Idwal hostel, CP36 to Pen Yr Ole Wen

I walked this part of the route 6-7 years ago in low cloud, today was glourious, with an occasional welcome breeze. Left YHA Idwal hostel 09:15, bought a sausage roll for lunch and a Magnum for now from kiosk next door. Walking the 1.7 miles along south shore of Llyn Ogwen on the A5 passed lots of people preparing to ascend the climbers paradise that is Tryfan (pronounced Tre-ven in English) and some fishermen. Stopped for a chat, discovered they were fishing for rainbow trout but “they weren’t biting” as so often seems the lament of fishmen!

At the end of the Llyn Ogwen I turned left/north onto a short access road. Soon passed what looked like a retirement home. I could see rows of upright chairs through a window but it all seemed to be closed and there was no one around. I wondered if there were staff shortages like behind my brother and sister-in-law’s John and Jay’s house in Turiff? Or perhaps Brexit? Or maybe no enough clients? Researching later I discovered this is the 32 bed Glan Dena Hut owned by the Midland Association of Mountaineers.

A hundred yards later passed the only other building, a farm, and entered National Trust land with signage reading - no fires (sensible), no drones (seemed a little churlish) and no wild camping - umm. Walked a short distance west to the two foot bridges over the Afon Lloer (Lloer stream) to that are checkpoints on the Cambrian Way then back to the east side to begin ascent over mostly grassy ground. OS Map suggests ascend east side of stream, Cambrian Way guidebook suggests west side of stream, National Trust signs said follow the waymarked path - but of course, there weren’t any. I chose the east and was keeping pace with two middle aged chaps with day packs who chose the west side of the stream so with my 16kg pack I reckoned I chose the easier side.

The 1000’/350m up the Afon Lloer over a mile/1.6km was variously grassy, rocky and with short 6-8’ scrambles. Towards the top I filled up the water I had used so far today as it is the last I would see for 36 hours. To filter water I am using the excellent Grayl water filter loaned to me by my daughter Angharad that she used in the Far East. It makes about 450ml in under a minute.

Midland Association of Mountaineers
Glan Dena Hut
Capel Curig,
Betws y Coed
https://www.themam.co.uk/index.php/huts/glan-de…Read more