Hiking the Alwen Reservoir Trail

Another day and another new place to explore! In an attempt to stay out of the worse weather, we headed east, away from the main mountain mass of Snowdonia and up onto the Denbigh Moors. It's an area that I've spent very little time in, so was keen to check it out. The forecast assured us that things would soon brighten up, but we had to tog-up to begin with to stay protected from the heavy rain and accompanying strong winds! In fact, it all seemed rather dark and damp as we arrived and the bus slowly sank into the boggy ground!

 

Putting our faith in the weather forecast, we set off wrapped up like polar explorers onto the well marked trail that leads around the reservoir. About half an hour later, hey presto, the clouds began to part, turning it into a completely different place.

 

We literally watched the dark clouds blowing and it had the effect of like turning up the contrast on a computer screen. To be fair, the group that I was accompanying were already in good spirits, but the sight of blue sky and sunlight on the water perked us all up even more.

 

The intention had been to complete the 11.5km circuit around the lake, but our pace wasn't quite compatible with our goal, so just before the footbridge that crossed the end of the reservoir, we had to make the decision to turn back. The group were tiring and I was concerned about not making it round before our cut off time. One of the difficult parts about being a Mountain Leader, or any kind of leader I guess, is having to make a decision for the group which means that their aim or objective will be compromised. Although I really wanted to do the full circuit and the group really wanted to too, I had to turn us around.

 

It turned out to have been a good choice - even returning the way we knew, rather than forging on into unknown ground, we still only just made it back to the dam at the head of the valley before dark!

Even though we didn't do the full lap, the views walking back, were different to the morning and everyone arrived back to the bus pleased at their efforts. Thankfully, the bus extracted itself from the bog without too much drama! Looking forward to returning here...