Outdoor Discoveries

Exploring north and mid Wales through multiple seasons

This time last year, I was making plenty of visits to Wales. There was a matter in my life that needed attention, and the getaways were a big help with these. Shoehorned within them was a bank holiday weekend foray to Guernsey, but that is not the subject of this piece.

Looking at my interim synopses of trip reports that await writing, I notice that there have been more in the last few years than I have mentioned above. Even 2020 had one, though there was none in 2021. That got me wondering about a multi-season survey. Though one might have felt wintry, I still believe that it fits in spring. Thus, winter gets excluded here.

Most were in Eryri National Park, while some featured parts of the Welsh coastline and even the heart of Wales. Wales is of such a size that its coastline is not far away even when hills are being climbed. On weekend stays, most of those places where I overnighted were by the sea as well. Only Chester and Wrexham, which helped with outbound travel during industrial actions on the rail network, were the exceptions. Aberystwyth, Caernarfon, Llandudno and Porthmadog were the coastal bases.

The list of hills includes Y Garn (near the Ogwen Valley), Glyder Fawr, Glyder Fach, Carnedd Gwenllian, Gyrn Wigau, Cadair Idris, and Pumlumon Fawr. The latter was summited twice, once in damp and dank conditions and the second occasion involved the endurance of chilly, obstinate gusts on what otherwise was a brighter day. Even so, I have my fill of the area for the moment.

Carnedd Gwenllian also the subject of two approaches, the first was unsuccessful in that it was halted by blustery wet conditions and lack of time. Better weather and more time made it possible to reach that summit; it may have been cloud capped, but there was plenty of sunshine at other times. Gyrn Wigau was crossed on that second trip, on the way back to Bethesda, as it happened. Cadair Idris is best known to me, and I again reached its top, albeit on a hot sunny day. That made for better views than I ever had before, so I descended to Morfa Mawddach instead of Minffordd (my staring point) or Dolgellau.

Of the Ogwen Valley hills, Y Garn got its own day on a circuit from Nant Peris. The descent proved challenging and prevented me from catching an earlier bus as I might have hoped. Glyder Fach and Glyder Fawr went beforehand and together. Such was the challenge of their terrain that I abandoned designs on reaching Llanberis for a return to the Ogwen Valley. Both days were hot, one in May and the other in July. These were day trips without any overnight stay, unlike others that have been mentioned in this posting.

The Wales Coast path got well trodden in the middle of all this traipsing. The most recent was the section between Borth and Aberystwyth last March. Sunshine felt like it was being rationed, yet that took nothing away from the walking. The coastal scenery had its own drama anyway. No weather or seasonality can remove that, no matter what.

Aside from that, it was the North Wales coast that got my attention. Even in 2020, I reached Llandudno for a stroll around the Great Orme, the only coastline exposure that I got during that very challenging year that most probably wish to delete. Last autumn saw two repeat visits, both after hill climbing the day before. On the first of these, I went on top of the headline instead of going around it. For the second, I walked along the coast to Llandudno Junction train station, savouring what I could see with some relish. The first attempt at reaching Carnedd Gwenllian may have been unsuccessful, but the Wales Coast Path got me to Bangor, and with some sunny accompaniment at times too.

All in all, there was quite a range of weather encountered, from warm sunshine to persistent rain to chilling gusts of wind. Given that, it probably is worth recording which season was which for all of these. For spring, it was the second weekend around Aberystwyth and the day hike around Y Garn. The first of these feet more like winter and the second more like summer. Speaking of the latter, that was when the day circuit of Glyderau happened and when I tried reaching the top of Carnedd Gwenllian, the latter of these followed by coastal walking leading to Bangor and around Llandudno. Again, the first was typical of high summer and the latter giving a hint of approaching autumn, which is when the Irish Celtic seasons would place it. The rest belong to autumn anyway, which remains undeniable, even given the ambiguity there often is about seasonal timings.