Two days near Bala to hike Arenig Fach and Foel Goch, North Wales (Nuttalls).

14.10.2020 - Arenig Fach 689m near Bala, North Wales.

Parking for the last Nuttall in the Arenigs was in a lay-by adjacent to the toilets on the A4212 on the blunt end of Llyn Celyn. Start by heading SW on the road for a few hundred meters where there is a gate by the forest on the other side of the road. Once through the gate head directly North to the obvious electricity pylon a 100m away. From here keep head right or N to NE keeping a wall to your left. There is no distinct path as such and it is a tad boggy but there is a bit of a quad track/path hereabouts. It does get a bit confusing with all the walls but you will soon come to a worn out horse/stock lorry parked up by some gates and from here keep heading North through the right hand gate. Excuse my gps spike as I headed inadvertently through the left one. Anyway this brings you out on the hill.

Once on the hill there is another quad track to follow as you meander NW gently uphill towards Bryn Du. After about 1.5km the quad track eventually peters out near a fence to the left so just make your way North across country towards Llyn Arenig Fach. There is no trail as such and the going is a wet and tufty affair with thick heather. It won’t take you that long though before you are by the lake where you follow its Eastern edge.

Arenig Fach’s rocky amphitheatre and lake is quite imposing at this point. When you get to the North shore you follow a fence line around to the left/West and start to ascend the steep Northern ridge. There is a feint path here and the going is steep but it only takes you about thirty to forty minutes before you get to the trig pointed summit where there are fine views across Llyn Celyn and distant Arenig Fawr.

Coming off the summit there is still no footpath as such as you head South but the going is not too bad over the heather. Once you start to descend the steeper part of the hill you head SE to a distant but obvious fence and as you get closer you will see a style. Once over the style you soon arrive at the fence line you broke off to head to Llyn Arenig a few hours earlier. From here you then follow the quad track back down Bryn Du and retrace your morning route.

Parking: There is a toilet/car park with room for 5-6 cars at the start but I had my van so parked in a large lay-by adjacent to the toilets on the A4212.

Route Summary: A quad track, some feint paths but mostly sheep trails or rough, boggy heather but this does not make it a huge chore. Great views along the route of Llyn Celyn and the Arenigs.

Route Statistics: 9.4kms with 500m of height gain done in an all in time of 2hrs 50mins.

GPX files: For gpx files go to the Peakbagger website by following this link and go to the bottom right hand of the page and click ‘Download this GPS track as a GPX file.’

Ascent Entry: Arenig Fach

Route Overview using ViewRanger.

Pictures of the parking at the start point and the route, trig pointed summit.

15.10.2020 - Foel Goch 611m near Bala, North Wales.

I clean forgot that actually Foel Goch is actually the last Nuttall in the Arenigs and not Arenig Fach. Foel Goch is also slightly outside of Snowdonia National Park.

Parking is limited for this Nuttall and the only place I could find without causing offence was outside the primary school at Cefn Ddwysarn village at the start point. There is adequate room outside there and this is not a busy mountain.

Head North along the back roads until you get to Pentre Tai farm some two and a bit kilometres away. Here you will see a signposted gate on the right hand side just before entering the farm. Go through this gate as it takes you around the farm to another gate that take you North again along a distinct often muddy farm track for another kilometre. Now this track will take you to the ‘sheepfolds’ marked on the map. I saw no sheepfolds as such but there is a small bridge over the stream there.

From this point onwards the going gets rather wet, boggy and often quite difficult. Now my ascent route followed a feint quad track reasonable close to the river on the right and my decent route came from the ridge to my left. Frankly I would go up and down on my decent route. The river valley ahead is simply a Welsh water table/bog with no distinct trail. The aim was to get to the col between Foel Goch and Orddu and head left but thrashing through the water table got tedious. Even though it is still quite a slog up the ridge on the left it takes you out of the water table and is easily your better option.

There is a nice trig point and reasonable views from the top.

Parking: Outside a primary school in Cefn Ddwysarn village.

Route Summary: Road, good farm track for the first and last two kilometres otherwise boggy with heather and dependant on your route an extensive water table to negotiate. Okay views but nothing to shout home about. Not my favourite of hills.

Route Statistics: 10kms with 390m of height gain done in an all in time of 2hrs 40mins.

GPX files: For gpx files go to the Peakbagger website by following this link and go to the bottom right hand of the page and click ‘Download this GPS track as a GPX file.’

Ascent Entry: Foel Goch