Good walks from and around Bryn Teg

Weather forecast

The Met Office Mountain Area Forecast for Snowdonia is more specific and accurate than the general forecast for Wales.

Moel Siabod

This is the mountain behind Bryn Teg and you can walk straight out onto the path from Dolwyddelan described on this page, which was edited by Nick Fletcher on the basis of his numerous ascents. Here is the view of the Snowdon Horseshoe from the top and a panorama.

Cwm Idwal

From the BBC this is a wonderful shortish walk around Cwm Idwal - some clambering required. Going further up Twll Du leads to an exciting high level walk to the Glyderau and Y Garn. Charles Darwin visited here in 1831 and said of his visit

We spent many hours in Cwm Idwal, examining all the rocks with extreme care, as Sedgwick was anxious to find fossils in them; but neither of us saw a trace of the wonderful glacial phenomena all around us; we did not notice the plainly scored rocks, the perched boulders, the lateral & terminal moraines. Yet these phenomena are so conspicuous that, as I declared in a paper published many years afterwards in the Philosophical Magazine, a house burnt down by fire did not tell its story more plainly than did this valley.

Cwm Penamnen

Cwn Penamnen is the hanging valley directly opposite Bryn Teg. From the Conwy Borough Council website, here is an excellent afternoon stroll around the valley; all the tracks and paths shown in this leaflet are pretty clear on the ground so it is easy to plan other less taxing walks in Cwm Penamnen. WARNING: Tree felling is closing some of the tracks at present (February 2011) so these walks may be impassible for the present.

Y Ro Wen

Y Ro Wen is the hill immediately opposite Bryn Teg, to the left of Cwm Penamnen with the best ratio of views obtained to effort expended that we have found locally; here from the Geograph British Isles project is the view from the summit to the south east. Here from the excellent Walk Eryri website is a sequence of photographs taken along the route up and at the top. This website continues to a walk around the rim of Cwm Penamnen; we would recommend doing this walk the other way round.

There is a good track all the way to the top of Y Ro Wen - go over the station bridge, bear left along High Street (sic!), go up to the top and follow the (broken) "Public Footpath" sign into the woods. At the top of the (steep) path turn sharp right on a track which is easily followed all the way to the top. In addition to the steep stretch at the beginning there is another about 3/4 of the way up but otherwise the climb is moderate.

To Betws-y-Coed via Rhiwddolion

This is an easy afternoon walk, directly from Bryn Teg.

The walk is about 9 km/6 miles so allow about 2 1/2 hours and time it so that you can come back on the train. The walk is much easier done in this direction as Betws is about 120m (~400') lower than Dolwyddelan. It is part of the Cistercian Way, a circular route from south to north in Wales and back again which you can read about on pages from University College, Newport, here.

• Make for Dolwyddelan station, but instead of turning into the car park, continue on the minor road which follows the railway down the valley.
• The road becomes an easy-to-follow grassy track, goes under the railway line and climbs over a small knoll and becomes a minor road again, passing Pont-y-Pant station (this far takes about 3/4 hour).
• Keep on the road until you cross a bridge over the Afon Lledr (not usually like this!) and reach the main A470 road.
• Directly across this road is a gate and a sign indicating a footpath, which you should take.
• After about 300m the path meets a minor road; turn right here, up the hill.
• Keep on this road until the turnings for Rhiw Goch and Fron Goch.
• Go straight ahead here, and continue on this track, now rising more gently. The track is easy to follow through upland pasture and woodland. There is a good view from here back towards Dolwyddelan.
• After about 1 km a forestry road crosses the track; ignore this and keep straight ahead.
• After another 1 km you pass through the ruined remains of the hamlet of Rhiwddolion.
• Continue on the track, which is still clearly defined, past (the inhabited) Ty Mawr. Shortly after this the track becomes a tarmaced lane.
• Continue along here until a T-junction. Some walks books advocate turning right here, or even further back up the lane, to climb through the forest to Llyn Elsi and a view point.
• However, our suggestion is to keep straight ahead here, through two wicket gates and continue quite steeply down hill for about 1 km until you reach the main A5 road along the Llugwy valley.
• Go straight across the A5 and follow the footpath down to the spectacular Miners' Bridge. Photographs do not do it justice but it is not as rickety as it used to be!.
• Cross the Miners' Bridge. At the top, ignore the yellow footpath arrow and turn sharp right along the river bank which can be followed all the way to Betws-y-Coed.

Snowdon

Check out Y Lliwedd from the top of the garden near the chalet and look at the webcam before setting out!