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.