickest route through the moorland and quarries to Blaenau Ffestiniog.

Another morning medical appointment at the foot clinic meant a late start in mid afternoon for our trek, one contributory factor to our over optimistic expectation, another being the residual ankle soreness that was barely alleviated, if at all, by prescription-grade pain killers. The final factor was the excruciating terrain on the lower slopes that was both painful and debilitating to the point of exhaustion. We would have to think of something else: a short and simple route via Llynnau Barlwyd was quickly conceived from a mental map of the area and verified on our electronic mapping.

Despite the shaky start, we thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the trek. The ankle pain disappeared overnight and we slackpacked at a very relaxed pace in unbroken sunshine with fine views for the bulk of the walk, a highlight being an excellent lakeside pitch.

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A short 2-day trek of the hills and lakes north of Blaenau Ffestiniog.

The outward line is a new route to Moel Penamnen, ascending through the valley of the Afon Hafod-llian and approaching the summit via the broad north-east ridge.

The second part ascends Foel-fras and crosses southwards to Llyn Bowydd for an easy descent to Blaenau via the maze of quarry tracks above the town.

The first trip of 2025 after a long winter layoff, combined with health issues including an intractable foot problem and a marked drop in fitness, required a short adaptable route with good options. As it turned out, this trip was very instructive and we took the shortest option for the second day. Slackpacking is a term we have sometimes coined for a very relaxed and modest approach to backpacking, it seems this will be the new modus operandi from now on.

The weather in the last couple of weeks had been striking: clear blue skies but with quite strong cold winds in the hills. We just caught the last two days of clear conditions when the wind had subsided and the days were very warm, an excellent and enjoyable first trip of the year.

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A 2-day varied solo trek of the hills and quarries on the south side of the Machno valley.

Hoovering up unclimbed 500m summits is an occasionally useful technique for designing solo routes in new areas, and the first day of this trek claims a couple of god-forsaken hills in a wild region of Wales that very rarely sees any foot traffic at all, not surprising in some parts due to rough trackless terrain, but with the coveted advantage of complete solitude and spaciousness.

The outward section ascends to the reedy grasslands of Foel Boeth and the more heathery Pen y Bedw, crossing westwards via the bleak heatherclad environs of the large but seldom visited Llyn Conwy.

The return section traverses the minor top of Moel Marchyria to Cwm Penmachno and briefly joins the Snowdonia Slate Trail (SST) that climbs through the quarries to the foot of the Manods, ending with a fine easy promenade around to Llyn Bowydd and a descent through more quarries to Blaenau.

As expected the whole area was deserted from start to finish save for one photographer on the SST taking his tripod and gear up the track for shots over Cwm Penmachno. Despite the lack of rain, the saturated air of this weather stream resulted in one of the wettest camps I can remember, but it also produced an excellent fiery dawn sky and striking landscape colours at the pitch.

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A 3-day short and slow slackpacking exploration in the cwms to the west of Blaenau Ffestiniog.

Doubts about this October weather stream called for an open ended approach for this trip and we decided on the delightful area to the west of Blaenau Ffestiniog, rich in options for both circular exploratory routes or linear hikes as dictated by the conditions. Due to the brisk cold wind and unpredictable clag for much of the time on the ridges and summits, we decided on an extremely leisurely second day pottering around the craggy landscape surrounding Llyn Cwm-corsiog and soaking up the atmosphere of this wild region, reprising our outward route for the last day.

This very relaxed trip turned out highly enjoyable with a superb dawn sky on the last morning.

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A short and sweet 2-day trek around Llyn Cowlyd, visiting a new 500m Dewey top and a traverse of one of our favourite mountains.

Designed at short notice to squeeze in between appointments, this turned out to be a highly enjoyable hike with crystal clear views and unbroken sunshine, despite the previous day unleashing constant rain and the morning journey to Trefriw plagued by thick dank fog to ground level and flooded fields fleetingly glimpsed through the train window. This depressing scene suddenly dissipated mid-morning and the clear blue sky restored our backpacking mojo. The ground was unsurprisingly often very wet, in particular the descent from Llyn Cowlyd to Capel Curig rating a good 9 on the squelchometer.

A pair of walkers passed us early in the day above the Gelli woodland, thereafter the area was deserted.

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A 2-day circuit of the south Pennine moors and reservoirs around the Calderbrook valley north of Littleborough.

The outward eastern section traverses the flank of Clegg Moor to join the line of the old Roman road ascending to Blackstone Edge and descending an old packhorse trail to the Warland group of reservoirs. Good tracks and trails around the eastern edges and moors of this region give miles of very easy walking with no ascent.

The return leg descends to cross the valley at Walsden and ascends the western section to its highest point at Freeholds Top above Ramsden Clough. The route ascends around Rough Hill and traverses Crook Moor to the western outskirts of Littleborough.

We had suffered for a week or two from something with flu-like symptoms but we felt sufficiently recovered to try this modest route, a very slow business when coupled with the heat but an enjoyable walk.

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