This afternoon we paid our first ever visit to the lovely secluded valley of Cwmystradllyn in the western part of the northern Snowdonia mountains. The valley is reached via a minor road from the Porthmadog-Caernarvon A487 road, just after the village of Penmorfa. Parking near the dam of the lake (reservoir) Llyn Cwmystradllyn, we decided to take a stroll around the lake, but with the benefit of hindsight, we would not recommend this, as the path is very wet, boggy  and difficult to follow. However, the setting is lovely, with Moel Hebog and Moel Ddu peaks above the lake, and accessible using the old level that runs up to the large disused quarry at the head of the Cwm. At the end of our walk, we enjoyed a nice cup of tea and cake at the tea rooms (currently operating out of a caravan) at the house of Tyddyn Mawr near the lake dam, a very welcome end to our afternoon. 

Better weather today with no rain (initially), lighter winds and occasional sunny spells. We headed south to the impressive Cadair Idris range, to climb one of the westerly satellite summits of Cadair Idris, Tyrrau Mawr (661 metres). Parking at the lovely Cregennen Lakes, the route initially heads west climbing high above the Mawddach estuary, with great views across to Barmouth, and out across Cardigan Bay. 

After passing a couple of conifer plantations, we headed east up onto, and along the western end of the Cadair Idris range, crossing the summit of Craig-y-llyn and along to Tyrrau Mawr. There are great views of the major peak of Cadair Idris (Pen y Gadair) and across the Mawddach to the mountains to the north (Rhinogs). The visibility became a bit hazy in the afternoon, so the photos do not do the scenery justice.   

From the summit of Tyrrau Mawr, we dropped down to join the Pony Path route descending from Cadair Idris summit, to take us back to the lane leading back towards Cregennen. At this point, the weather closed in and we got a good soaking on the long trudge back along the lane to the car. However, the damp end to the day did not spoil our overall enjoyment of this route over the rarely visited western end of the Cadair Idris range -  we only saw two other walkers on this part of the route (although we saw several people descending on the Pony Path).  

We are in Rhyd this week. The weather is a bit wet and windy, but seems to be slowly improving. Yesterday, we had a nice walk from Rhyd Ddu up into the Beddgelert forest. Today, we drove to Trefor and walked part of the Wales coast path towards Nefyn, going over the bwlch below Yr Eifl (564 metres), the highest point on the Llyn Peninsula. The going was heavy along the coast path, with strong westerly winds, and frequent squally showers, but between the showers, we enjoyed some great views along the Llyn and back towards Snowdonia. 

We passed some wild goats on our walk. We headed back to Trefor after crossing Bwlch Yr Eifl, and considered clambering to the summit of Yr Eifl, but the strong winds and cloud-covered summit put us off. Of course, as we started our descent to Trefor, the clouds parted, the sun came out, and the summit of Yr Eifl was bathed in sunshine. Oh well, we'll have to come back on another day.