An unscheduled trip to the dentist for Iestyn this morning meant that we couldn’t spend the whole day up in the mountains. We left Caernarfon (with Iestyn’s teeth feeling a bit better) at around 11:30am. Our plan was to tackle Moel Hebog circular walk, but as we didn’t have that much sunlight left, we decided to head up Yr Aran instead, as it’s a lovely walk – fantastic views, and relatively quiet mountain, once you get off the Rhyd-Ddu, Snowdon bound path.
We parked the van in Rhyd-Ddu’s car park, booted up, and headed up towards Yr Aran, along the gentle slope of the Rhyd-Ddu path. There wasn’t much people walking on it this afternoon, which was nice – the snowline started at around the 500m high mark – just as we got into the old quarry.
We stopped briefly stopped by the entrance to the lake by the quarry to strap on our gaiters, and another warm layer, as the wind had started to whistle down from the mountains. Gina lead the way, up following the wall and fence posts past Bwlch-Cwm Llan, around Y Geuallt and straight up the breezy summit of Yr Aran (747m).
Moel Hebog and Beddgelert
A very happy Gina
We stopped to enjoy the views, and had our lunch – pretty much exactly the same as yesterdays on the Glyderau – Cheese ‘n pickle sandwiches, Czech Xmas cookies, and a reindeer flask filled with mint tea. It was mighty cold on the summit, so we didn’t hang around too long. Just enough to enjoy the views, and admire Snowdon and Cwm Llan, as the rolling clouds came over.
Gina on the summit of Yr Aran
And with that, we headed down the same Rhyd-Ddu path, back down towards the van. The wee Welsh Highland Railway had just stopped in Rhyd-Ddu by the time we got there, so Gina went ahead and took a few pics as it chuffed away down the valley towards it’s home in Caernarfon. Another awesome day up in the Welsh mountains.