The weather was much cooler today, dry with sunny spells, and a pleasant breeze. We drove to the village of Tal-y-Bont on the Harlech-Barmouth road and walked up to some of gentler slopes of the southern Rhinogs overlooking Barmouth and the Mawddach estuary. This walk features in John Gillam's book 'Best Day Walks in Snowdonia;' (Walk 22 in this book), and we certainly recommend it for a reasonably easy walk that covers varied terrain, with great views of the coast as well as the mountains of Snowdonia, and the Llyn Peninsula. The walk starts with a pleasant amble through the woods  above the Afon Ysgethin before taking an old drovers track to Bwlch y Rhiwgyr - you then head north along the southern Rhinog ridge leading to the summit of Llawlech (589m). The return route takes you down the old London-Harlech drovers road, crossing over the old packhorse bridge at Pont Scethin.   

Inspired by a recent walk featured in Country Walking magazine, we decided to tackle Cader Idris from the north, starting in Dolgellau and walking up to Llyn Gwernan, where the Fox's path starts. Llyn Gwernan is a lovely setting,, and you can park at the hotel there (£5/day) if you want to avoid the walk up from Dolgellau. The Fox's path is a lovely way to approach Cader Idris with great views of the impressive north facing cliffs, as well as down to Barmouth with the Rhinogs and Snowdon visible to the north. The path takes you past Llyn Gafr then up to Llyn y Gadair in the impressive cliff-faced bowl below Penygadair, the main summit on the Cader Idris ridge. BUT, and it is a big BUT, if you want to get to the top, you are faced with an awful, treacherous climb up really loose scree to get to the summit from Llyn y Gadair. We only got about a third of the way up the scree before turning back, as it was so loose and downright dangerous in places - other walkers we saw or met had similar difficulties. So, we would not recommend the Fox's path to reach the top of Cader Idris - take the Minfford or Pony path instead. This was still a lovely walk up to Llyn y Gadair, even if we did not reach the summit.        

After a gap of a few months, we are back at the cottage in Rhyd for a few days break, and to remind ourselves how wonderful the Snowdonia scenery is. We warmed up the hill walking legs today with a jaunt up our local mountain behind the cottage, Moelwyn Bach. Although we have done this walk several times now, we never tire of the wonderful views in all directions from the summit. A perfect day out.

We still have some weeks available for booking over the summer school holiday period. The following weeks are still available:
22-29 July
19-26 August
26 August-2 September
Please contact us if you wish to book your summer break in lovely Snowdonia. We also have availability in September/early October for a late summer/early autumn break. This is a great time to visit North Wales, as the summer crowds have gone home, but the weather can still be very good. We look forward to hearing from you. Peter and Lorraine.