Snowdonia (Mt Snowdon) Autumn Hiking Weekend 1-3 Nov 2019

Organiser – Richie
Where – Snowdon Lodge, Lawrence House, Church St, Tremadog, Porthmadog, Gwynedd LL49 9PS
When – 1st to 3rd Nov 2019 (Friday-Sunday)
Cost – From £129.00 (includes 2 nights’ accommodation and guided walks)

Summary
For this Autumn Weekend we are visiting Snowdonia.  We will depart on Friday after work and make our way to Tremadog (car sharing will be available for those that need it and options will be announced nearer the time).  We have booked Snowdon Lodge as exclusive hire, for our sole use.  It is a Grade 2 Listed building and the birthplace of T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) and will be the perfect location for the walks and activities we have planned.  The centrally heated property contains a mixture of doubles, twins and 5/6 bunk bedrooms.  There are a number of showers and toilets, large dining room, self catering kitchen and a lounge with TV and log burning stove plus a drying room.

Snowdon Lodge

On Saturday after breakfast we will drive to Rhyd-Ddu station car park which is a 20 minute car journey from the accommodation.  The station is on the Welsh Highland Railway line and so you may see a steam train at the start.  Our primary route is up via the Rhyd-Ddu Path, which is just over 13 miles (20km) and is one of the less busy routes up Snowdon. As you climb the shoulder of Clogwyn Du’r Arddu you will see a fantastic view of the Llechog ridge and Cwm Clogwyn with its three small lakes – Llyn Glas, Llyn Coch and Llyn Nadroedd. (Blue Lake, Red Lake and Snakes’ Lake).  Once at the summit we will stop for a quick lunch and some photo opportunities at the trig point (1085m).  We will then return via the Snowdon Ranger Path (used to be known as the Beddgelert Path since it was from this village that walkers started their journey to the summit – John Morton the self proclaimed ‘Snowdon Ranger’ used the path to guide Victorian tourists to the summit).  As we descend, there are fantastic views down towards Llyn Cwellyn and the slopes of Mynydd Mawr rising from its shores.  The prominent rock on the right at the far end of the lake is Castell Cidwm (meaning Cidwm’s Castle), folklore says  that Cidwm was a giant who lived in a cave in the rock.  This takes us back down to the vehicles and then we will drive back to the accommodation.  We will then have time for a hot shower back and then most of the group are likely to eat their evening meal at a local pub which will be booked nearer the time – or you can self-cater at the hostel.

Snowdon (1085m)

On Sunday after breakfast we will quickly clear and clean the accommodation.  The route today is 8 miles (10km) – we will make a short 20 minute journey to a car park near Nantemor from where we will do the beautiful Beddgelert Fisherman’s Path – the route follows Cwm Bychan up a gradual incline to just under 300m then back down to Llyn Dinas  and we pass near the Sygun copper mine – the path climbs up through Cwm Bychan past the remains of the old copper mines – copper ore was extracted here and transported via a cable car system down the valley and then by horse and cart to Porthmadog where it was shipped to Swansea for refining into copper.  On your return to Beddgelert we will pass Sygun Copper Mine, which dates back to the early nineteenth century.  It closed in 1903 but underwent restoration work in the 1980s before opening to the public in 1986.  We continue following the river back down to Beddgelert – which has a famous Ice-Cream shop (award winning artisan ice cream and sorbet) and some other local shops and cafes – before heading back to the vehicles near Nantemor.

Beddgelert Fisherman’s Path

After the Sunday hike, we will drive straight from the hike finish to London (with some comfort breaks) and plan to be back in London around 8 pm on Sunday evening.