ron-t climbing
20 May 2017 ................ Alltwen and Penmaen-bach
This was a totally unplanned outing - I just happened to end up in Sychnant Pass, or Bwlch Sychnant - and decided I would go for a wander up the hill.
I wasn`t dressed for it, I had the wrong shoes, and the wrong sticks, but went anyway - it was a good outing.
Sychnant Pass is amazing place, this is the west side of it - the road is away up the side of the hill on the left side of the photograph.
There are good tracks that head away from Sychnant Pass up into the various hills around the area, I headed up one of them - and here is a quite surprising view looking away down the valley below all the scree and rock formations along the side of Alltwen - I must confess, I would not be comfortable living in those houses sitting down at the bottom of all that scree.
I headed off up the track, then cut off, and up a path, eventually getting to the top of Alltwen - it wasn`t a very pleasant climb up, the path is quite steep, with a very loose gravelly surface, so it was a bit of a struggle.
However I got there, and you do get a super view, as you are right above the coast.
First of all, another look over the valley that leads up to Sychnant Pass - the cluster of houses are I think Capelulo.
Away at the back I think we are seeing the northern end of the Carneddau, though I am not sure which summit is what.
Up on Alltwen you are right above the coast and above Dwygfylch, further along is Penmaenmawr (the village) and above it Penmaen Mawr (the hill).
Anglesey is rather faint away in the distance.
Round in the other direction we are looking across to Penmaen-bach, and beyond it, mostly hidden, is Great Orme and a wee bit of Llandudno.
Now I think I am right in saying that the summit you see both from down at sea level, and in this picture, isn`t actually the highest point of Penmaen-bach - the highest point is a bit further inland but isn`t particularily good looking, it is just a sort of mound of rock and gorse and heather all mixed up - so this is the more dramatic summit of Penmaen-bach, which is the summit directly above the coast.
Not sure why, but I don`t seem to taken a photograph of the true summit.
Round a bit more and you get a view through a gap in the nearer hills of Little Orme catching the sun.
I didn`t fancy sliding my way back down the same steep and slippy path that I had come up, and it looked as if it could be feasible to get across to Penmaen-bach - I got there eventually, it wasn`t the easiest of treks but again a super view.
A different view looking to the west - one of the things that this picture shows, even if not all that clearly, is that there another two quarries on Penmaen Mawr - one right above the coast, and one further inland.
So there are, or have been, three quarries on Penmaen Mawr.
Super view across to Penmon and Puffin Island and away up the north east coast of Anglesey as far as Point Lynas.
Away round to the right, and another quarry - now I think that this is the quarry that various climbing websites refer to as Penmaen-bach quarry, although I would say that it is actually on Conwy Mountain.
Heading up and over the true summit of Penmaen-bach now, and a closer view of the upper part of the quarry - I came across various pages about this quarry when I was looking for information about the quarry or quarries on Penmaen Mawr, I believe it is having a bit of a revival at the moment as a climbing venue, with new bolts being placed.
I am still not a lover of the idea of bolting, however I could actually see one of them, as it was catching the sun and shining quite brightly.
I tried to take a close up picture of it, but it didn`t really work, so you will have to make do with another view of the quarry.
Just before I lost my view of the sea, Great Orme caught a bit of sun, so here it is.
Somewhat curiously, the east side of Sychnant Pass is completely different from the west side - just before you get to the highest point of the pass you are into dense mature trees, with high stone walls on both sides of the road, and it is like that most of the way down to Conwy.
Then in Conwy you drive through the town wall through a tiny arch - quite a change from the high open steep sided valley of the west side of the pass.
I really enjoyed my couple of hours wandering over Alltwen and Penmaen-bach even though I was totally not equipped for it - it is a fascinating corner of the north wales coast, and I can see myself going back sometime for a trip up Conwy Mountain.
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