Barmouth to Rhinog Fawr on Cambrian Way: Day 15

A sunny day with a long, grassy ridge walk followed by a slow and tiring crossing through the heather and rocks of Rhinog Fach and Rhinog Fawr.

As breakfast was not available before 8:30 am at the hotel, and as I wanted an early start for what the guidebook (correctly) advised would be a long day, I packed up and went in search of breakfast in the town centre. Sadly, none of the Barmouth's café's opened before 8:30 so I settled for a takeaway coffee and bacon roll from a convenience store. A major mistake, the coffee was fine but the bacon was fatty and the roll doughy. I continued to regret it for the next few hours as it stuck heavy in my stomach as I climbed first a long length of steep steps, then up the emerging ridge line on grassy moorland. Once on the ridge, Barmouth and its railway bridge looked small and cute in the distance. Patches of low, fluffy cloud beneath me crossed the estuary beneath a sunny sky. 

Cloud being blown across Barmouth railway viaduct.

Unlike earlier parts of the Cambrian Way there was a small, but real path through the grass that led along the length of the ridge. In places I gained height to reach a summit, in others I lost height to a pass. Following a wall for much of the way, the guidebook was essential to tell me which side of the wall I should be on (I needed the side with stiles over walls joining the one I was following at right angles).

Cambrian Way climbing up grass covered ridge after Barmouth.

Y Llethr was the final summit of the ridge and the start of much more difficult terrain. The path down was steep, stoney with big clumps of heather. Rhinog Fach was the next summit, followed by a steep drop into a pass and a climb up Rhinog Fawr ("fach" means small, "fawr" big). I had been prepared for some scrambling over the Rhinogau (the plural of Rhinog in Welsh) but what I encountered were steep paths which frequently disappeared, over rocks, boulders and deep, thick clumps of heather. Progress was slow. Rewards included seeing a flock of the wild goats which live in this area, views of distant mountains and, as the sun became lower in the sky, layers of rock on the Rhinogau artistically picked out in lines of soft light and shade.

Rhinog Fach 

Wild goat backlight by the evening sun.

It was after 6:00 pm when I approached Llyn Ddu, a small lake after Rhinog Fawr. Although I had planned to spend the night at a camping area at Cwm Bychan I was tired and starting to make mistakes. Twice my foot unexpectedly and suddenly went down a gap between rocks, partially hidden by heather, doing that too many times would result in injury. So I decided to camp by the black coloured lake of Llyn Ddu where a couple had already pitched their tent. While in a shy embrace, they tactfully suggested there was another pitch on the far side of the lake. So that is where I am now located. The ground is wet and soggy so I am hoping that the groundsheet stays waterproof. A wind is now making ripples on the lake and the tent is flapping but the forecast for tomorrow is good.