Glyder Fawr and Glyder Fach from Pen-y-Pass

Both of us agreed that this was a brilliant and quality walk - especially in comparison with our previous walks. For one this trail is less popular - meaning a quieter walk for us to enjoy. The views of and from the Glyders, especially that of the mighty Tryfan, are truly inspiring. Apart from some mild scrambling, the walk is pretty easy though navigational skills is a requirement as the trails are often through pathless and boggy terrain. Low grade 1 scramble at most.

Our ascent began at Pen-y-Pass (left of the YHA). We were the only people arriving at Pen-y-Pass that morning who did not head up towards Snowdon, though more did come later. The ground (which is pathless) steepness gradually grows, but isn't difficult. It is a very remote trail - we only saw two other people on our way up to Glyder Fawr. Due to the less than favourable weather, the path is extremely boggy. Once at the stop navigation is simple enough, we just aimed for the peaks (including the Castell y Gwynt down the middle). At the summit plateau of Glyder Fach we found the famous Cantilever Stone. We expected a crowd there, but fortunately it wasn't busy. This was also where Jennifer recorded her video review of the E75. To the left the towering figure of Tryfan stood. Sadly it won't be our destination today, but it is on our to-do checklist. We saw more people making their way up, presumably from Ogwen.

Anyway, making our way down, a RAF Sea King rescue copter suddenly made an appearance, coming in from the mountains above us. It was a magnificent sight, but the Sea King was too fast for me to capture on camera (I've already packed it). Fortunately it made a couple more passes above us. We are not sure if it was on a training exercise or rescue mission. Regardless they do seem to know that we did not need any assistance and ignored us. The descent eventually takes us over a large boggy area that meets with the Miner's track. Descent is steep, slippery and boggy, but manageable. We eventually reached Pen-y-Gwryd where the Sherpa bus awaits.

The trail is a short 5.5 miles, but with exploration my tracklog read 7 miles with a total of 3420 feet of ascent.



























Maps: Ordnance Survey Explorer OL7, Landranger 115