Aberglaslyn Gorge Trail

Winter is still not done for 2017. There was a dusting of (mostly hail) snow up on the tops again today and an icy wind in the valleys. Given the forecast was for more heavy hail showers, my trekking group opted for the more sheltered valley walk of the Aberglaslyn Gorge, down near Beddgelert. It's a long drive down there, but a spectacular place. On the way we stopped to admire the Snowdon skyline while it was free of clouds. (Snowdon is the peak on the left and Crib Goch runs along the skyline from the dark peak on the right).

We parked just above the village and walked at a good pace into the centre, in full sunshine. We made a quick stop for a brew and to have a chat about some expedition techniques and navigation strategies before setting off to put theory into practice.

The walk along the river gorge was beautiful, with the rapids running fast and the water crystal clear.

 

Having passed through the gorge, we stopped for some lunch at Nantmor, where the larch trees were just starting to sprout their new needles (they are the only evergreen trees to shed their needles in winter).

 

Then it was uphill through Cwm Bychan and into the mountains, where we practised some navigation in some quite tricky terrain. The cloud was high enough to see out to sea in the west.

 

At the summit, the group chose to continue, navigating by themselves, while I dropped down to the valley to pick up the bus. It's always exciting for the group (and possibly more so for me!), to do a section of hike 'unaccompanied' and thankfully, they made it to the RV point at Llyn Dinas without (too much) drama - well not that they told me about anyway!