Pen y ole wen

As the lighter nights are here now i thought it was about time i got the hill walking going again. When i was planning to go in March and April there was still too much snow about. Well this evening was just what i needed and i set off after work for Ogwen Cottage and had the mountains to myself.

Pen y ole wen is the 7th highest mountain in Wales and have been meaning to do it for ages. Every time i am at Ogwen cottage though i looked at the path directly up and it kept putting me off. However for today i found a route up from the far side of Llyn Ogwen. The biggest mistake i made today though was parking in the car park near the centre as it meant i had to walk down the lake before i started and then the other side returning back. This would have been great if i had more time to appreciate it.

I was a little out of practice and the walk up was hard going. There were areas of real scramble and i was surprised some of the straight up galleys i had to get through, quite technical but the views were great and i was in no rush so appreciated as much as i could could. The top was a little disappointing though as it was quite flat and struggled to get a decent view, i had also forgot my selfie stick so a quick photo and i was heading down.

The return was just as technical but i managed to drop off quite quick. I also realised where i had gone wrong on the path going up and when i looked back i still thought surely that narrow gap isn't a path! When down i thought i would walk along the road path next to the lake to get some speed on. However the light was going down, the lake looked fantastic and i was surprised how many sillouetes of bats i saw picking of flies around the lake edge. What a great way to finish an evening.