Walk with us :: Above Cwmorthin

Hi there everyone 😀

We must have been feeling very enthusiastic … as the day following our walk up to Anglesey Barracks … we were back out on another adventure.

It was another glorious day and this time, instead of taking the path across the bridge and away from the waterfall … which leads to the Stwlan Dam … 

… we took the steep path up on the right …

The path follows the river and the views looking back are just amazing …

As we climbed upwards we passed pools that were perfect for a bit of adventurous cold water dipping …

… though, because of the lack of rain, the river was barely a trickle …

It will definitely be good to come back after we’ve had some rain and see how different things look.

Towards the top of the path we came across the first of the significant quarry building ruins and the lake overflow system …

Once at the lake we opted for the left hand path … unfortunately you can’t walk all the way round …

This way took us past the ruined quarry building …

… and alongside the lake …

Towards the end of the lake the path leads away to the left …

… and the ruin of the old chapel …

Further along … before the path starts to head up across the hills … we came to Cwmorthin Terrace … where the quarrymen used to stay …

This is clearly now a sheep shearing spot too … with a fair series of pens and gates …

… and evidence of recent activity …

After having a good look around we decided to retrace our steps and make our way back …

We decided not to explore the old quarry manager’s house … tucked away off the path in the trees …

… but had a slow amble back along the path … it was just beautiful … pretty warm by now though …

Once back at the car we grabbed our picnic and found a spot on the rocks by the waterfall for lunch …

… and I just had to dip my very warm feet in the water … which felt absolutely amazing …

We were both pretty much done in but we were so pleased we’d managed this walk. It was also fabulous to find a waterfall with some water in it 😀

We will definitely be back to this one again and maybe next time we will have a look at the other side of the lake … which also looks like a very good spot for paddling 💦

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A few days with Friends #2 :: in search of Waterfalls, a Folly, a Garden all to ourselves & Ospreys

Hi there everyone 😀

For the second day of Jackie and Phil’s visit we had another jam packed day … starting in search of waterfalls at Craflwyn.

Whilst we had a very nice walk in the shady woodland …

… there really were no waterfalls to be found …

… with the streams and gulleys all pretty much dried up …

In case you don’t believe that waterfalls were ever there … here are a few photos of our previous visit, back in October …

From Craflwyn we headed back to Plas Brodanw, where we started with a walk up to the folly …

Whilst the garden Cafe is closed on a Monday there is an honesty box for you to pay to visit the garden and that is exactly what we did. We literally had the whole of the garden to ourselves and we started our visit by having our picnic on the cafe outdoor tables … it was as if we were in our very own garden.

The garden was definitely suffering from the run of dry weather we’d had but there was still plenty to see …

… and, as ever, the views over the countryside were just spectacular …

From Brodanw we called on at the Osprey centre, to see how the chicks were all doing. We were pleased to see the majority had fledged … and that Jackie and Phil were as entranced by them as we had been on our first visit …

From here, following a quick call in at Aberdunant for a drink on the terrace, it was back to the lodge to get ready for our evening out. We were heading to The Goat, somewhere we’d not been before, but ended up being a real treat …

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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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