The Glyderau from Ogwen

Glyder Fawr and Glyder Fach, at 1,001m and 994m, are the twin summits of the Glyderau, a boulder-choked ridge above Cwm Idwal and Llyn Ogwen reached by the A5 through Capel Curig, over the pass from Llanberis. The name is thought to come from the Welsh “Gludair”, a heap of stones, which is as good a description as any of ground that is more scattered rock than path for most of its length. The National Trust has managed roughly 7,000 hectares of the Carneddau and Glyderau since 1951, taken on in lieu of death duties on the Penrhyn Estate; it bought Ogwen Cottage itself, now the wardens’ base for the two ranges, in 2014.

Walking Britain gives the standard round, climbing south of Bristly Ridge to Glyder Fach and on to Glyder Fawr before descending past Llyn y Cwn, as 8.9km and 753m of ascent, around five hours. That descent drops through Twll Du, the “Devil’s Kitchen”, a dark, water-worn cleft in the cliff of Clogwyn y Geifr whose rising spray gave rise to tales of a devil cooking inside it. Many parties climb by Bristly Ridge itself instead, a grade-1 scramble that nearlyuphill.co.uk rates “not for the faint-hearted even in good weather”, requiring three points of contact on steep, loose rock; a bypass path of around 2km skirts it for anyone who would rather not. Beside Glyder Fach’s summit stands Castell y Gwynt, the “Castle of the Winds”, a jumble of rock towers, and the Cantilever Stone, known in Welsh as Y Gwyliwr, a slab projecting out over open air; both appeared as a dragon’s lair in the 1981 film Dragonslayer.

At 753m of ascent over rocky ground where the path is often faint, this is a day that needs sound navigation in cloud, and Bristly Ridge turns it into a genuine scramble unsuitable for anyone unsteady on rock. It does not suit a first hill day or young children; the shorter, waymarked climb to Llyn Elsi from Betws-y-coed, at 6.4km and 300m of ascent, is a gentler introduction to walking in Eryri.