I’ve driven past this Welsh mountain a lot on my trips through the Eryri National Park. So it was a bit of an impromptu trip to take on this Welsh Nuttall.
The weather wasn’t the best. It was probably the strongest wind I’ve ever hiked through but it least it stayed pretty dry all day.
The Route
If you’ve been following my hiking for a while you might have noticed that I don’t always take the most obvious path up mountains. Mostly because I like to draw up my own routes on AllTrails.
I do always take a look at more popular trails. Then I try to make my own to include the milage and elevation gain I’m looking for.
On this hike I didn’t really follow any of my original plan though. This was mostly due to the weather. So I took what looked like it would be the more scenic route around the base of the mountain just incase the winds stopped me from getting too close to the summit.
Mining Ruins
I love seeing all the old mining buildings that surround the Welsh mountains. Some might find castle ruins more interesting, but for me it’s all about these long abandoned buildings.
The histories aren’t written for a lot of them, I’ll probably never know the names of the people who laid their heads here. Who gathered around a fireplace eating supper and discussing their days. All with beautiful views of the Welsh countryside.
Lakes & Ponds
There was also some pretty stunning lakes on this side of the mountain. Along with some spots were I could take in some gorgeous views whilst enjoying a brew.
When I started the ascent up the mountain I took the path to the east of the summit. I really didn’t know what to expect, as for most of the hike it was pretty hidden.
Just keep hiking
The wind was pretty strong at this point. I did keep saying to myself that “I’ll just see what the path is like around this corner” promising myself that if it seemed risky I would turn back. Deep down I knew though that it would take quite a lot for me to turn around.
The path it self zig zagged up the eastern face, there were plenty of bits of scrambling and some very steep sections that followed an almost cliff edge around.
It was hard to see how steep the drop was off the edge as the closer I got to the summit, I also got closer to the clouds.
A very windy summit
So I kept going until I reached the mountains flat top. I have to say the positioning of the trig pillar on this one was pretty interesting. It was once I was here that I felt the winds had reached the gale forces that the forecast had predicted. I think that the video below expresses this point pretty well.
Descent
I took a direct line south down the mountain, this meant that I got to take in some views of the surrounding mountains now some of the clouds had cleared.
It also meant that I could follow the path pass the many little, and large waterfalls that sit beside the A5. I’ve driven down the road so many times, since all the falls are all well below the level of the road I had no idea just how many beautiful, rocky falls where right next to the road.
It was great to tick off a Nuttall and bag a new trig point. This if definitely a hike I would like to return to on a clearer day.