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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 2894 |
22nd June 2018 Hiking - Walking: Circuit of Llyn Eigiau Reservoir Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny and warm Max Speed: Distance Covered: 8.50 miles (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise) Friday 22nd June – walk ***** Circuit of Llyn Eigiau Reservoir – sunny and warm:) Not a bad night in the carpark at Sychnant Pass but a bit of wind noise and as the van was a little down at the back Mag woke with a headache :( Although mainly cloudy she went for a long walk before breakfast to clear it! We left as Radio 2’s pop quiz started at 10.30 and took the tiny white roads in the hills down the Vale of Conwy with no real plan? We missed a lot of the quiz as Mag had to try and shepherd a lost lamb who had got separated from its mum in the lane, poor thing had a limp too:( Then we met a lorry and only just made it past. At Rowen the road was blocked so we headed for the main road. I had seen on the OS map there was a road going out into the wilds towards Llyn Eigiau Reservoir and you had to take a right at Tal – y – Bont unfortunately we took the wrong road up and were heading for the carpark by the pylons we had walked past with Steve Carter. After a quick chat we headed back down the steep. Narrow and windy road. We quickly found the right road and boy what a road it was, very very steep with hair pin bends, it is a miracle we made it! Then it flattened off and Mag had to open a couple of gates to let us through - we were really in the middle of nowhere. At the end was a small carpark and there was a large campervan and a big mini-bus already parked - how they got there is beyond me! We got prime position with stunning panoramic views of heathland with a bowl of mountains in the distance, another pinch yourself moment! I parked a bit on the angle to give us a little room to sit and because the mini-bus was also parked side on. Mag quickly made a fantastic salad and we set off along a wide track towards the Reservoir with no particular route in mind but we did actually did take the OS map. I only need to get a hiking compass and I will really look the part! A few sheep got jittery in front of us and ended up walking away down the track with us. The track then bears left away from the Reservoir but we made a small detour through the old dam wall where a section had been knocked down to the water. It looks more like a natural lake now and has not been its full height since the 1920’s we later learned from a local who lives in an 18th century cottage right out in the middle of nowhere with no running water or mains electricity! We had great fun hopping over the large black boulders by the waters edge enjoying the warm sunshine and crystal clear blue skies, just perfect:) We walked along the lake as far as we could before we were cut off by streams and bogs so headed up to the only walking route marked on our map which followed Afon Porth – llwyd river. We were slowly climbing towards the impressive bowl of mountains which we later discovered included the second highest mountain in Wales, Carnedd Llewelyn at 1062 only a fraction smaller than Snowdon but without the awful crowds! The path split into two, one route up and the other continuing along the beautiful river valley. We were tempted to go up for the view but we saw some youngsters heading our way from the Canterbury School mini bus so sat and waited to ask which the best way was to go. Lucky our life didn’t depend on it as they all passed us without even looking at us and there is no way they could manage a good afternoon or hello. What a sad world we live in:( Lucky for us the teacher was following up the rear and he stopped to chat, lovely man too:) He told us you could do a circular route back to the carpark passing a old slate quarry and two more lakes in the next valley but it was a bit of a boggy scramble in places but we should be OK! Well that made our minds up as we continued over a small bridge soon reaching an idyllic cottage owned by some University where we sat on a slate bench in the sun and enjoyed our picnic. Rested we carried on, coming to the slate quarry with large areas of waste rock strewn down the hillside, those old timers certainly made a mess! There was loads of building used by the quarry workers all made of thick slate, just fantastic. You just can’t imagine working up here in all weathers, supplying the workers with food - they must have got fed up with eating mutton and actually transporting the fragile slate down to the valley!!! This is where the good road finished and you had to make it up as you went along but just following the river steeply up. We had seen loads of birds, the usual sky larks, wagtails, stone chats, black red starts but then Mag got really excited when she spotted a small badger just below us, we both saw it as it disappeared into the long grass and it turned so we could see it’s beautiful striped face. It made our day as although we are out in the countryside a lot we have never seen a live one! As we climbed slowly up past loads of small waterfalls we saw 5 hikers make it to the top of Carnedd Llewelyn before turning back. Then we met two walkers coming the other way with two small dogs who stopped to chat, they were the people from the other camper and they pointed us in the right direction. Well, we thought the top would never come, it just went on and on and up and up!!! The ground was boggy in places but we already had wet feet! After a long climb we came to a large flat plateau which lead to the next valley and got our first views of Melynilyn and Dulyn Reservoir two little lakes and stopped for our dessert - fruit and a chocolate bar. We could see the road down in the valley which lead back to the van but it seemed pointless heading steeply down there so continued along sheep tracks high up. The path went along the top by, first, a new sheep fence and then an old stone wall. We could see our van down below, still a long way below! It was a steep decent to the main track which is always hard on the knees but we made it in the end and were surprised to find we had covered 8.5 miles in 5 hours 50 minutes and never was a cuppa more welcome. We enjoyed that outside in the late warm sunshine. Some dickhead had left a note on our windscreen complaining about the way we had parked as it got busy up here at weekends but we were only slightly on an angle due to the school mini bus which had now left, so he should mind his own business!!! It is nearly eleven now on a beautiful clear night with the moon above and the carpark is nearly full with walkers heading off for a weekend in the mountains including several youngsters carrying plastic bags of food and one Pratt struggling with a dozen bottle of lager lets just hope he brings the empties back! A really nice young man from South Wales heading up for a couple of nights in a tent who had a lovely chat with us and then a Dad taking his three kids for a night out and the youngest, dummy in her mouth, couldn’t have been more than two!!!! How wonderful :) Lets hope we have an undisturbed night but I am not holding my breath as the early morning hikers arrive and discover they can’t park! Photo Gallery Here |
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