North Wales - Day 1 - Nantlle Ridge (7 x Nuttalls in Snowdonia).

Updated: May 13, 2021

14.5.19 - Y Garn 633m, Mynydd Drws Y Coed 695m, Trum Y Ddysgl 709m, Mynydd Tal Y Mignedd 653m, Craig Cwm Silyn 734m, Garnedd Goch 700m and Mynydd Graig Goch 610m (7xNuttalls).

Well I’d been saving this for a sunny clear day and a sunny clear day it was.

I parked up at the amply sized railway station car park in Rhyd Ddu (£3-4hrs £6 all day to midnight. Toilets on site). If you don’t want to pay there are small lay byes on nearby on the B4418 on the way out of Rhy Ddu right outside the village and at Llyn y Dywarchen.

Basically this is a classic ridge day. The route starts on a signposted path opposite the railway station. The views are stunning from the off and on this sky blue day even better than normal.

My eight am start was a good decision and within the hour I had done nearly 500 meters of height gain and was on top of the Garn with a whole ridge of fun opening up in front of me. The vistas all round and ahead was spectacular with views of Snowdon, nearby Moels of Lefn and Ogof and also down into Cwm Pennant.

Within three hours I was on top of Craig Cwm Silyn, the fifth Nuttall and approaching a 1,000m of height gain. In between had been some classic ridge walking and great grade one scrambling on dry rock...simply fun fun fun.

From Silyn to the TP at Garnedd Goch was easy enough as was the little out and back detour to Mynydd Graig Goch.Now was the time to head down to Cwm Silyn.

Now the there is no direct path marked on the map but there are a variety of tracks heading SE. My route was okay. There were tracks most of the way but I did go off piste onto heather for a while but had no undue problems. In the main I followed walls and the Ceunant river.

Not long after hitting the Ceunant river I came to the location marked as ‘Shafts’ marked on the 1:25. (SH 525 478). I had two surprises here one was that it wasn’t mine shafts as expected but an elaborate steel wheel and a variety of interesting mine workings and a half naked lady! Yes on a nice sunny day there was a couple on site and one was taking advantage of the 25c weather. It made my day 😁!

From here you go over a footbridge and there is a way-marked path down to the road. This is not marked on the map and as are many paths in this valley they are agreed permissive footpaths between land owners and Snowdonia NP.

Anyway up the road we go right to the top passing a grassed car park (£1) on the way and another gravelled car park at the head of the valley (£2.50 or £10 for an overnight stay with no facilities). The latter is marked on the OS map.

I had been on the go for six hours and getting tired now but still had a ways to go. I followed some way marked signposts to Cwm Trwsg but then decided to traverse the hillside North on a track for the views.

I meant to hit a marked footpath to take me East and uphill. There was not much of a footpath and it was actually quite wet and hard going underfoot. However after half an hour I hit some old mine workings which were really interesting and followed an old tramway uphill (a path on the left of it). Now I was just going to follow another marked path to Bwlch Y Ddwy Elor but it looks like I was just to the left of it. I never saw it anyway and this again was not the easiest of sections either due to my tiredness but it was short. The heat was telling!

Anyway I got to the ‘Bwlch’ and from there I soon dropped into Beddgelert forest and from there the route was marked and easy. I was soon out of the forest on the home leg back to Rhyd Ddu. About an hour from the Bwlch.

Parking and Access: Large car park at the start point at the railway station in Rhyd Ddu.

Route Summary: Good well used and signposted footpaths in the main. A bit of off piste stuff here and there. Great grade one scrambling sections, nowhere really exposed. Half the route is a classic rocky ridge, mostly above 600m for about 7-8 ks! The other half is a valley walk going up over a high pass at the end of it. A stunning outing with spectacular views. One of the best outings in Wales.

Route Statistics: 25.5kms with 1,430m climbed in 9hrs 10mins. A hard day but I didn’t rush it and the scrambling will slow you down anyhow.

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: Y Garn