Glyders Via Devil's Kitchen: Mountain Hike - Glyder Fawr, Glyder Fach, Snowdonia #greenspaces

This hike, following the Devil's Kitchen route up Glyder Fawr and Glyder Fach, starts from a free parking area, one of a fair few, along the A5 (LL57 3LZ). The formal path begins at the Ogwen National Trust building, toilets and information can be found here, you can also pay to park if you wish to. The path is pretty clear, leading over a bridge and bending West to the incredibly tranquil Llyn Idwal. A truly beautiful lake, named after a welsh prince. The Devil's Kitchen route can be seen from the lake, winding its' way up between Glyder Fawr and Y Garn. The Devil's Kitchen itself is a deep crack within the dark rock face, water pours over it, giving the affect of steam. There are places on this route, that require hands as well as feet, but they are not too often and it is very simple scrambling. The path is not difficult to follow but feels fun and wild. We eventually came to a stile and wall, which we decided to stop at to have something to eat, the wind had picked up and we presumed we wouldn't want to stop on top for long. We also made a friend at this point, a lad from Berlin, who had been exploring the UK. We all headed off up to the lovely little Llyn y Cwn, a lake favoured by wild campers. Here you have to ascend up the scree slope, heading South and then South-east, it is relentless but you will soon see the moonscape like boulder field of Glyder Fawr. At 1001 meters, the mountain is the 5th highest in Snowdonia, and so rugged. Please do take some form of navigation with you if the weather is not fine because it can be difficult to pick out the correct route through the rocks and boulders. In the distance we could see the strange, jagged rock affectionally called the 'Castell y Gwynt' - Castle of the winds. And yeah.....it was windy! Without loosing or gaining much height, we soon found ourselves on the Glyder Fach (994m), and the precarious looking Cantilever Stone. It had started snowing at this point and our travel buddy had got a bit cold so he made his way down back to his lodgings, we hope he made many more memories before heading home to Germany. After showing off on the Cantilever Stone and drink tea, we decided to head off the mountain following the easier (ish) eastern decent. You still have to watch your footing, you can see where feet have worn the rock but I do feel this is a difficult path if the cloud came in. After a sharp decent we turned North-west, facing the sleeping dragons spine of Tryfan, and made or way to the wall that connects the mountains. Here a quick snack and a change of coats was required as now there was driving rain and wind. We quickly followed the path down to Llyn Bochlwyd, hugging its' East shore before following the river very closely, and steeply, to the valley and path leading to the Ogwen NT, we had started the day on. Ah, what a fantastic day, we were knackered and soaked by the end but we didn't regret a thing! Thank you for being here, all the best, Ceri & Kat!   / teainvalhalla     / teainvalhalla