text to read to obtain the routes to a given lake. However, please bear in mind that these maps neither include the high-level, lower-level and easier day walks, nor the suffixed variations. (Alternatively the index gives the page numbers where directions for each peak may be found.)
Finally, there is always a difficulty over the spelling of Welsh place names – even the OS is not fully consistent! I have therefore adopted spellings from the latest available OS maps at the time of writing and standardised on those. However, complete success in this would probably be too much to hope for, and I therefore apologise for any residual errors or inconsistencies.
THE ARANS
THE ARANS
Few peaks dominate their surroundings as completely as Aran Benllyn, the lofty sentinel that stands guard over Lake Bala. This is just as well, for otherwise the Arans are self-effacing to a fault, hiding their nobility and virility from the casual passer-by behind a shield of wooded slopes and flowing green foothills. Drive down the old Roman road from Bala to Dolgellau and you will be charmed by pretty pastures, tangled woodland and tumbling streams. Charmed but not inspired. Cross Bwlch Oerddrws from Dolgellau to Dinas Mawddwy and you are more likely to admire the Dovey cwms and hills than the Arans' fringe
Matters only improve when you travel the third side of the Aran triangle on the narrow road that snakes through the hills from Dinas Mawddwy, over Bwlch y Groes and back to Lake Bala. Now at last you begin to be stirred rather than charmed. Fearsome hills hover ominously, even threateningly, over the pretty little village of Llanymawddwy. Further N, where the road curls round Cwm Croes, black cliffs fleetingly arc the sky
But enough of road work! Boots must be donned if the Arans' heartland is to be probed, and there is no better entrée than the peat-hagged ridge that forms the E flank of Cwm Croes and culminates in the two swampy outliers of Esgeiriau Gwynion and Llechwedd Du. Now for the first time the long furrowed precipice of the Arans' E face is revealed in all its splendour. Dark, menacing, unyielding, riddled with gullies, it carries the twin citadels of Aran Benllyn and Aran Fawddwy with consummate ease. No mean feat, for Aran Fawddwy is the highest point in Wales S of a line joining Tremadoc and Llanwrst, and nowhere between the two peaks does the land drop below 2700ft. Nestling beneath the cliffs are two lonely lakes: Lliwbran, sun-starved and desolate, hemmed in by barren screes and rivers of boulders; Dyfi, windswept, open to the world, birthplace of the Dovey.
The Arans and Creiglyn Dyfi from Drysgol
So compelling is the aura of impregnability that it comes as quite a surprise to find that the emperor has feet of clay – two breaches in the ramparts give hope to the humble walker! A grassy nose sweeps down to Creiglyn Dyfi, smooth and inviting, before carrying on (albeit with diminished vigour) to the rounded grassy top of Foel Hafod-fynydd. The second line of attack hinges on Drysgol, a grassy spur overlooking the sodden moors above Llanymawddwy.
South of Drysgol the cliffs temporarily abate. The severity, however, does not as now Gwaun y Llwyni throws green slopes a stupendous 1400ft down into the depths of Hengwm. In any case the change is short-lived. The cirque at the head of Cwm Cywarch, beneath the placid moorland tops of Glasgwm and Pen y Bryn-fforchog, restores the magic and undiminished grandeur with a massive rock face over 1 mile long. It is a fitting epitaph to the mountains of north Wales.
I say ‘epitaph’ because as you wander further S in Wales never again will you experience such power and desolation, such wild, cold beauty. This is the moment of truth, the Rubicon; from now on softer climes prevail and thoughts centre on hills rather than mountains, on rambling rather than scrambling or climbing. Gazing N from the Aran spine the eye feasts on the impressive serrated skyline of Snowdonia. As you turn S the skylines mellow to rounded hills, the greys of crag and rock give way to the greens of turf and bracken and the higher ground becomes less thrusting, less intense, rising from meadows and pastures as often as from moorland heath. Wild Wales lives on, to be sure; but wildest Wales has gone. (Cader Idris does not fit into this neat division. Great mountain that it is, why should it? No, Cader is Wales in transition, offering the best of both worlds – the rocky grandeur of the N and the more feminine charms of the S.)
Two cwms thrust deeply into the heart of the Arans. In the N Cwm Croes provides ready access to Creiglyn Dyfi where a simple but tiring plod up the grassy nose gives you the main ridge, midway between Benllyn and Fawddwy on the bare plateau of Erw y Ddafad-ddu. Personally I would save that for a quick way home. Far better to tackle the N ridge head-on from Llanuwchllyn, a pearl of a walk with Benllyn's rocky crown in your sights all the way. Having achieved that, why not press on to Fawddwy across the bouldery neck (too wide to be a ridge, too narrow to be a plateau) which is dotted with vestigial tarns and mildly reminiscent of the Glyders?
The S cwm, Cywarch, is grander altogether, exuding a rugged appeal. You can do one of two things: either climb directly out of the head of the cwm (easier than it looks), close to the tumultuous crags and with only the music of the stream for company, or you can walk up the side of the subsidiary cwm of Hengwm, where the dark drama of crags is replaced by grassy slopes that plummet unhindered into one of the most poignantly lonely scenes in Wales.
By comparison with these the E approaches are terra incognita. (Only from the W do the Arans fail to tempt.) Start from Llanymawddwy and it matters little whether you trek Llaethnant, Cwm Dyniewyd or Darren Ddu; the likelihood is that the only sound you will hear will be the bleating of sheep! Yet Llaethnant and Dyniewyd can hold their own in any company and are well worth exploring. Give them a chance and they will reveal aspects of the Arans that few suspect.
For instance, you can divert N out of the Llaethnant Valley into Bwlch Sirddyn. From there you can walk over to Cwm Croes, or have an easy pull up to Esgeiriau Gwynion. Esgeiriau and its environs looks a dully spongy quagmire from the road at Bwlch y Groes, not at all the sort of place to waste time on. However first impressions are not always right, and if you keep to the W rim your reward will be views of the Hirnants (not to speak of the Arans themselves) that will live in your memory. And dry feet too!
South of Glasgwm the landscape is different again, with velvety rounded ridges linking the lonely, rolling uplands that resemble the Dovey hills across the pass more than they do the giants that bear down so harshly on Creiglyn Dyfi and Cywarch less than 2 miles away.
As you can see, the Arans are hills of many parts.
Note For many years the Arans suffered from difficulties over access. The problems have recently been resolved by the landowners agreeing a number of so-called ‘permitted paths’. These are clearly marked on OS maps, and are prominently displayed on notice-boards at strategic points around the Arans (for example at the start of the N ridge route at Llanuwchllyn, at Cwm Cywarch, at 875205 where the permitted path up Drysgol begins and at Esgair-gawr Farm). As the arrangements are subject to regular review I have not detailed them here. You should therefore always check the current situation before setting out. Please also note that many of my routes go beyond the permitted paths as defined at the time of writing. Special permission should be sought from landowners before you use them. Acting in this way will help ensure the continuation of harmonious arrangements for the future.
Aran Benllyn
Aran Benllyn fully justifies the high hopes it raises from Bala. The N ridge (the usual ascent) is a beauty with views that reach a thrilling climax as you finally mount the airy boulder-strewn top. The slumbering giant N is Arenig Fawr, chaperoned by Moel Llyfnant and its lesser half, Arenig Fach (guardian of the marshy Migneint). Behind them lies the long tapering line of Foel Goch and Carnedd y Filiast, and the hazy outline of Snowdonia. To the W are the rambling moors that rise to Rhobell Fawr and Dduallt before culminating in the Rhinogs.
In contrast to this, the outlook E is a case of ‘all passion spent’. No pinnacles, no crags, just the rounded slopes of the Hirnant hills with the Berwyns