Day Five - Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel to Beddgelert, 11 miles.

Total ascent, 793m. Friday, 5th August.

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Beddgelert is the most beautiful village in Snowdonia, bar none (Dolgellau is a town!). It's therefore a great place to finish a walk and stay at, but I've always been doubtful of its ability to deliver a really good pint and a really good meal, so as it's 7pm we're about to find out if progress has been made in those departments. Our accommodation however is another beauty, Bryn Eglwys Country House Hotel, with a superb view along the valley (north) and an excellent wifi signal from the room (for surfin' an' trollin' obv).


Coffee's brewin', at Pen-y-Gwryd!

Oh and we've done some more walking today. I think we might be the only people around here who don't want the sun to come out! This morning our wish was granted, simply because we were close to Snowdon where a good weather forecast means absolutely nothing. After yet another delicious breakfast we descended on an attractive (but slow and fiddly) path down the valley to meet the start of the Watkin Path up Snowdon, then followed it for the first mile before veering off left. It was all about water up to this point: streams, rivers, waterfalls and lakes all over the place.


A glimpse of Snowdon.


Jen on a dubious footbridge!

Yr Aran, our target, is a satellite of Snowdon, but at 747m and well away from the main massif makes a good walk on its own. We stopped for lunch shortly after passing a very large group of children (about 11/12 years old, with instructors obviously!) coming down a difficult descent, and shortly before meeting a shepherd with his collie having a very fast wander round the mountainside to get the sheep off the areas of grass that need to regenerate. Jen even asked him if he was a shepherd (hence our detailed knowledge of his purpose!). It was a steep pull up to the ridge followed by another to the summit, by which time we were enveloped in cloud. At one point the sun appeared above us and it felt a little like when you're ascending through cloud in a plane and you finally break through into the light, with the clouds below you.

The temperature dropped so we headed down quite quickly, and then the sun came out in style! The descent was hot but straightforward until we had a rest and I said to Jen, "This descent has been hot but straightforward so far." After that the last hour was really hard work. Firstly it got hotter, secondly I tried to find a route directly down into Beddgelert which wasn't there, thirdly we kept having to descend mini-cliffs, fourthly we couldn't so I changed the route, fifthly we ended up in a farm, sixthly the path we were on didn't actually go to Beddgelert, seventhly we had to walk along the 'A' something or other to finish.



Two views of tomorrow's target, Moel Hebog, taken an hour apart,

So thankfully I can report that Beddgelert does indeed offer great food at its mighty fine bistro, with one stumbling block. It is run by a couple who are planning to retire. She cooks and he is front of house. So I must tentatively enter the controversial realms of sexism here by stating that she should stay in the bloody kitchen! Or at least away from the punters. The food she cooked was wonderful, possibly the best yet, and he was a fantastic host, but when she had done her night's work and emerged to tell us her life story, why she was annoyed that guests would be very late arriving tonight and how Welsh people didn't like the English learning the language she'd totally lost me. Bed time methinks!

-- Posted from Kev's iPhone