23/09/14 Tuesday , short break away in Snowdonia

We decided to spend a few days in Snowdonia , we started from home sun shining . As we traveled further passing the Rhug Organic Farm the weather started to deteriorate and by the time we arrived at our caravan it was soon raining as we sat down to have our lunch. Hopefully the weather improves by tomorrow . We are planning a walk but will wait and see in what area.

23/09/14 Wednesday , Sarn Helen from Dolwyddelan to Betws y Coed

 The weather was looking changeable with a mix of blue skies, clouds but there was a lot of grey clouds looming on high ground too, so we decided to do a low level walk called Sarn Helen is an old Roman road from Caurhun to Camardden but we would be doing a 5 mile stretch of it from Dolwyddelan to Betws y Coed. 

We parked our car on a side street in Betws y Coed and caught the X1 bus to Festiniog , we dropped off in Dolwyddelan . We had a pleasant walk back down the road to where we were due to start the walk. This too a bit longer as on the way we could not help ourselves blackberrying on the way , there were loads of plump fruit waiting to be eaten, yum yum.  

The walk initially followed a small narrow road uphill, on the way we could see a buzzard perched on a rock in the field.  It didn't take long until we reached the mountain gate, the views changed here, we left the fields behind us and the views opened up to reveal the moorland and hills beyond.

This sheep certainly has a fantastic set of horns 

Ruins of bygone days

Old walls being restored 

The lane continued 

We reached Bettws y Coed not long after this bridge to end our very pleasant walk. 

Bye for now Hef 

Minera Mountain Walk to Cyrn y Brain. Sunday 21/09/2014

We had a fabulous days walking today, sunshine with cumulus clouds that created a perfect sky.  

My first picture shows the track we walked to reach Cyrn y Brain Mountain. Unfortunately Cyrn y Brain has two communication masts on top, but they have to go somewhere I suppose but one thing it's always easy to spot Cyrn y Brain from wherever you are,  because of the two masts.

There are 4 wooden carvings of a Black Grouse to be seen on our walk , and very impressive they are too. The area is managed for these birds.  There is an RSPB hyde nearby where you can observe the lekking happen but you will need to get up early at the beginning of the year to see it.  I believe from what I have seen on the TV, it is quite a dramatic show.

Bye for now 

Hef xx

Try again

I used to enjoy my blog Hef up a Hill and stopped using it a while ago. I now have two aims, 1st is to start again as it made me think about what was interesting in my walks.  2nd aim is to improve my writing .
I have forgotten how to use the blog so a few experiments are in order, so that's a 3rd aim too.

12th March 2009

A Wild Feral Goat on Snowdon

Hafod Eryri near completion

The top of the Watkin path

View into Cwm Clogwyn and Llechog

Bryn enjoyed his walk and I was envious as I was not there with him.

lv hef

Saturday 7th of March 2009

A walk around Penardda

Our walk today involved a very steep ascent from the waterworks at Pont Dolgarrog in the Conway Valley up towards the leat that we followed for a good way until we reach Coedty Reservoir. This area is known as Ardda (Garden) and it has a long history of people farming the area. Tyddyn Wilym is a site of immense historical significance, as a site of national importance to Walesa, although the original farm was demolished. It was here that Gwilym Colwyd (1828-1904),the poet was born, and he believed that this was also the birthplace of Dr Thomas Wiliems (d1620) who compiled the first Latin-Welsh dictionary. William Colwyd (his bardic name) won the Chair in 1861 Conwy National Eisteddfod.

On the way we saw a large heard of wild ponies that roam the area , you can very often come across them on top of the Caerneddau, there must have been at least 20 or more today.

On the way down you get fantastic views of the Conwy Valley

You can see from this picture how steep the hill from the waterworks is, the footpath goes through the wood and that goes straight up so we always choose to follow the road as it is not as steep. The wood is full of tall trees, covered in moss and ivy, on a sunny day this is one of my favourite walks, with its horses, views and history. On my next visit here I will visit the remains of the medieval settlement on the top of Penardda (420m).

We climbed 419m today and the walk was 4 miles

That's all for now lv Hef

Snowdonia Weekend and a Walk up Pen yr Ole Wen 01/03/09 on St Davids Day

Not a bad weekend with some sunshine, but as usual only short lived. However we did make it up Pen yr Ole Wen (978 meters) and we saw a lot of the feral goats around Glan Dena before we started. This one was fine with me taking his photo as he carried on eating!

The sun was shining as we started our walk with a fine view of Llyn Ogwen (above) with Y Garn behind.

About half way there is a little bit of easy scrambling up the rocks, which makes the walk a bit more interesting.

Looking towards the path that takes you up to Carnedd Dafydd

Pictures of the Lake Ffynnon Lloer, with still a bit of snow left behind, and below

Bryn on the summit of Pen yr Ole Wen

This is the last view I took on the way down, we did not go further today as we were tired.

We had a good day on the mountains today bye for now lv Hef

Sunday 22/02/09 Moel Fammau

We went up Moel Fammau yesterday on a 400meter climb and 4.6 mile round. This was a 'for the sake of exercise' walk but as always still felt well worth doing as we always feel better for doing it. It is not always easy to do when the weather is not very good as you can see from the photographs and I have choosen the best here today. The first one shows Bryn walking towards the top with Moel Fammau in sight. We went down the other side for a short way and came back up to give us that a little additional climb.

This next picture shows the view that has not been seen for some time as the tall trees have recently been cur down. It has opened a really nice vista . I will have to photograph it again on a nice day to illustrate that better.

They day did brighten up from time to time but it never lasted long , well heres hoping that next blog will be up Snowdon on a brighter day? Heres hoping lv Hef

Ty Mawr Country Park 15/02/09

We started today's walk from Ty Mawr Country Park and set off after having a chat to one of the helpful rangers Bill who gave us instructions on a walk in that area. It involved walking across the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is considered to be the best work of Thomas Telford who built it 121 feet above the River Dee. The first stone was laid in July 1795 and construction took 10 years costing £47,000. Bryn pictured here with a barge crossing the aqueduct which was one of the world's first iron aqueduct which took 10,000 workers to build.

We also passed the Cefn Viaduct, Wrexham, the viaduct was built by Thomas Brassey, and it took two years to build, costing £72,346, and is 1,508 feet long, 147 feet high, and has 19 stone arches. It was officially opened on August 14 1848. The first public train went across on October 12, and was 20 carriages long.

Ty Mawr Country Park situated between Telford’s Aqueduct and the Viaduct in the magnificent setting of the River Dee Valley. There are lots of animals you can meet at Ty Mawr such as donkeys, pigs, goats and pictured here is the Turkey. You can even feed their free range chickens and ducks. However Lawrence the guard Llama, who protected the sheep from foxes! apparently he had to leave as he was harming the sheep himself. He now lives in Oswestry and is very happy there. Lawrence will soon be replaced with two new lamas lets hope that they don’t bite.

Pictured here is a carving in the visitors Centre by Jim Heath

I have added web links for Thomas Telford, Ty Mawr and Jimm Heath if you find time to read as the history of the area is very interesting.

bye for now lv Hef