Cadair Idris

Distance 6.5 miles

Ascent 990m

 

The weather forecast had improved for Thursday so we decided to walk up Cadair Idris. We parked at the Dol Idris carpark, where the café is now only open weekends and started slowly up the steep stone steps. The steep stone steps continued up to a slate bridge that crosses the Nant Cadair and up into the clouds on to Mynydd Moel 863m. As we walked along the edge the clouds started clearing briefly giving us occasional views down across Llyn Cau and the hills beyond. A short rocky climb led up on to the top of Cadair Idris for cloudy photos, then it started to drizzle so we went into the shelter to have lunch. It started raining and the wind got up. Some other people came and went. There was some flask envy. The rain stopped and we headed out. After a bit of path confusion and some slippy rocks, we found the Minffordd Path and dropped down to Craig Cau and up around the sharp ridge above Llyn Cau. The skies cleared and we had great views. The steep stone steps took us down and around Craig Lwyd and Ystrad-gwyn alongside the stream and into the woodland with waterfalls, where we had a sit on a bench near the bottom and laughed at the small child moaning and puffing his way up from the visitor centre.