Criegiau Gleision/Mushroom Garden route (GL24)
I have never encountered another walker on this route.
Few walkers sample the E-facing cwms N of Y Garn and it is quite a surprise to find Criegiau Gleision (not to be confused with a peak of the same name in the Carneddau) sporting a shadowy little track.
Walk up the old road to the Yr Hafod hostel (644604), then follow a stream to the lip of the hanging valley above. This is Cwm Cywion (Cwm of the Chickens), a remote and sheltered hollow cradling the sparkling Llyn Cywion. One approach (GL24,1) is to climb above the lake on steepish grass to gain the col between Foel Goch and Y Garn at its apogee at 627603. You then follow the grooved ridge path to a stile where the path divides. The main track swings W of N, bypassing the summit; the lesser one follows a fence, due N, straight to the cairn.
Foel Goch across Llyn Ogwen
For connoisseurs the more scenic option is to jump the stream as it emerges from a vegetated ravine and climb the long arm of the Mushroom Garden as it swoops down beside a tumbledown wall. A path, exiguous at first, trends W to the slender ridge of Creigiau Gleision proper. Speckled with flaky spikes of rock and soft tufts of bilberries, this is a wild gem, the land falling away sharply N in an intricate maze of gullies and fragile-looking pinnacles. Across Cwm Coch is the savage, dipping crest of Yr Esgair and its prominent notch. The ridge veers NW later to merge into the grassy nose culminating in Foel Goch from where, looking back, Creigiau Gleision rears as a fierce dark comb reminiscent of Cyfrwy near Cader Idris.
Elidir Fawr
Elidir Fawr is the odd man out of the Welsh 3000-footers – hard to fit into a short satisfying round. Without it the quest to capture all the 3000ft tops in a single day would be considerably easier! Above all Elidir is an elegant peak. To most viewers it displays a perfect cone; occasionally an undulating ridge (which it is); while to the blue ellipse of Llyn Marchlyn Mawr it reveals the crags of Craig Cwrwgl and the squattish Pillar in a scene as rugged as any in Snowdonia. The elongated summit ridge, forming a series of bouldery humps and hollows, culminates in a cairn and a windshelter. There are fine views of Anglesey, Snowdon, the Carneddau, and back to Y Garn and Foel Goch.
The best tramp on Elidir is along the ridge either side of Bwlch y Marchlyn, curving high above the lake, before breaking off to Mynydd Perfedd. S the mountain degenerates in vast steeps of grass and scree, with awkwardly scattered boulders that make walking a chore. N and W, where a shoulder falls away to a subsidiary top (Elidir Fach) the mountainside is ravaged beyond redemption by the slate works of Llanberis and Bethesda.
By comparison with this, the harnessing of Llyn Marchlyn Mawr for power generation is a masterpiece of sensitivity. While no one can pretend that the shoreline is the delectable spot it once was, a good job has been done of naturalising it as far as possible and the lake is still a lovely site when viewed on a sunny day from the edge almost 1000ft above.
Note Water falling from Llyn Marchlyn Mawr down to Llyn Peris in the valley below generates electricity; at off-peak times water is pumped back up to the higher lake which therefore acts as a power ‘store’. In the course of this process Llyn Marchlyn Mawr’s water level varies by up to 100ft.
Cwm Dudodyn route (GL25)
Leave the A4086 by a chapel just W of the Vaynol Arms and go down a lane, bearing first R then L, to a small white cottage at 606589. Pass through a gate L as directed by a footpath sign, but instead of carrying on to Fron break away R almost immediately uphill, past a barn, to a stile at the top of the field. Over the stile a path zigzags between banks of bracken and foxgloves whose quiet charm not even the massive spoil heaps can quite quell. Cross the Afon Dudodyn at a bridge with a single handrail.
The route follows the true R bank for about 1.5 miles when two choices present themselves:
Scramble up loose scree L to Bwlch y Marchlyn – quick but rough (GL25,1)
Or keep straight on up steep but easy grass to Bwlch y Brecan (longer but nicer).
Assuming the latter, follow the grooved ridge path round the vale head to Bwlch y Marchlyn (620615), where the track divides. Take the upper fork along the slender crest above the black, ribbed steeps that sweep down imposingly to the blue-green depths of Llyn Marchlyn Mawr. Sadly the path leaves the edge to cross a broad green saddle before wandering through a sea of boulders to the summit ridge.
SW approach direct (GL26)
A tortuous, energy-sapping grind.
Walkers in a hurry (perhaps attempting the grand slam of all 14 3000-footers) cannot afford the luxury of the leisurely and rather circuitous routing via Cwm Dudodyn. Their fate is to sweat straight up from the bridge at 608596. The best routing is almost due N, keeping the spoil heaps L and aiming for a stile at around 607602. This crosses the wall that straddles the hillside at roughly the 1600ft level. You should then slant diagonally across to the summit ridge. This route is also pretty hard in descent, especially after rain when the chaotically strewn boulders that litter the upper slopes are unpleasantly smooth and slippery.
Note At all costs avoid the temptation to make a beeline direct from bridge to top (as I once did). The angle of attack is cruel and you are soon landed in an unholy jungle of screes and boulders.
Deiniolen route (GL27)
Park at the roadhead at 595631, go through the gate and march down the uninspiring reservoir road flanked by threadbare grass and building debris. Trend R as you near Llyn Marchlyn Bach and pull up the spur to Elidir Fach on cairned stony grass. Next head SE up easy screes to mount Elidir Fawr’s main ridge. A path of sorts leads to the cairn, skirting just below the crest and thus avoiding what would otherwise be a laborious trek over large, bouldery humps each of which would persuade you it was the top. An alternative start (GL27,1) can be made from the end of a narrow quarry road at 595612 near Dinorwic. From here you can gain the spur by working round the side of the quarry workings.
Mynydd Perfedd
Mynydd Perfedd (Central Mountain) is unimpressive. Only a windshelter at the S tip of the spacious grassy saddle that stretches to Carnedd y Filiast 0.5 mile away N gives any inkling of a top. However there is plenty of good sport nearby, such as the stroll round the edge to Elidir Fawr above the blue shimmer of Llyn Marchlyn Mawr and the imposing Pillar that dominates its S shoreline. For a day with a difference you could always try exploring the lonely approaches through Cwm Perfedd and Cwm Bual. Wild gems, both of them, yet unaccountably neglected.
Cwm Dudodyn route (GL28)
Follow GL25 to Bwlch y Brecan from where a short pull up easy grass, with a path to start you off, puts you on top.
Esgair y Ceunant route (GL29)
Follow GL25 to the footbridge at 608596 but do not cross it. Instead steer N of E past two ruined barns and climb onto the ridge beside a wall. A blend of fledgling outcrops and rock moderates to grass by which time you should be looking out for a track L, beneath the crest, that sidles across to Bwlch y Brecan as in GL23.
Cwm Perfedd route (GL30)
No time to limber up today!
Leave the old road near Maes-caradoc at 635627. You are immersed at once in a gruelling uphill slog, keeping near the true L bank of the stream (but not so near as to get embroiled in the cleft).