Walk with Us :: The Stwlan Dam

Hi there everyone 😀

The last walk we did during our week at the lodge in June started at another waterfall, actually not too far away from our first and just up behind the Lakeside Cafe. This time we parked in the small car park at the Cwmorthin falls, somewhere we have been before …

This time we were aiming for a 2 mile circular walk which would take us up beyond the falls and give us chance to explore some of the old quarry workings of the Wrysgan Mine.

It all started well. The falls were in full flow and looking fabulous …

Our route took us away from the falls and towards the Stwlan Dam, somewhere that we both felt was very much beyond our capabilities …

The path soon joined the road up to the dam and our plan was to follow it awhile then head off to the right to circle back on ourselves and eventually end up back where we started. It was an absolutely glorious day and the views were spectacular …

We passed the old incline that lead up to a tunnel high up on the hillside that we’d seen from afar a number of times …

The views looking across the valley continued to impress …

We could see all the way across to the Trawsfynedd plant in the distance …

The next photo is zoomed in and the power station is the rectangular shaped building in the centre …

We continued walking steadily up the road and came to more waterfalls …

… tumbling under the road and into a beautiful looking pool before falling away down the hillside …

We continued on a bit further … spotting the landmarks the walk referred to. It was at some point around here that we realised we must have missed our path, which was supposed to lead away to the right. It was described as ‘faint’ … but we had seen nothing resembling a footpath at all to our right. In fact, all we could see to our right was a flippin’ steep mountain.

At that point we decided that, even if we could find the path, neither of us would be up to scrambling up and over. We had two choices … did we about turn and give it up as a bad job … or … did we carry on to the dam. After all, we were part way there and doing ok.

We opted to carry on. The road carried on slowly upward for a fair old while … this is the view looking back the way we’d come from …

Fortunately there were plenty of well placed huge boulders just crying out to be sat upon. 

Eventually we got our first view of the dam …

It was definitely a bit of a false summit as there were still plenty of zig zag bends to climb before we would get to the foot of the dam. But having come this far we chose to carry on …

Once at the foot of the dam the road continued with more zig zags up and away to the right and, though we were pretty tired, we wanted to see what we would find at the top …

we passed the viewpoint …

… and finally found ourselves at the top …

It really was beautiful up there …

Eventually it was time to start to retrace our steps. We couldn’t resist climbing the steps to the viewpoint … and it was so worth it. The views were fabulous …

Then it was back down the zig zags …

… keeping stopping to get another look back at the dam …

… until we rounded the last of the bends and took on our final view …

The long road back stretched out ahead of us and, with knees starting to creak, we made our way down …

Back past the waterfall …

… and the pool … which looked very inviting …

… until finally we were back at Cwmorthin …

… and it was just a short walk back to the car …

Tired and aching, but feeling very pleased with ourselves, it was time to eat our sandwiches perched on the tailgate of the car … before heading back to the Lakeside Caffi for a quick drink. 

There was just one more view of the dam to be had … from the main road as we made our way back to the lodge …

What a day 😀 We were so glad to have managed to get to see the dam up close. I’m not sure we will be adding it to our list of regular walks … though, of course, we will have to return … and try a different route up to explore the old mine working. 

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