19.5.19 - Llechog 718m, Moel Cynghorion 674m, Foel Gron 629m and Moel Eilio 726m (Nuttalls).
The weather forecast for today was clouds and a bit of drizzle but still not bad. Parking was by way of Llyn Padarn lakeside car park in Llanberis. I didn’t take a picture because basically it is quite huge with plenty of room. However it is still busy over the weekends. No fee and signs saying no overnight parking but it is not enforced. There are toilets (close 5pm to 9am).
Anyway a reasonably early start saw me heading through Llanberis at 8am heading South going up a steep back road that soon joins the well way marked Llanberis path on the left (near Cader Ellyl on a 1:25). I was pretty much surrounded by charity walkers and lycra clad supermen as is the norm at this time of year. Basically you follow this well trodden path SE which follows the Snowdon railway uphill.
To avoid the hordes, after about 3km I decided to head up and follow the railway line for a couple of kms before heading East uphill to the short uphill leg to Llechog. Having bagged this unmarked summit I headed down to the railway line and across country to Llyn Dur Arddu. There is a path but I went across country and was soon overlooking the lake under the impressive cliffs of Clogwyn Dur Arddu. It was overcast but at least I was now free of any clouds.
Next was a bit of a cross country downhill scramble across to Bwlch Cwm Brwynog. It was quite interesting but slow and towards the latter stages I picked up a path that took me up to the Bwlch. Here the looming hulk of Moel Cynghorion was before me but it wasn’t long before I reached the top, again unmarked and was heading West for the 2km leg to Bwlch Maesgwm.
This time the looming hulk of Foel Goch (not a Nutgall) was ahead of me but again it was not long before I reached the top. Another 1.5kms further on bought me to the top of Foel Gron, again unmarked. Not long after Foel Gron I picked up a fence line which I followed NW for the undulating 1.5km leg to Moel Eilio where there was actually a ‘sit in’ cairn. It was now drizzly and the cloud was down and I couldn’t see nothing.
After a good break here I headed North off Moel Eilio following a fence (there are a few there) downhill. Not long after I picked up another one and veered NE going down steadily towards Llanberis. I came out of the cloud after about half an hour and was soon depending the steep final section before the paths and roads took me into Llanberis for the finish.
Parking and Access: Loads of parking at Llyn Padarn and in and around Llanberis.
Route Summary: A bit of road, well marked trails, cross country and a bit of downhill scrambling. There are fine views to be had on this route but not today. Hordes of walkers on the Llanberis path but once off it there was very few hikers.
Route Statistics: A long 18.7kms with 1,255m of ascent done in 6hrs 20mins.
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: Llechog
OS overview using ViewRanger.
Llanberis path.
I diverted onto the Snowdon railway line.
Bit of a muggy day.
Chooooo chooooooo!
Clogwyn Dur Arddu.
Cwm Brwynog.
The cairn on Moel Eilio where you can sit inside.