From Penmachno a narrow lane climbs south-eastwards to the road end and continues as a track to a saddle. From here a decent quadbike track ascends the damp grassland south-westwards then south directly to the summit area of Foel Boeth. There were distant views northwards to the Snowdonia mountains and south-eastwards to the northern Arenigs.

The grassy track continues a short way south-west to the main summit pool and, as the slope steepens, a smaller pool below.

Scanning the landscape towards Pen y Bedw, I judged the best line to be a slanting descent aiming left of the forest corner to pick up the public footpath (despite the map not showing any path on the ground) at the Nant Cor Lannau stream and involving some descent and reascent. It was a rather slow trek through the damp reedy terrain, constantly meandering to follow the most favourable line, but I reached the stream where there was surprisingly a discernible path ascending to the minor dome of Bryniau Duon.

More trackless terrain lay to the west across a fence towards the increasingly heathery Pen y Bedw, an undistinguished but colourful top today with good distant views westwards.

To the south Llyn Conwy looks quite close at first but more tortuous heathery terrain lies ahead, involving micronavigation of relatively easy fragments of carefully walkable lines, eventually arriving at the old boathouse on the northern shore.

In the weak sunshine this deserted remote spot by the large lake exuded both colourful serene beauty and bleakness at the same time, yet is little frequented.

The public footpath around the north-western shore and out to the minor road is easy to follow and furnished with occasional waymarks, alighting at the dwelling of Hafodyredwydd. The path continues west up the house driveway as indicated by a tiny waymark on a post, but here there is virtually no trace on the ground and the footpath soon enters a rather confusing mess of little steep sided ravines via a ladder stile. Following the mapped line, I crossed one small stream and climbed to join the larger stream at a quite flat grassy area.

Time was getting on and I was mindful of the early sunset. I found a reasonably flat patch by the stream just big enough for the tent and made my pitch.

A low gibbous moon cast a weak glow on the tent and many stars were visible, yet the calm air was saturated as I saw when I ventured outside and the water droplets resembled an aerosol spray in the beam of my headtorch. In the early morning everything was glistening and dripping with dew, but I noticed the first glimmers of light that promised a fine dawn.

I hurried to get ready for some photos and the sunrise did not disappoint: the eastern sky was ablaze with fiery colour and produced striking images of the landscape in the low red light.

Time to break camp, I grudgingly started the extremely wet (and cold) job of packing the tent away, pausing frequently to put my hands into the handwarmer pockets of my down jacket to regain a modicum of feeling. Finally packed, I considered the best way onward and decided to head for the fence that ascends Moel Marchyria - there is often a bit of a path by fences - again micronavigating the line as I went along.

The terrain was pretty bad: reeds, tussocks, heather, hidden holes and ditches and progress was very slow. Behind me weak grey cloud had settled in and the dawn colours had faded, but left a pleasing silhouette of the Arenigs in the remaining light.

There was indeed a good quadbike track alongside the fence and progress was speedy to the wire enclosures near the top. A rough track descends the other side and hairpins right to meet a public footpath where I turned left along a natural shelf that is rough and apparently poached by cattle!. I followed this footpath to an old quarry building where I intended to descend another mapped track into the cwm, its steepness suggesting it might be following an old incline.

Damn, there was no trace of a track or incline, just an untidy sloping heap of quarry spoil. I had to pick my way slowly down the steep rough slope on the right of the spoil to reach an incoming stream where I crossed to a proper track through the old quarries to join the SST. Looking over Cwm Penmachno the landscape was now greyed and colours very muted with wisps of trapped valley mist.

The SST ascends through the quarry buildings and workings and gives a view of the longest water cascades I've ever seen. It passes through a forest to Rhiw-bach quarry and its cavernous excavations, the largest being accessible via a side path for those keen to explore further. The SST exits the quarry complex via a steep grassy incline that gives a good view back over the scene.

Near the top of the incline I departed the SST for an easy horizontal promenade on a track giving an aerial view of more quarries and curving westwards to Llyn Bowydd with views of Moel Penamnen and the Yr Wyddfa mountains. The track tends to become waterlogged intermittently from hillside runoff, especially in the vicinity of Llyn Bowydd, but is nowhere difficult and at one stretch has a well established side path to avoid it. Farther along the Moelwyns come into view.

Approaching two tall pillars at the top of a steep incline, I came across a padlocked gate: there is an almost invisible step stile provided in the wall on the left side. I descended the rather wet gully of the incline to the heart of the current quarry workings, some of which are still active. A short walk west was my intended drop-down point, but the route did not look feasible to me. Consulting my screen mapping for an alternative, the system stopped with the message: "Shutting Down...". Out of power: I switched to my backup phone that has an old battery but still gives around 60-90 minutes of usage. The system was booting but at the last moment the screen changed to a "charging" icon. I tried it again: same result, it would not boot despite being checked at 100% before leaving home. [On arriving back home, it booted just fine showing 96% - go figure].

Just like tech to fail when most needed, above a veritable maze of working quarry tracks any of which could be dead ends. I surveyed the scene and descended one level on the only feasible track that then split into two. No quarrymen around to help of course, so I made a decision based on the land layout and intuition and took the left fork, later leaving it for a rightward descending fork that thankfully emerged on the upper streets of Blaenau in plenty of time for the train.