Cwm Cywarch in the Aran Hills
The Aran Hills – day 1 (#135) in red, day 2 in blue
A closer view of the area
The first day in the Aran Hills (see post #135) had included Aran Fawddwy (905 metres), the highest peak in the range, but I had left Glasgwm (780 metres) for the next day. Dull weather conditions gave no clue that the rare event of a British heat-wave was just a few days away, but there would be no heat-wave on this trip.
The end of the track in Cwm Cywarch
Looking back down Cwm Cywarch
Our route getting steeper
Cascades ….
…. and big boulders
We set off, travelling hopefully, up the steep valley next to the climbers’ crag of Craig Cywarch. This had been my descent route the previous day, and on a hot summer morning it would have been delightful, with cascades and interesting views all around. However, it soon became obvious that ‘hot summer morning’ was not on the menu, and we walked upwards into that fine drizzly rain that manages to penetrate every gap.
Heading upwards, waterproofs on by now
Fifty shades of grey (plus a bit of green)
“Who’s idea was this, then?”
The view down our ascent route, just below the summit of Glasgwm
The summit cairn, Border Collie ‘Mist’ first to the top as usual
And penetrate it did! There wasn’t much incentive to stop and admire the view as it was mostly ‘fifty shades of grey’, but as we approached the summit the rain finally began to ease off. The top was marked by a large stone cairn that loomed out of the mist, and Border Collie ‘Mist’ was first there as usual, followed by her two damp companions.
Llyn y Fign, just below the summit of Glasgwm
The start of our way back to the valley
We didn’t linger at the top, though we did stop to admire the small lake of Llyn y Fign. With an area greater than one acre (4000 sq metres), this is one of the highest large bodies of water in England and Wales, and it would make a superb wild camp site. Not today though!
The start of the final easy descent ….
…. heading down a good track
Our descent followed a fence that made a handy navigation handrail, before we reached a good track heading straight back towards the car park. It is said that “there’s no such thing as bad weather, just unsuitable clothing” – We finished just before the heavens opened, and watched the deluge from inside the van. A week later I was back in the Aran Hills in temperatures around 25º Celsius.
The end of a misty, moisty day in the Aran Hills
Text and images © Paul Shorrock
Paul Shorrock - One Man's Mountains AKA One Pillock's Hillocks 
Not sure why there’s no such thing as bad weather as there’s certainly such a thing as no view and that’s not great!
Was that today? There’s heavy rain and thunderstorms here – looks pretty bad out!
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Haha … good point about the view Carol 🙂
I’m playing catch up with trips at the moment – this post and the one before took place before the recent hot spell.
Today has been all over the place, weather-wise – I wore Paramo legs for this mornings dog-walk, and felt as though I’d been in a sauna when we got home, though there were a couple of nasty showers. I’m now looking out (1730hrs) onto blue skies!
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Yeah, it’s definitely not waterproofs-wearing weather is it. Think I’ll just get wet!
I’m going to be playing catch-up if I ever get my photos back. I’ve had 3 reports written for a few weeks now but no sign of the piccies 😦
Carol.
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Looks a good walk. Will ask for better weather though when we copy it ………………. 😉
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It was just bad luck really Babs – the day before was OK, and the next post (Aran Fawddwy – when I get roundto writing it!!) was in heatwave conditions 🙂
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one of my most walked mountains 🙂 nice report Paul mate 🙂
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Cheers Neil – I’m still discovering stuff in North Wales 🙂
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