Valley into Bwlch Sirddyn. From there you can walk over to Cwm Croes, or have an easy pull up to Esgeiriau Gwynion. Esgeiriau and its environs looks a dully spongy quagmire from the road at Bwlch y Groes, not at all the sort of place to waste time on. However first impressions are not always right, and if you keep to the W rim your reward will be views of the Hirnants (not to speak of the Arans themselves) that will live in your memory. And dry feet too!
South of Glasgwm the landscape is different again, with velvety rounded ridges linking the lonely, rolling uplands that resemble the Dovey hills across the pass more than they do the giants that bear down so harshly on Creiglyn Dyfi and Cywarch less than 2 miles away.
As you can see, the Arans are hills of many parts.
Note For many years the Arans suffered from difficulties over access. The problems have recently been resolved by the landowners agreeing a number of so-called ‘permitted paths’. These are clearly marked on OS maps, and are prominently displayed on notice-boards at strategic points around the Arans (for example at the start of the N ridge route at Llanuwchllyn, at Cwm Cywarch, at 875205 where the permitted path up Drysgol begins and at Esgair-gawr Farm). As the arrangements are subject to regular review I have not detailed them here. You should therefore always check the current situation before setting out. Please also note that many of my routes go beyond the permitted paths as defined at the time of writing. Special permission should be sought from landowners before you use them. Acting in this way will help ensure the continuation of harmonious arrangements for the future.
Aran Benllyn
Aran Benllyn fully justifies the high hopes it raises from Bala. The N ridge (the usual ascent) is a beauty with views that reach a thrilling climax as you finally mount the airy boulder-strewn top. The slumbering giant N is Arenig Fawr, chaperoned by Moel Llyfnant and its lesser half, Arenig Fach (guardian of the marshy Migneint). Behind them lies the long tapering line of Foel Goch and Carnedd y Filiast, and the hazy outline of Snowdonia. To the W are the rambling moors that rise to Rhobell Fawr and Dduallt before culminating in the Rhinogs.
In contrast to this, the outlook E is a case of ‘all passion spent’. No pinnacles, no crags, just the rounded slopes of the Hirnant hills with the Berwyns arcing the sky beyond, dreary when the sky is overcast but strangely enticing when speckled by shafts of sunlight or powdered with snow.
To the S a spacious stony ridge leads on to Aran Fawddwy giving glimpses of Cader Idris, the Tarren and Dovey hills, and Plynlimon. The ridge is a grand walk, nowhere difficult and de rigueur if you have got this far. Never dropping below 2700ft and graced with tiny tarns, it conveys an infectious ‘top-of-the-world’ feeling similar to the Glyders, despite the difference in scale.
Warning Beware the E face of Aran Benllyn. Stick to the ridge in mist. There are spectacular lunch spots in the rocks above the cliffs, but seeking these in thick weather would be unwise.
N ridge (AN1)
Pont y Pandy (880298) is the jumping-off point. A footpath sign indicates the way down a farm lane. After 0.5 mile a bridleway sign directs you up rich green slopes to the ridge. Should you miss this, wait until you pass a cottage, Garth Uchaf, when you can clamber up to the ridge beside a dilapidated wall just beyond. Once atop the ridge a well-trodden path follows a fence in a series of giant steps. Stiles and arrows on rocks are there in abundance to discourage any straying. The views mature with every step. Benllyn's rocky pyramid looms impressively ahead, while if you divert L you will have a rare chance to observe Llyn Lliwbran slumbering in its cold, silent hollow far below.
Aran Benllyn across Lake Bala (AN1)
A short sharp rise brings you to the shores of Llyn Pen Aran and its tiny acolyte, idyllic on a calm sunny day when the only sound is the gentle lapping of waves, but unfortunately often whipped up by scurrying winds. Soon after this the path abandons the faithful fence, veering L to climb the final bouldery pile on its own.
Llyn Lliwbran route (AN2)
The N ridge can be combined with Llyn Lliwbran, one of the most inhospitable lakes in Wales. Walk down the road that penetrates Cwm Croes from 895270. Shortly before Nant-y-Llyn Farm cut across the fells for 0.5 mile of trackless, tussocky bog to reach the lake. When you have had your fill of the austere beauty of this desolate sun-starved hollow, head N until the slopes ease. Steep screes and cliffs rule out a direct pull up to the ridge from the lake.
Creiglyn Dyfi route (AN3)
The Cwm Croes road continues to the head of Cwm Llwydd (though it is not marked on the map) whereupon a grassy trail continues to the shores of Creiglyn Dyfi. The backdrop to the cradle of the famous Dovey could scarcely be more thrilling as the shattered face of Aran Fawddwy soars aloft in an angry intrigue of buttresses, gullies and terraces. Yet the lake itself seems strangely lacklustre from this viewpoint – too open, too square – and it is only from the nearby Drysgol ridge that it begins to take on the romantic aura its name leads you to expect.
Cwm Cywarch (AN5)
The key to the ascent is the grassy nose that slopes down from Erw y Ddafad-ddu. This provides a quick way home for tired legs in the evening, raises quite a sweat in summer (there is nearly 900ft of it) and needs care in winter. Snow gives it a wicked innocence – witness the crags that buttress it N and E. Once up, you are virtually midway between Benllyn and Fawddwy.
Llaethnant route (AN4)
Instead of plodding up Cwm Llwydd you could leave the road to climb via the shoulder of Foel Hafod-fynydd, with splendid views all the way (AN3,1).
The Llaethnant Valley walk, starting from the gate at the bend in the road at 905212, used to be a real charmer. However, on returning to it recently after a break of some years I was disappointed to find that the green path of old had given way to an ugly, grey, bulldozed road. It is still a beautiful walk, though sadly something irreplaceable has been lost. It begins in great style, hugging the slopes beneath the poetically named crags of Nyth-yr-eryr (nest of the eagle), and soon leaving the vivacious stream tumbling from chasm to chasm in its tiny gorge far below. Across the valley the hillside is fringed with crags and dappled with trees and gives a dazzling blaze of greys, greens and coppery reds when the bracken is at its height.
A steepish rise brings you alongside the stream with bleaker, more open terrain ahead. Unfortunately the grassy mound of Foel Hafod-fynydd shuts out all but the most tantalising glimpses of the high Arans beyond. The track starts to veer N now, and if you stayed with it would take you across Bwlch Sirddyn to Cwm Croes via the abandoned farmstead of Cwm-fynnon (883243). (On grit all the way apart from a sketchy patch over the Bwlch – see AN19.) However, for today's walk you should leave the track now for one of the oozy little trails that wend across the S flanks of Hafod to Creiglyn Dyfi, before pulling up to Erw y Ddafad-ddu to finish as in AN3.
Aran Fawddwy
It is a moot point whether Benllyn or Fawddwy is the finer viewpoint. Rather like Mahler and Bruckner, it all depends on your mood. Fawddwy frames Creiglyn Dyfi, the birthplace of the Dovey, in its giant turrets; but otherwise there is precious little in it. Benllyn, with its focus on the rugged wilder N, plays King to Fawddwy's Queen and the softer hills
