Margot's Blog: Last big walk before the weather turns

08 April 2021

Last big walk before the weather turns

I had plenty to do other than scamper around in the mountains, but the weather was gorgeous and the hills were still quiet due to travel ban from England. It seemed stupid to not take advantage of that situation! Easter Sunday was predicted to be still lovely, with rain and clouds arriving on Easter Monday. So I checked if one of the Kates would be up for a walk in the Llanberis area. This would be the time! And one was.

I wanted to walk Cwm Dudodyn. I had never been! And there was a right of way on the map. And that right of way looked like it wasn't a path, but I had seen a bridge over the river so I know there was at least something going in the right direction. And then I figured I could walk down y Garn. There is no path there, but it didn't look like difficult terrain at all.

I met Kate by Llyn Peris. Most of the layby had been blocked off, but there were still plenty of space for two cars. And we set off! We found the bridge I had seen from above, but then found that the actual path doesn't go to the top of the valley, but instead to the top of Elidir Fawr. Oh well! That was okay too. You had a lovely view over the valley from it.

At the top we had lunch. The view was amazing! We saw the whole range ahead of us. Tryfan was a little blobbie in the distance. And after lunch we headed for y Garn. We had another drink there, while the clouds were rolling in. Kate suggested we don't go down right there, but instead move on to Devil's kitchen and take the public footpath down there. That was okay with me! I hadn't been there in ages. And the clouds disappeared quite soon again.

When we got back to the road I thought the scenic part of the walk was over, but I had disregarded a little public footpath that led back to our layby. It was gorgeous, and led straight underneath the local slate quarry. I haven't explored that one yet! That's still on the to-do list.

I was keen to get off my feet by the time we got back to the cars, but it had been a great day. I was really chuffed I had used it for what it was extraordinarily suited for! The next day, office chores would call again, but that is never a big issue if you can still feel the mountains of the day before in your body…