Wales - 2014
15 November 2014 ........... Nanttle Ridge
The wind went round to the east again, and brought a very decent day with a good forecast - so I went to visit the Nanttle Ridge.
Having seen it from both Mynydd Mawr and from Llanddwyn Island, I have had an interest in visiting it, as it is a bit more than just a walk.
Maybe I should add that there seems to be some differences in opinion about which summits are included in the Nanttle Ridge - some sources suggest that the Nanttle Ridge is the four summmits - Y Garn, Mynydd Drws-y-coed, Trum Ddysgl, and Myndd Tal-y-mignedd.
However other sources suggest that the Nanttle Ridge includes these four summits, and also Craig Cwm Silyn, Garnedd Goch, and Mynydd Graig Goch.
So which is correct I have no idea, but as far as I am concerned, the most interesting bit is the first four summits - although there is a bit of scrambling to be had up to Craig Cwm Silyn - however to include the last three summits means a lot of distance to be covered - perhaps not the best route for the shorter winter days.
And being solo, I had to do both out and back to the same place - just above Rhyd-Ddu.
This is the view looking up to Y Garn from the B4418 - it doesn`t look to be very far, but it took a lot longer to get up onto Y Garn than I thought it would.
Since it is the first summit, and immediately above quite a significant drop, Y Garn provides a fabulous viewpoint, and along with the cairn, there are two stone shelters for protection from the weather, although they aren`t particularily deep, so don`t provide the best protection from the wind.
On a clear day, the view is of course dominated by Snowdon, looking obliquely into Cwm Clogwyn, with the Glyders in the background.
From left to right, the summits are Elidir Fawr, then you can just see Foel goch, then the other Y Garn, and Glyder Fawr is just visible above the Clogwyn Du´r Arddu ridge.
The nearer summits are Foel Goch and Moel Cynghorion, then Clogwyn Du´r Arddu leads up to Garnedd Ugain and then of course Snowdon itself.
Round a bit to the right, and just below Snowdon the south ridge leads down to Yr Aran, and further back in the distance are Moelwyn Mawr and Moelwyn Bach.
Rather looking into the sun now, the hill at the back is Moel Hebog, and on the right, the rather startling outline of Mynydd Drws-y-coed, the next summit along the Nanttle Ridge.
This is the view looking right along the Nanttle Ridge - on the left is Mynydd Drws-y-coed, then the highest of the four summits, Trum Ddysgl, and then the somewhat lower Mynydd Tal-y-mignedd.
Right at the back is Craig Cwm Silyn.
Round a bit more to the right, and of course, wherever I go these days - Yr Eifl pops up. It is always nice to see it, but there are much better views of it from further along the Nanttle Ridge.
Now I don`t seem to have taken a picture looking up the northeast end of Mynydd Drws-y-coed, which is probably the most challenging bit of the whole Nanttle Ridge - probably because I would have been looking straight into the sun.
So to provide a view of what it looks like, here it is taken from Mynydd Mawr, or more correctly, from Craig Y Bera.
Y Garn is on the left of the picture, and it certainly shows off the very steep end of Y Garn.
Mynydd Drws-y-Coed is the summit above the cliffs on the right - there is a path up through the end of the crags, it winds its way up and around the harder obstacles, but there is still a bit of scrambling to be done.
The path follows a route away from the crest of the ridge on slightly easier ground a wee bit further to the east - I didn`t follow the path - I went right up the crest of the ridge - it was good fun.
Up on the summit of Mynydd Drws-y-Coed there is a better view of Moel Hebog, and the sun has gone round a bit more, which also helps.
Trum Ddysgl is the highest of the four summits that I did, with some fairly dramatic cliffs to the northside - as you can see in one of the pictures, the path winds its way up a few metres away from the edge.
And just because it was there, I didn`t follow the path, I went right up the crest again.
You can also see that there is another path much further over that completely bypasses the summit - it is a well used path - why would you want to miss out the highest summit ?
Up on the summit of Trum y Ddysgl, and looking back to Mynydd Drws-y-coed and Y Garn. Snowdon looks much further away now.
You get a better view now of Moelwyn Mawr and Moelwyn Bach -
and a slightly different and perhaps more instructive view of Moel Hebog again.
To the southwest, and looking somewhat down on Mynydd Tal-y-mignedd, and beyond that, across a big drop, Craig Cwm Silyn.
It is a straight forward walk down and up to Mynydd Tal-y-mignedd, and by the time I had got there, it was quite clear that there wouldn`t be enough daylight for me to go any further, ie, across to Craig Cwm Silyn.
I reckoned it would take me an hour to get there, and another hour back, and I still had to get back to the Rhyd Ddu area before dark.
I didn`t mind - as I said earlier, the first four summits are to me the more interesting ones anyway, and Craig Cwm Silyn isn`t going anywhere soon, it will still be there for another day.
So I headed back, but not before getting my camera out again - Bwlch Mawr is only 11 km`s away from Mynydd Tal-y-mignedd, and Yr Eifl is just a few kilometers further, so you get an excellent view of them.
The vertical black line in the middle of the picture is the Arfon Transmitting station near Nebo, which broadcasts UHF television, Heart FM, and Champion FM - the tower is 317 metres high, and is the highest structure in Wales.
At night it is lit up like a beacon, and easily visible from Anglesey, weather permitting.
Many years ago I worked for a while in the radio communications industry, and climbed quite a few radio towers - but sadly, I never got the chance to go up one as high as Arfon. Sigh !
Starting to head back now, and this is looking up to Trum y Ddysgl just before dropping down to the coll - it is an easy bit of walking, but I like the kink in the ridge.
Trum y Ddysgl has two summits, the one to the northeast being the higher. I headed up to the higher summit, and then realised I was missing what could be quite an interesting view down the west side of the Llyn Peninsula, so went back to the lower one.
By now of course the afternoon was wearing on, and the sun was getting a bit lower in the sky, and I got this rather nice view of St Tudwal`s Road and the St Tudwal`s islands.
Back on the main summit of Trum y Ddysgl, and the softer light is giving a different sort of view of Mynydd Drws-y-coed, with Snowdon and Yr Aran in the background.
Looking back to where I had been -
And so back to Mynydd Drws-y-coed, and down the other side - I didn`t follow the crest this time, I just followed the path, as I reckoned it would be a bit quicker.
Back on Y Garn now, and the low angle of sun is lighting up the crags on Mynydd Mawr rather nicely.
And Moel Eilio -
The sun is now far enough round to just start catching the west face of Mynydd Drws-y-coed.
A different kind of view - just down from the summit, and I came across this stone which is just in the process of splitting off a curved section.
Time to extend my artistic licence again - some more pictures looking into the sun - a wider view looking back to Trum y Ddysgl and Mynydd Tal-y-mignedd, with Craig Cwm Silyn and Yr Eifl away to the back.
I like the sky on this one -
A last look back towards Bwlch Mawr and Yr Eifl with a long focus lens, before heading back down towards Rhyd Ddu, after a cracking day out.
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