help them get to you quickly make sure you have:
the grid reference of the incident
the nature of the incident
the number of people involved
age and medical information on the casualty
an alternative phone number if possible.
Using this guide
Distances are given in kilometres and miles, heights in metres and feet. Because of the nature of the terrain some of the walks demand a greater degree of mountaincraft than others. Some of the routes, including popular rounds like the Snowdon Horseshoe, ascents of Tryfan and parts of the Glyderau also involve scrambles which call for a certain degree of agility and a head for heights. Please heed the warnings in the text and pick your routes accordingly, using variations where they are given if you are unsure of your ability or if the weather or conditions are against you. Remember the sobering words of the mountaineer Don Whillans, who was no shrinking violet: ‘It’ll be there next year. The trick is to make sure you are.’
Weekend crowds on Crib Goch
Timings are as walked by me, a bus pass holder with high mileage knees, and are inevitably subjective. They should be treated as a rough guide only until you have walked a few of the routes and had a chance to compare our respective paces and you have got the measure of my timings, which do not allow for stops.
Likewise the grade of difficulty is as I personally found it. Easy routes are fairly gentle strolls. Moderate walks demand more effort and may involve rough going. Strenuous routes are demanding days, often with steep climbs. The scrambles are about Grade 1 but may be exposed. Although they are well used some do call for a little route finding ability.
Place names
So far as place names are concerned I have tried to use the Welsh wherever practicable while also falling in with general usage. These days most visitors seem happy to use the Carneddau for what used to be called the Carnedds and the Glyderau is also gaining currency over the anglicised Glyders. Snowdon, however, is so far resisting all attempts to re-brand it Yr Wyddfa in the popular consciousness, and the National Park remains resolutely Snowdonia rather than Barc Cenedlaethol Eryri.
Despite my family roots in the Principality I am definitely no Welsh scholar, so where there is a dispute over spelling, such as Cadair/Cader, in the interests of consistency and avoiding confusion with the mapping I have appointed the Ordnance Survey the arbiter of correctness.
THE CARNEDDAU
Pen y Helgi Du (Walk 4)
WALK 1
Tal y Fan
| Start/Finish | Sychnant Pass SH 750 769 |
| Distance | 16km (10 miles) |
| Total ascent | 510m (1540ft) |
| Grade | Moderate |
| Time | 4–5hr |
| Terrain | Moorland tracks |
| Map | OS OL17 Snowdon/Yr Wyddfa |
| Access | Via the steep Sychnant Pass road from Conwy to Penmaenmawr |
| Parking | Roadside at the top of the pass |
This is very definitely a walk of two halves. For the first section the Irish Sea and Menai Straits are constant companions, dominating the views as you look down onto the towns of the north coast of Wales. Then as you crest the final ridge of Tal y Fan everything changes as the mountains reassert themselves. Once the path switches to the inland side of the ridge it becomes a hill walk again, as befits Snowdonia’s most northerly 2000fter, a distinction it makes by a whisker.
A rider heads towards Tal y Fan
From the top of the pass cross to the western side and go through a gate marked ‘Pensychnant Nature Reserve and Farm’. Follow the stony track for a couple of hundred metres and then turn back hard rightwards on a rising path, part of the North Wales Path. After another 50 metres by a waymarker turn left uphill, passing under a set of power lines to climb to another marker post where the path turns right under more power lines before climbing towards the ridge.
Where the track passes under the power lines yet again turn right uphill on a wide track, broadly following the electricity lines across heathery moorland. The views stretch to the surrounding headlands and sea and a marine forest of dozens of offshore wind turbines. At the top of the slope carry on ahead, still following the track parallel to the power lines to reach a stile with whitewashed farm buildings below.
The path continues traversing above the farm buildings and then carries on in the same direction briefly following a wall, still guided by the power lines and the occasional waymarker for the North Wales Path.
The path, now much fainter, comes to a group of ruined enclosures containing clumps of trees then continues above them and in a couple of hundred metres comes to a fork. Turn uphill to soon reach a much broader vehicle track coming in from the left. Turn right along this, aiming for the long rocky ridge of Tal y Fan.
Today Tal y Fan supports the odd farmhouse but even more ruins. It was not always so sparsely populated and the map is dotted with old settlements, standing stones and circles. Some require the eye of faith to make them out but others are more obvious even to the untrained eye. Antiquarians can amuse themselves for hours rummaging among the heather for traces of our ancestors and the mark they left on the mountain.
The track passes high above the reed-fringed pool of an old reservoir before it begins to climb slowly leftwards up towards the end of the ridge. At the watershed it meets another vehicle track. Follow this rightwards as it curls round into an area of quarry spoil heaps with fine views of the Conwy Estuary. Once past these a grassy path begins to climb the ridge, weaving its way through rocks and outcrops, guided by a wall, with ever-improving views of the inland hills to arrive at the sturdy stone trig point.
Tal y Fan summit
From the summit carry on following the wall to a col and take a stile on the left and go down to another stile in the right hand wall. The whole atmosphere of the walk now changes as the sea views disappear and the Conwy Valley opens up ahead.
The path drops over three stiles to reach a tarmac lane, which is followed leftwards for 50 metres to where an unmade track branches off left. After a couple of hundred metres along this a footpath sign at Cae Coch directs you back up the slope. The path follows a gently rising traverse line rightwards across the hillside following the line of a wall. This is a delightful stroll with the ridge above and the woods and fields of the valley of the River Conwy below. Where the wall become dilapidated carry on along the same line as the ridge drops down towards the track.
Eventually after about three quarters of an hour of steady walking the path curls round the hill to slip through a prominent pass and begins to drop down. Where it forks do not follow the main track into the valley but instead follow a wall on the left and look for a gap in the corner ahead about 200m below the col. The track passes through this and then follows the left hand side of the wall
