Very few areas south of the Scottish border can compare with the Highlands for roughness, but one that does is the Rhinogs in southern Snowdonia. The northern two-thirds of the range are a maze of craglets and boulder fields split by gulfs where the heather can be neck deep. The end to end walk is a classic big day out, 20-25 miles and around 5000 feet of ascent, depending on how purist you want to get. Anyone finishing this in the Naismith time of 9-10 hours is doing extremely well. The place deserves a more leisurely day though, one that gives you time to poke about and explore the many nooks and crannies. Even better is to camp up by one of the tiny lakes, although the general roughness means that there aren't all that many options and some of the obvious places are beginning to look a little worn.
Llyn Du below Rhinog Fawr, a popular camping spot
The range roughly splits into three sections. North of the Roman Steps the hills are smaller, mostly around 500-600m, but this is the roughest and most complicated ground, hard going by anyone's standards. The central section comprises the two best known peaks, Rhinog Fawr and Rhinog Fach, and the north side of Y Llethr, the highest summit. This is still very rough craggy ground, often very steep, although it has more paths, which make things a bit easier. South of Y Llethr the geology changes and a broad grassy ridge continues over Diffwys and down to a final rocky section above Barmouth. If you want to do the whole thing in one go then Dolgellau is the best base as it has buses to Trawsfynydd at the north end and both buses and a train to Barmouth at the south-west corner.
Diffwys and the southern ridge
From Trawsfynydd a footbridge leads across the reservoir to a minor road, which curves up to gradually become a track and peter out below the hooked north end of the ridge. At this point it's a proper ridge, dropping away on both sides, quite steeply on the north. Relatively easy going takes you up to the first main summit, Foel Penolau. This feels like a subsidiary top of the nearby Moel Ysgyfarnogod but they are separated by quite a decisive gap, craggy on the Penolau side. A few years ago the place hit the headlines when a few peak bagging enthusiasts excavated under the boulder field on the saddle to find the exact col. It turned out to be more than 30 metres below the summit of Foel Penolau, resulting in the latter moving from the Nuttalls list to the Hewitts. This was trumpeted on various websites (and the BBC) as "New Mountain Found in Wales". A little over the top, methinks – and given that anybody walking between the two summits doesn't descend 30m then even promoting Foel Penolau to the higher prominence list seems a bit dubious.
Sunset from below Moel Ysgafarnogod
Of course most people who climb Moel Ysgafarnogod climb Foel Penolau too anyway as it's a nice summit and they feel like a pair. Penolau also feels much more like the end of the ridge, although there's a more purist contender in Moel Gyrafolen, but this gets rather fewer ascents as it's only 535m. Out of curiosity I just looked this up on the peak bagging sites - 82-88% of people who log an ascent of Ysgafarnogod also log Penolau, but only 26-29% of them go on to Gyrafolen. The figures also show that people who log ascents on Haroldstreet are more likely to go on to lesser tops than those who use Hill Bagging, which isn't really a surprise as Haroldstreet includes lots of more obscure lists.
Typical northern Rhinog ground, Llyn Corn-ystwc near Clip
Anyway, back in the real world of lovely wild crumpled hills, the main Rhinog ridge turns southwards after the twin summits and starts to stretch the definition of a ridge. The next three summits, Clip, Craig Wion and Moel Morwynion, all run at different angles and don't connect with each other at all easily. In misty weather navigating on this section is really tricky. A typical stretch might go like this. Walk along a rock pavement, then at the far end discover that the ridge line has cut off at ninety degrees while you weren't looking, and you're now above a vertical cliff. Retrace your steps fifty yards and descend a steep gully into a boulder field. Hop across this and clamber up a steep bluff to a minor blob, then descend the far side of this into man(and woman)-eating heather. Once you've fought this off go through a slot between two bulky rock prows, but then discover that the other side is blocked by a small pool and you have to climb over one of the rock prows in order to get round it. You then have to make a sharp angle leftwards to get back on line and clamber up a short cliff to reach another rock pavement. At last an easy bit, but unfortunately it ends in a vertical cliff as the ridge line has cut off sideways again...... It's a nightmare!
Rough ground near Llyn Morwynion
Eventually the convolutions come to an end and you arrive at the Roman Steps, but first there's a higly recommended detour. Llyn Morwynion is one of the great atmospheric places of the British hills, a deep triangular lakelet surrounded by rock bluffs. It's invisible from nearby tracks and feels enclosed and womb-like when you're at lake level, but move up only slightly from the shore and you get a wide view out to Cardigan Bay and the Lleyn Peninsula. There's only one possible camping spot, a lovely grassy sward, which is tiny so if you're lucky enough to be the first person there then you will have the Llyn to yourself (though if someone has beaten you to it then you have to go a fair way to find another place – it's not a good plan for summer weekends). In the Mabinogion it's the spot where the 'flower maiden' Blodeuedd is caught by the wizard Gwydion and changed into an owl while her companions are drowned. If you're there when the mist rolls in then it seems an appropriate place for supernatural happenings, but on a sunny afternoon it sparkles and sings of delight.
Llyn Morwynion
The Roman Steps aren't Roman but have been around for many centuries. It's thought that they date from the late 13th Century, when Edward I was building Harlech Castle. The major route across the range was the next gap south though, Bwlch Drws Ardudwy, probably as it's 300 feet lower, less rough and a more direct route to Llanbedr and the coast. Between the two lies Rhinog Fawr, "the big doorpost", with Drws meaning door and Ardudwy being the Cantref west of the mountains. It isn't the highest peak here, Y Llethr tops it by 36 metres, but it feels like the heart of the range. It's defended on all sides by very rough craggy ground – the ridge up from Llanbedr being the easiest line, grassy slopes reaching to 500m before you arrive at the inevitable gritstone boulders.
Llyn Du, Rhinog Fawr
The most used route is the steep path that winds up from the Roman Steps via Llyn Du. You can find loads of scrambling variations to this, both on the minor summit below Llyn Du and on Rhinog Fawr itself – a sharp arete off right on the lower part of the latter is particularly good. The south side has a track too, starting from the cove just west of Bwlch Drws Ardudwy and going steeply up rightwards before cutting back left up a narrow scree gully. The whole face is extremely rocky and there are an infinite number of scrambling variants, all of the linking together outcrops type, but of any grade you like.
Rhinog Fawr south flank
The best scramble in the Rhinogs though, by some margin, is the South Ridge of Rhinog Fach. This follows the blunt spur jutting out towards Llyn Hywel, another stunning spot. Tackling the spine of the buttress direct is easyish Diff, and looking for difficulty bumps it up to Severe, but there's a logical line that only misses a couple of short walls and makes a Grade 3 scramble. It finishes satisfyingly close to the summit, and you've the Llyn below you all the way, a superb situation. Rhinog Fach is steep all round and you can find bits of scrambling all over it, but nothing to compare with the South Ridge. The next best is probably the far left edge of the same cliff, but it's not in the same league.
Rhinog Fach South Ridge
From the top of Rhinog Fach there's a steep path that wanders down the west flank but the easiest and best descent is southwards down the line of the watershed to the sweep of slabs heeling over into Llyn Hywel. A good path along the top of these takes you to the steep pull up Y Llethr. This is still quite rough but at the top it eases suddenly as the rock changes to finer grained siltstones and mudstones. There's still a 150m pull up to the summit of Diffwys but it's a doddle by comparison with what has come before.
Llyn Hywel and Y Llethr
Probably the best reasonable day's walk in the Rhinogs is to do just Fawr and Fach, from either side. It's easier from the east as you get a higher start and the paths converge conveniently. Go up to Bwlch Tyddiad at the top of the Roman Steps, climb Rhinog Fawr past Llyn Du, then descend the south flank gully and take the good path up to Llyn Hywel. Climb Rhinog Fach either by the South Ridge or the path up the ridgeline, then descend to rejoin the Llyn Hywel path and go back round through Bwlch Drws Ardudwy. This is only about 8 miles and 3000 feet but will feel like a full day for most. I once did this loop with a group of mostly thirty-somethings put together by a gym, who thought themselves fairly fit. They were dubious that it would be enough for them to feel stretched, but it took them 8 hours and they were shattered afterwards.
Rhinog Fach and Y Llethr from Rhinog Fawr
South of Diffwys the ridge becomes more defined again, but broad and grassy. There's a chain of gradually descending summits that lead you down to Barmouth, with the ground getting rough again near the end, but this time with lots of good paths through it. If you're based at Dolgellau and want to get back there more directly it's also possible to take any of several paths down to the main road at Bontddu. These range from the fairly steep but direct drop down the side of Craig Aderyn to the old coach road over from Pont Scethin and the major trail over Bwlch Y Rhiwgyr. Linking these last two from the north-west makes a lovely easy walk, but it isn't very representative of the Rhinogs! There's also a longer easy day walk round the circuit of Cwm Bodlyn, taking in both Y Llethr and Diffwys, as well as the minor summit of Moelfre. It's about 15 miles, but all fairly easy going, mostly on paths.
The Bwlch y Rhiwgyr track in Cwm Ysgethin
Even if you've walked all of the places I've mentioned there's still a lot of the Rhinogs left to explore. In particular the shelf on the north-west flank has a maze of trackways between little lakes, generally looking out over the estuary of the Traeth Bach to the hills of Eifionydd on the western edge of Snowdonia. The shelf was obviously a place of importance thousands of years ago and is scattered with ancient cairns, settlements and stone circles.
Looking out to the Lleyn over the NW shelf
Hidden away behind it is the beautiful valley of the Afon Artro, with one of the best areas of Atlantic oak woodland in Britain, culminating in the lovely Cwm Bychan below the steep cliffs of Carreg y Saeth. It's an intricate, ingrained landscape that you could spend a lifetime getting to know. I've enjoyed every minute I've spent there.
Llyn Cwm Bychan
Comments