Precipice Walk Dolgellau - November 4th

Armed with my trusty Snowdonia App, I decided to have a go at the Precipice Walk from Dolgellau.

 

Had to drive past Bala Lake to get there, so stopped off at the far end to get some pictures. Its much more scenic there than the first end and I am pleased with the pictures, especially as a couple involved scrambling over some rocks to get the shot. I've missed doing that!

 

On to Dolgellau. The walk starts in Llanfachreth (if I am going to do more in Wales, I must learn how to pronounce the names properly, you'd have thought that marrying a Welshman might help here, but my husband is almost as bad as me, a born and bred Southerner)

 

Helpfully, the start of the walk is signposted so I started following it until I came to a fork, one signposted public footpath, the other not. So of course I followed the signposted one up and over a small hill and... back to the carpark! Don't know how I do it!

 

So I reread the App and have another go. Follow a different footpath which starts off ok, but then gets swampier and swampier and after about a mile ends up at the entrance to a forestry commission property which is padlocked and covered in barbed wire. I know that I have clambered over the odd locked gate recently, but I think this one would be a rebellion too far, so I retraced my footsteps back through the swamp back to the car.

 

So I am now a bit flustered, tired and absolutely covered in mud! I am beginning to understand why people worry about me when I go on my outings. Hubby thinks I should turn the GPS on on my phone, my youngest daughter has suggested I should carry a flare gun (!) and even a family friend has given me a whistle (the Acme Thunderer) in case I get into trouble!                 

 

Not one to give in easily anymore, I follow the original path, without turning off where I did before, and of course it is the proper walk!  

I can thoroughly recommend this walk. It takes you first past a very scenic lake with some very interesting trees. Then you climb a very narrow and rocky path upwards until you get some amazing views of the Mawddach Estuary and the sea. Someone has very thoughtfully put a bench here for the weary hiker to sit and admire the view but unfortunately a couple of weary hikers have beaten me to it! Typical I don't see another living soul on the walk and the only ones I do see are sitting in my seat!

                   

 

Anyway, you turn a corner and the whole valley opens up and you walk for a long while along the top edge. There is Snowdon to the North and Cader Idris to the South and it is literally breathtaking and I must admit to getting quite emotional!. 

However, they call it the Precipice Walk for a reason. The path is very narrow and extremely uneven, with quite a dramatic drop to the side, so I found myself watching where I was stepping more than the view, as I preferred to view the valley from the top rather than the bottom! Still what I did see was incredible and I am very pleased with my pictures although I wish I'd taken more. 

                  

 

The path then led back to the lake, 3m in total but I reckon I'd done at least 2m before I even started the walk!

Lesson Learned: Read the directions properly. Chances are if the footpath looks like a swamp, its not a footpath, it is a swamp!