Capal Curig, Moel Siabod, Snowdonia, Wales

It’s been a busy weekend which saw the end of British Summer Time. Saturday saw us out and about in Warwickshire and a drive to Chesterton Windmill and Burton Dasset Hills where I started my blog way back in the early spring of this year. Nothing could prepare us for the piste de la resistance of what we had prepared for Sunday.

Sunday saw us heading of to the Welsh Mountains and the beautiful Snowdonia National Park in Gwynedd, Wales. We headed out of the West Midlands at about 10am and off up the M6 toll to make up sometime. After about an hour and a half we were soon at the boarder, crossing the bridge just west of Chirk where The Welsh Red Dragon flag welcomed us English foreigners to Wales and you really do get a sense of being in another country with strange sounding place names such as Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwll-llantysiliogogogoch (couldn't resist that one) and the road furniture signs in both English and Welsh.

Once in Wales the country side starts to gain height with deep cut valleys and grand hills which looked splendid today in the late autumn sunshine. The scenery was a kaleidoscope of colour today. We soon passed the inland resort of Betws y Coed with its famous Swallow Falls… just a little further and at about 12.45pm we arrived at our half days walk starting point at Capal Curig. We started our ascent shortly after passing fast flowing rivers and water falls. The sounds and force of water was especially intense today as it had rained the day before. We passed through a pretty mixed pine and deciduous wood today with a pungent pine and autumn leaf smell. It wasn't long until we came out of the wood and started to climb the open mountain with its spectacular views of Mount Snowdon and a lake below us. We got to about 2,600ft just short of the summit where we had a little crisis with Spritzer running off and with the day so short thought it would be wise after reclaiming the dog to have our dinner of hot chili and rice before we descended. So we picked a fine spot with a nice view of the majestic Mount Snowdon and enjoyed our dinner and a hot cup of tea. It had been dry and warm most of the day but at this point the wind had picked up and the weather became cool and it can feel a little cold when you stop. The light began to change at this point and the mist started to form below in the valleys the mountains then took on a striking blue looking hue which I especially enjoyed the view of..

We met lots of interesting people on our way up that we stopped and talked to and passed the time of day, which was nice. We asked a few people how far to the top where they had walked and come from that sort of thing, they always reply when you ask “is it far to the top” with a “not really” and a sweet smile. If they told us the truth I guessed we would have stopped. It was a very hard walk with steep inclines, boggy marsh and streams but my new mountain boots served me well. I say walk it was more of a scramble in parts and you needed to scramble up on all fours at times to traverse some of the terrain. It was a hard walk but the rewards where worth it.

It was way gone dusk when we got back near to our base and the bats where out flying around our heads in large numbers and the path became a little tricky with our limited torch light. We lived and survived another day to plan our next adventure. Only seven weeks now before the days start to lengthen again.

Moel Siabod Photos

Moel Siabod Slide Show