Snowdonia on Business

Well, sort of. Been to Dolgellau for some recce as my first Wales tour as a guide is fast approaching. So we made good use of the summer bank holiday to drive all the way up to Dolgellau and recce some new walks.

Friday bank holiday traffic was not too bad and we got to Dolgellau in just 4 hours driving along some stunning A roads towards Welshpool. Rich was a bit sad, he wasn't on a motorbike and vowed to come back one day and ride those lovely twisties.

Checked in at the Royal Ship Inn hotel and got a small flask with fresh milk for our tea in the morning. No yucky UHT milk. Nice touch. Room was pleasant and spacious. Hungry we headed straight back out on the hunt for some grub. Only thing open or not fully booked as the local kebab shop. Funny how even an achingly pretty and small place like this has its Kebab shop. Doesn't quite fit in with the arts and crafts shops all around.
Went for a 12' pizza each and stuffed our faces sitting on the bridge nearby. Realised we had overestimated our hunger when we had half a pizza left each, but still managed to eat the whole thing. Bellies full to bursting we wobbled back to the hotel, got some beers and managed to fit those into the few gaps left in our stomachs.
Off to bed we went after a long day setting the alarm for 7:30am, so I could pop over to the pay and display car park to pop some coins into the meter to last us to 10am.

Saturday, Walk No. 1 - Maesglase
I had high hopes for this one. Plenty and free parking in a village with public toilets and a pub. Circular mountain walk, not too long and with possibly great views.

Did my car park run at 8am and had some eggs benedict for brekkie at the hotel which were a bit underwhelming. Still, full from last night's pizza gluttony we were now full to bursting again. At least we were about to walk it off.

Parked up in Dinas Mawddwy and were greeted by our friend Rosie who we had arranged to meet and walk with us today since she lived fairly close by. Good to see her again after pretty much a whole year. With her was Dinky the dog who was eager to sniff around some new territory.

Just about to leave we were chat-ambushed by an old lady who came out of her house to say hello and just wouldn't stop talking. Bless her, she was living all alone and probably just needed someone to talk. We did just that for a bit and could eventually get away and finally start our walk.

Maesglase circuar

Headed down the road and then through some forestry trying to find a way across as we neared the A road. The second path was a success and it even continued just across the road. Result.

Nice path at the start

Uphill we went on a minor road, found the way around a farm and soon the proper ascent started. We got a proper sweat on, it was overcast, but much warmer than it looked. Just as Rich zipped off his trouser legs, we started walking through high ferns, heather, grass and bracken. Good timing.
The mood was good despite the hard work and views got better with every meter we gained, Maesglase already looming on our left with its lofty 674m.

Dinky had a lot of fun

Rich and Rosie obviously, too

Maesglase

Reached a pass and a fence with no option to cross anywhere. So we went uphill alongside the fence on a slope that got steep enough for us to need our hands to cling on to fence posts and grass. We should've climbed over further down with a more favourable angle. I made a mental note of that.

Hitting a second fence, we used the stable corner to climb over, Dinky was simply lifted which she didn't like at all judging from the look she gave us. Had a wee break on the other side enjoying amazing views over the surrounding hills and made our way up to the top crossing another fence that had at least a half broken stile left to help us over (Not so much Dinky, who looked at us with a mixture of embarrasment and contempt.)

There wasn't much wind up here so we decided to have a nice lunch break. I laid out the picnic blanket and quickly we were munching salami, cheese, apples, nuts and brownies whilst enjoying a fine mountain day. Had my first go at brewing tea with my new Alpkit Jetboil copy. Great piece of kit. Boiled 750ml water in not much longer than a minute.

On we went along the ridge, often litereally next to it, until we reached a waterfall and very narrow outcrop. Time to clamber up and enjoy the sensation of having 100s of meters of thin air almost all around us. Oo-wee.

Crossed a small stream and freelanced uphill over steep grassy and stony ground until we found another path eventually leading further down. Narrow, wet, overgrown and very steep path led down to a pass and then along the steep flank of Foel Dinas. Still the path remained narrow but pretty much in line with the angle of the slope. Fun times trying to battle gravity and keeping balance whilst ankles were pointing downhill.

View were still nice and certainly helped, still we were relieved when the path became broader and flatter. Into a dark and almost spooky bit of wood we went steeply decending the last mile to back to the A road. Crossed the road again and walked along a small road back into the village.

Great varied walk today. Loved it, but unfortunately the second part is too difficult for a group. Have some ideas of amending it though, so might not be written off yet.

We found a table outside the pub in the sun and had a few drinks waiting for the kitchen to start serving at 6pm. Got some food then, said goodbye to Rosie and Dinky and headed back to Dolgellau.