Up in the Clouds – A Moelwyns Backpacking Adventure

For a few years now I’ve been promising to take my son D backpacking with me. The right opportunity hadn’t really presented itself and more importantly I hadn’t yet found a decent camp site. I wanted somewhere with a good situation, fresh running water and not too far from the road as I’d have to carry most of the weight. I know several spots that fit the bill in the Lakes and Scotland but my local hills in South Wales aren’t quite so conducive with a little more effort required to find a good spot. My recent re-introductions to the majesty of North Wales haf however highlighted a whole collection of new possibilities. This was especially true of a recent day spent on the Moelwyns and Cnicht, a vast backpackers playground of rocky knolls, small tarns and streams. I spotted numerous great sites and so we decided finally we needed to give it a whirl.

Setting off

L, my youngest, wasn’t keen to join us so we had to pick a weekend where we could leave her in the capable care of my parents at their mid-Wales caravan. This meant we had to just take a chance on the weather which as we planned the trip didn’t look to promising. We stayed overnight on the Friday at the caravan after driving from Hereford under gloomy skies and drizzle. The Saturday morning wasn’t much better but the forecast whilst not great could have been a lot worse. We decided that as we may as well just go for it as I’d seen some sites not too far so at least a night spent in the wilds would be fun even if we didn’t get to climb anything.

Jane came along too which made the weight carrying much easier. D carried his own sleeping bag, mat. clothes and food so me and Jane just split the rest which meant we weren’t really carrying much more than if we’d been on our own. I’ve gone to Scotland once a year for some wild camping so I’m used to the heavy pack. Jane hasn’t been for years and was a bit apprehensive but in the end she was totally fine and not too far behind me most of the two days.

We drove up through Snowdonia in a mixture of sunshine and heavy showers. When we arrived in Croesor it had clearly just finished tipping it down and the small car park was nearly empty. We made the final preparations and chatted with a friendly couple planning on doing Cnicht. When I mentioned we were camping wild her face dropped with an “Oh!” that said “are you mad”. Made us smile as we headed off into the wilds.

The journey begins

D was really excited by the prospect and had been looking forward to the trip for weeks. It was such a shame the weather was so dark and brooding but I hoped that the wild weather might provide some extra excitement to replace the idealistic vision I had of sitting on a warm summit watching the sun go down. We took one of the gentle rising paths along Cwm Croesor towards Bwlch y Rhosydd as I thought this would be an easy way to gain the height. It was a great choice and really nice grassy path the reached high into the wild and deserted old mine workings that dominate this part of Wales.

Upper reaches of Cwm Croesor

D was enjoying the challenge but clearly not used to carrying a pack but soldiered under my tutelage with the words “this is what backpacking is all about ringing in his ears. The path suddenly climbs the last steep section with a spattering of heavy rain and spray from the wild wind giving the place a serious air even though we were barely 1500 feet up. We picked a disused quarry tramway that took us into the heart of the vast deserted collection of old mine workings. By now were enveloped in the cloud which gave the whole area a spooky and ethereal air.

Rhosydd quarries

D didn’t agree it was spooky. I think he’s spent too much time watching Scooby Doo so “spooky” means cobwebs, creaking doors and wholly unconvincing monsters 🙂

What was a problem was the fact that visibility was about 20 feet which I wasn’t expecting. Clearly we couldn’t camp up near the summits as I’d planned but I’d spotted a cracking flat site on the previous visit next to the river that flows into Rhosydd quarries from the north. Finding the spot would be easy even in the mist by following the river. Finding a dry route through the boggy wasteland was not so easy. A few minutes were spent wandering aimlessly through the swamps before at a random spot I headed across the grass and there was my little spot waiting for us. We were still in the cloud so we quickly unpacked and put the tent up, a Lightwave T30 Trek XT for the gear freaks amongst you. A great purchase that comfortably sleeps 3 with a huge porch for gear storage and for its size relatively light.

Our perfect campsite

My Lightwave tent

We dived in a settled in and introduced D to that great feeling of pitching up in wild weather and then relaxing in a warm dry tent. He really seemed to be enjoying the experience although I was a little disappointed that we couldn’t sit outside and enjoy this terrific little pitch next to a small waterfall. I’d had a worry that this might be a popular spot and been taken already but in weather like this we’d barely seen a soul all day. It would be a superb spot in the sunshine with loads of rocks to scramble on and ledges to perch on.

Looking down on our pitch

We took a very extended lunch waiting for a break in the weather before heading out for a stroll. The cloud lifted a little so we took a little wander around the local lakes and rocky summits that fill this wild upland area. No surprise that an area populated by lakes is a trifle boggy, especially after the recent wet weather, every footstep seemed soggy as we squelched up to Llyn Cwm Corsiog, and on to little Llyn Terfyn.

Wind in her hair

Whilst not exactly sunny the cloud had lifted and we enjoyed being out in the late afternoon with the whole area to ourselves. The walk along the low rocky ridge to Llyn Yr Adar is one of my favourites in the UK and I couldn’t help thinking what a marvellous spot for a wild camp it would be in better weather.

Moel Druman or thereabouts

Llyn yr Adar

As we returned towards the tent for tea I got a little confused between which lake was which involving us in a little detour across some exceptionally boggy ground. Still it only added a few minutes to the return the trip and that’s not really a problem is it? Unless of course you’re within sight of the tent the heavens open. What felt like a wall of water descended on us while we scrambled back into the tent. I foolishly decided to fill the water bottles and pans for the evening during which time the rain came down ever harder. I was absolutely soaked. Looked like the outdoor activity for the day was over. We settled in for our tea again enjoying that cosy feeling of warm tent with the rain battering on the roof.

D eating his tea

Happy campers

After a hearty meal we relaxed and asked several rounds of quiz questions from a  couple of books we’d downloaded to Jane’s Kindle, a great way to pass a sociable and fun couple of hours. With light fading I went out for a wander in just my flip-flops. I scrambled up the rocks above the tent (no mean feat in flip-flops) to little Llyn Clogwyn Brith and the weather brightened and cleared quite a bit.

Rhosydd quarries

Looking out to the Lleyn Peninsula

Llyn Clogwyn Brith

I spent a few minutes trying hop from tussock to rock to avoid wetting my feet before realising it was much easier to paddle through the bog. It wasn’t as cold as I thought on the feet so I just padded about in the fading light. Magnificent.

From above

I returned to the tent and we all settled down for a wild night in the Welsh mountains. The weather even put on a very brief fiery sunset for us before we turned in for the night

Fiery finish to the day

The forecast promised a better day on Sunday and when Jane answered the call of nature in the night the sky was clear. By morning it was raining again so we lazed in and were surprised to find that when we stirred again it was 9:30! Time for a breakfast. Regular readers will be aware of my search for a suitable breakfast for backpacking. After much experimentation I’ve now settled on what I think is the perfect solution. Bacon Sandwiches! (Thanks to Pete over at writesofway for pointing out the obvious). We were in the cloud and rain, a thoroughly miserable day but what could be finer than lazing in a tent on a Sunday morning with a fresh cuppa and a bacon butty – marvellous. We hung around in the tent for a couple of hours and eventually decided that if we were going to get anything out of the day we may as well pack up and get moving. It was 12:00 by the time we were ready but it had given time for the cloud to lift and it was a half reasonable afternoon.

Jane and Moelwyn Mawr

D and Cnicht

We decided to make a round trip by traversing Cnicht, a proper mountain by any definition. From our campsite it was an easy gentle climb past the lakes onto the NE ridge. Even Snowdon was out of the cloud which pleased D although he was finding the rucksack a bit tiresome (he was actually coming down with a virus which laid him low for the rest of the week).

D, Llyn yr Adar and Snowdon

The stroll to the top was pleasant but windy although we did manage to find a sheltered spot on the summit for lunch and a brew.

En route to Cnicht

Lunch on Cnicht

D was quite proud that he’d backpacked over a mountain and it was fitting finale to what had turned out to be a cracking weekend.

D attains Cnicht summit

Truly making the best of a bad weather lot. Had we been at home we’d probably just have festered in front of the TV all weekend, instead here we were closing out an exciting little mountain adventure. All that remained was the steep descent of Cnichts fine SW ridge in a blustery gale and we finished the whole day without any further rain. Not without further incident mind as I slipped off the last stile and gave myself a couple of nasty hand sized bruises on both my inner thighs.

Cnicht SW ridge and Tremadog Bay

Jane descends Cnicht – slowly

We reached the car a little after 4:00, tired but exhilarated. Me to enjoy a fine backpack again, Jane for the first time in several years and of course D his first time. Needless to say he wants to go again. He’ll get no argument from me