The weather forecast was ominous- thunderstorms and weather warnings- and we had the longest day of the trip ahead of us. But plan for the worst and hope for the best, as they say, and as it turned out the weather wasn’t at all bad. Three or four spells of rain, of no more than 90 minutes out of ten hours walking. Yes, a long day ( 18 miles, 10 hours) and both of us were suffering at the end of it. But some more beautiful scenery and a change from what we’d encountered so far on this trip, once again.
Leaving the pretty little village of Beddgelert, we soon encountered the first of two lakes, Llyn Dinas.
Soon after the first lake was the second, which we first saw close at hand from a crag above it, before beginning the stiff climb to Bwlch y Rhediad, from where there were wonderful views back, and we had lunch.
The rain first hit on the first part of this climb, and although it soon eased off, the slippery stones and slate meant we had to watch every step when we descended. As is often the case, once over the pass, the other side was very different- more reminiscent of the Pennines than the earlier Lake District like terrain, although the cloud covered Snowdon and surrounding mountains were there in the background, appearing and disappearing throughout the rest of the day.
As described in the guidebook, this stage is designed to end in Dolwyddelan, but due to a lack of free accommodation there, we had an extra five mile walk to Capel Curig today. So one last climb up, a walk through the forest and then a painfully slow descent as we both tried to avoid slipping.
All through the day, we had been in and out of the clouds, accounting for short bursts of rain, and as we entered the final stretch we could see the wisps of cloud rolling by the mountains in front of us, providing a fitting end to a tough but spectacular days walking.
We didn’t reach our hotel until 7 pm, having started at 8.50, so a very long day. Thankfully, none of the remaining days should be that long.
Across the Alps to the Adriatic 