Climbing Cader Idris via the Minffordd Path

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We awoke and to our surprise we'd slept for about 12 hours. A quick wash, the shower had been broke back in August, and we headed down for breakfast. We were greeted by a guy who looked like the farmer from the film Babe. In fact I think it was him, he talked passionately about how ducks eggs were more yellow than normal eggs and how they had much more flavour. He was right, the scrambled eggs were bright yellow and tasted really eggy. The couple we obsessed with house prices and it was nice to see that it wasn't only Londoners that had been hit by this national obsession.

We were told before we left mid Wales to drive round the Elan Valley, where there were numerous dams and lakes constructed in 1893 to provide water for Birmingham. So thats what we did. It was a great little driving route and as a passenger who suffers from travel sickness I managed to survive the narrow roads.
The route took about 30 minutes then we headed towards our next mountain, Cader Idris.

Map of Walk
http://www.eryri-npa.co.uk/recreation/walking_m/minffordd.php

Cader Idris is 2,927 feet, 893 meters. A small hill in terms of mountains but after the first 20 minutes my legs were hurting. It was a steep climb through a 'relic' (8,000 years old) oak wood, then a gentle path following a stream to the base of the mountain, the morning cloud had lifted again and to our amazement the sun was shining. It was a long afternoon scrambling up the well marked path. We reached the summit at about 3 in the afternoon, it was cold and my phone didn't work, so I ate some chocolate to energise my legs.

The climb down was hard work, we over taken by a couple in their last 60s with a dog, who seamed to be effortlessly floating down the mountain, they were professionals who by the look of things had been born and lived in the Welsh hills all their lives The guy looked a but like Uncle Albert out of 'Only Fools and Horses' they floated off in to the distance. The decent was much quicker than the climb and were back in the car park by mid afternoon.

We set off toward Harlech along the costal road, the route was slow with few overtaking places, but we arrived late evening, drove past the castle to a little farm house Ty Cerrig to meet my brother and his other half.

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Photos

Victorian Dam in the Elan Valley
Water flowing over the top of the dam. I think this was how it was designed!

Cader Idris
At the base of Cader Idris on a sunny September day

The summit of Cader Idris
I'm cold but the veiws are great and I've got chocolate

Harelch Castle at night
One of the many impressive Castles in Wales