Another 2-day circuit of the excellent Cwm Eigiau, a short trip culminating in a fine pitch on Craig Eigiau and a low-to-mid level return along the old cwm quarry track and over the Cribau shoulder to the valley of the Afon Ddu.
This narrow slot of fine weather turned out to be a curious mix for November: a chilly northerly stream yet very warm in the sheltered sunshine and a much colder night than expected. The tent was stiff with thick frost and the attractive pools on Gledrffordd were frozen on the superb morning traverse in the warm calm air. The northerly flow had polished the views to excellent clarity, only to be quickly eradicated by an all-enveloping mist by afternoon.
22 Comments
Geoff, Sounds like you had a fantastic trip in glorious November weather, great pics again.
Geoff, This really is a great area for wild camping.
Once again you managed to find good weather, have you got any tips you could share with us on picking a good winter weather window.
Don’t let everyone know what a great place it is ;o)
Splendid, Geoff, as always.
It’s tricky writing original comments on your posts as I ran out of superlatives years ago!
Inspirational. Blogging at it’s very best.
Lovely pics as per usual Geoff. Had to smile - I was up Ingleborough on the 6th and have to concur the weather conditions were superb in the northerly winds. I’m pleased someone else was out in a tent enjoying it all! It was certainly cold too. I recorded -5c in the night - winter is a coming.
It was great to walk with you virtually once again Geoff in a mighty fine area. Maybe all those people had been reading your trip reports?
Your always seem to pick the good weather, great read always.
Great stuff once again Geoff. Glad to see you out and about, I was starting to miss my fix
Looks like you had some fine weather. Good Stuff!
Wow, cracking pictures of what looked to be a great two day trip. What a lovely wild spot for an overnight camp.
Many thanks to everyone for such kind comments. It was great to be out again, a short trip but ambitions must be modest on joint backpacks these days, especially in short daylight hours. Superb conditions for photos again.
I just have to catch up on all the other reports and posts now.
Geoff E, Carl - The MWIS and Met Office websites are consulted every day, we usually get it right!.
Robin - I do wonder sometimes about publicizing little trodden areas, in this case it may be too late!.
Terry - it must have been a superb panorama from Ingleborough, the conditions have never been particularly good on our visits.
James - I know some of our routes have been followed by others, but the worst case would be finding someone else in one of our pitch spots having seen our report!.
Oh aye. The visibility was superb, Geoff. The only downer was that huge bank of low cloud coming from the south. Otherwise, I reckon (at dawn at least) would’ve been able to see over to Snowdonia. I got a glimpse of the North York Moors previous evening. Gin clear the air was. Lovely cold dry north easterlies, eh?
Great pictures. I love camping on top of the Carneddeau. However, you are more fortunate with MWIS than we were. See my post at http://www.ian-barton.com/blog/mountaineering/2011/09/05/carneddeau-summit-camp.html Is there a reason that you start at Dolgarrog, rather than park near the reservoir? Being a lazy bones I am all for gaining height mechanically where possible:)
Ian.
Ian - Thanks very much. Llewelyn is definitely a bugger for clag. Perhaps your pitch was near mine earlier this year on the Eigiau & Cowlyd trip when I got a superb inversion.
I’m a fusspot for parking, I’d never leave the car at a remote place like that up a crap road. I’ve seen broken window glass more than once at that car park.
Wow! Stunning stuff. Not an area I know well, aside from Pen yr Helgi Du and Pen Ll…the slippery hill of the witch (I don’t have a map to hand). One more to add to the lengthing ‘to visit’ list.
Thanks Mark. All the Eastern Carneddau form a splendid region, Cwm Eigiau is a fantastic spot to view the Helgi Du ridge and its cliffs.
Fabulous pictures Geoff. Really like the ones of the ponies in Cwm Eigiau. Fingers crossed I’m hoping to do some walking in the Carneddau for the first time next Easter.
Thanks Matt. The Carneddau are brilliant, I’m sure you’ll adore them.
Incidentally, I just caught up on your recent walks that I missed:- I rely on Google Reader for alerts of new activity and your blog is of course subscribed, but those recent walks are only on your main website, I didn’t know about them.
Yeah, I’m really looking forward to it. If you could do just one day walk in the Carneddau what would you do? I was thinking of heading up past Aber Falls to Llytmor, round to Foel Grach and then descending over the two Beras and Drosgl but I’ll probably change my mind several times in favour of a route involving Carnedd Llewelyn and Carnedd Dafydd.
I hope some of my more recent walks were of interest. Generally my walks go on the main website whilst more general bits and pieces go on the blog.
Superb photos as always Geoff (same weekend I was in the Arenigs). Cwm Eigiau is a superb place and I’ve done the horseshoe over Pen Llithrig y Wrach, Pen Yr Helgi Ddu and Carnedd Llewellyn many times and I’ve always found the walk over Craig Eigiau to be one of the highlights.
Matt - this is a great route for you in the Carneddau, another great one I’ve done many times is the round of Pen yr Ole Wen, both Carnedds and Pen Yr Helgi Ddu from the south starting from the eastern end of Lyn Ogwen and finishing near Helyg on the A5 (you can walk back down the old coaching road to the car). Your route from the north sounds great as well although I’ve never done the Carneddau from that start point - I need to rectify that
Cheers
Andy
Matt,
The Llwytmor route is a fine one particularly for wild country and lack of people, at least as far as the turnaround at Foel-fras. There are usually very few people on the Beras too, excellent rocky stuff around the summit areas. I did one backpack starting from the Aber end, the North Western Carneddau trip.
That southern approach from the A5 over Pen yr Ole Wen to Pen yr Helgi Du is superb too, a more traditional mountain route but very popular on Dafydd and Llewelyn in particular.
Your North Pennine walks will be very useful, I still have more new territory to explore up there.
Andy,
Thanks very much, excellent area that we never tire of. Now to catch up on those other walks.
Thanks Geoff.
With the help of these superb photos, every place just invites everyone to pay a visit to it. Cwm Eigiau is a place where no one ought to miss it. With my dream of exploring the globe, I definitely won’t miss to put my foot there.