Llyn Ogwen to Conwy on Cambrian Way: Day 19

A day in which numerous summits were bagged as I followed a ridge down to the town of Conwy.

The day began with a climb up to Pen yr Ole Wen. There was some scrambling involved, which I appreciated as the promised scrambling on the Rhinogau turned out to be steep slopes of heather and rocks. Reaching the summit I could seen the Carneddau ridge spread out before me. Along the ridge, grass in places, boulders in others, I crossed the summits of Carnedd Fach, Carnedd Dafydd and Carnedd Llewellyn. There was a strong breeze, pulling wisps of mist across lower points, but it was not as severe as it had been on Snowdon yesterday, and the ridge was broad so my safety was not threatened.  Looking south from the ridge there was a sea of clouds with the Glyderau peaks just rising above it.

A little bit of scrambling to get over these rocks.

Runners reaching the top of Carnedd Llewelyn.

View back down the Carneddau ridge.

Carnedd Llewelyn is only a 21 metres shorter than Snowdon but attracts much fewer visitors. Today there were some men who had run up (a 1000 metre ascent, how do they manage it?) and four French speaking people. 

The Cambrian Way continued along the ridge picking up extra summits, some rocky others less so. The ascent up Foel Lwyd and Tal y Fan was a bit of a trial, a steep climb after many previous ones. As I approached Conwy (called Conway in my younger days) I thought the route had missed a summit as the path curved along the heather clad hillside. Instead it was heading for one final achievement, the top of Conwy mountain. Climbing it meant that I then approached the town down a ridge, dropping out of the hillside directly into the town's streets. A fitting end to a trail that had crossed all the major mountains of Wales.

As I walked along this path, these sheep kept walking ahead of me as I inadvertently herded them along.

Entry into Conwy.

Owing to train times I spent the night at Conwy, enjoying a good evening meal in the knowledge that the calories in the sticky toffee pudding were justified by the distance I had walked and the number of mountains I had climbed. I bought a ticket from Conwy online only to receive an email in the morning that the train was cancelled (due to the standard, universal excuse, Covid 19). So I walked over to Llandudno junction station to catch the three coach, "Transport for Wales" train, full of people, running from there. At each of the many stations on the way to Shrewsbury the display in the carriage announced that the next station was Crewe.