Having dipped a tentative toe back into the Wanderverse last year with trips to the Lakes in the summer and Bamford in the autumn, Wayne’s Wanderers decided that enough time had been wasted hiding behind closed doors during the pandemic and with a full program of wandering committed to the diary for 2022, we headed to Snowdonia and Idwal Cottage for the spring Wander.
With Idwal Cottage being a self-catering hostel, we opted to spend the first evening in the friendly environs of the Tyn Y Coed pub in the nearby village of Capel Curig and having booked a table, thought that everything would be perfect for our arrival, however, when we showed up and announced ourselves, they’d never heard of us (it’s a common problem) and after some heroic landlordery, the patron managed to fit us in at a nice table by the window. Phew! With the evening’s cock up out of the way we settled in for an evening of great food, beer, banter and Bacardi & Cokes (the Boggart 😎). Highly recommended, but maybe check your booking before visiting😒.
Back at the hostel, we were somewhat dismayed to find that without the prospect of our not inconsiderable patronage, the hostel warden had shut up shop and gone home for the evening – fortunately, we’d come prepared and this merely presented us with a good excuse to break out the contraband which we gleefully did and thus proceeded to consume a significant portion of it.
Idwal Cottage itself is in a fabulous location at the head of the Nant Ffrancon valley below the slopes of Pen yr Ole Wen, and the nearby Y Garn, Glyder Fawr, Glyder Fach and Britain’s favourite mountain (apparently), Tryfan. We had originally planned to visit Dinorwic Quarry for the main Sunday walk, but the nice weather and proximity prompted us instead to walk from Idwal Cottage via Llyn Bochlwyd onto the summit of Tryfan. It’s about a two mile walk to the top across quite difficult terrain and after some false starts and a few foolhardy attempts at rock climbing, we eventually found a route to the summit, which naturally was swarming with people. We were now faced with the unenviable prospect of climbing back down, so climb down we did, boulder after boulder until eventually we reached somewhat level ground and were able to walk more easily.
On reaching the hostel, Mark and Tabitha decided to go for a dip in Llyn Ogwen and were accompanied by a party of spectating Wanderers, for which they were grateful as they like to show off a bit 😎. Llyn Ogwen turned out to be a bit shallow and muddy, and at one point we thought we’d have to leave Tabby there overnight after getting a foot stuck in the mud. In the end though, we had a nice swim to the far bank and back again.
As the afternoon drew to a close, another evening of ribaldry presented itself, but first we turned to the evening meal provided by Tom (Spag. Bol.), Nicola (Chilli) and Tesco (a ready meal for the Boggart) and very nice it was too. The warden was in residence this evening so we bought readily from the bar until such a time as we couldn’t (he went home again) and once more raided our stocks of contraband and pretty much consumed what was left.
On the Monday, we headed over to Dinorwic Quarry for a trip into an awesome post-industrial landscape and a glimpse of the fascinating Welsh slate quarrying heritage therein. Terrifying, but amazing nonetheless and definitely worth another visit – tunnels, precipices, long, scary, steep staircases, rusting machinery and ladders, more slate than you can shake a stick at and long vertiginous inclines to contend with, making for a fun afternoon’s wandering.
All in all, another excellent weekend and probably a bit of post-lockdown therapy for most of us. It was certainly good to meet up with everyone again and talk (mostly) nonsense for a few days.
Looking forward to the next one – stay sane and Wander On!
All photographs can be downloaded here.
Wayne's Wanderers 