Seeing on the FKT site that no one had walked the mountain route of the Snowdonia Way, unsupported. I wanted to be the first.
I planned for a few months to set off in April. Less insects and no bracken was the aim.
Unfortunately an unexpected hospital drama stopped me going in April, so I set off in June instead. I carried with me 10 days of food. Approximately 2,000 calories a day. When walking the CWT last year, I lost a lot of weight. So for this walk I deliberately put weight on prior to attempting it. The food weighed just under 5kg. My total pack weight, including 750ml of water was 10.8kg.
Leaving the start in Machynlleth on June 19th, I was excited and also nervous. Once I started to walk, the nerves went. I wasn't aiming to be fast. Just to finish it in 10 days. My aim was to have a lovely time and enjoy the journey.
Oh my goodness.. it was amazing! The scenery from start to finish was stunning. As the walk progressed it got better.
There was a predominance of cows each day, that I found difficult. They're not my favourite. Sometimes I walked round them off the path, but never enough to alter my route.
I rarely saw people. For the days before Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon), I saw a total of 4 people on the hills. They had all been on Cadair Idris. The isolation was insane. It felt more remote and isolated than on the CWT. Which I loved.
Bog was something I hadn't intended to be an issue. But there was so much of it. This really surprised me. There was also a lot of micro nav. Particularly hard in low cloud.
A large portion of the route was pathless and across tricky terrain. Bog, boulders, heavy growth of foliage and bracken at shoulder height in places.
On some of the route, there were multiple fallen trees and brambles. Lots of the stiles were in disrepair and the Bridge crossing the river after Trawsfynydd was closed.
The weather was very warm during the days. Often I had low cloud which slowed my pace somewhat, as I had no points of reference to help me.
At night the temperature often dropped considerably and I hunkered down in my tent. Overall the weather itself was very mixed. Some incredibly high winds over the last 24 hours made my final pitch at 760m very interesting!
Some of the sections of the walk were quite technical. For a general hill walker, they may find parts quite hard. Particularly down scrambling off Chnict. I did this in the wet and it took a lot of concentration with a heavy pack.
For water I took a Watertogo filter bottle. And an empty Robinsons bottle. The filter bottle was amazing as I could take water from literally any water source. I did find two stand pipes on the route. Mostly I used rivers and pools on the way.
Tryfan looked so beautiful. It felt a shame to be here and not scramble up it. But I know it pretty well, and I didn't want to make a detour at this point.
Day 6. The Snowdonia Way Mountain Route.
Leaving my fabulous pitch on Llyn Dinas, the weather was moody again. Low cloud and muggy. Loads of midges and cleggs. Heading up, towards Yr Wyddfa, the Route starts on the first section of the Watkins Path. Halfway up, it veers off to walk a really quiet ridge. It was windy and wonderful. Very atmospheric and chilly. I loved it. The cloud was racing over the rock formations, and there was a lot of scrambling again.
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What an awesome Route! Enjoying the walk more and more now, with a much lighter pack, two achilles tendons that were preferring the slower pace, and the now obvious increase in fitness. I relished this ridge. Then something crazy happened. It became really warm. So warm I stripped off to my t shirt, despite the wind. And I realised this could potentially mean I'd pop up above clouds. But an inversion above wind wasn't something I'd experienced before. Then it happened. And OH MY GOODNESS!! Of all the places on the entire walk for this to occur. It was INSANE! Finding a spot on the ridge about 30 minutes before the summit. I sat in silence and ate my oatcakes. What a day! It made me so happy.
MWIS Forecast:
Southerly 10 to 20mph, strongest on the Snowdon/Yr Wyddfa range, at times 25mph and gusts occasionally reaching 35mph.
Fog banks especially inland valleys at dawn. Tops mostly clear, but some coastal fog or low cloud banks drifting upslope onto hills near to Cardigan Bay.
Day 8 - Snowdonia Way Mountain Route.
The sunrise was spectacular. Not in colours, just in the peace I felt from it. As I moved off, I felt so fit. My pack was lighter from all the food I'd eaten, but heavier again because of the amount of water I was carrying.
Approaching Glyder Fach, I relished the scramble coming up. There was another inversion towards the sea, and I wanted to see it from the summit. On one of the more technical parts of the route I chose, I had a completely bent left leg. Performing a climbing move, I reached up for a good hand hold and went to lift my right leg. As I did so, the humongous boulder I had my left leg on gave way below me. In that moment, I thought I might get crushed by other boulders resting on the one I was balanced. I pushed off before my leg was ready. As I did, I felt an instant squishy feeling in and around my knee. Recognising straight away, I'd damaged it quite badly...
I have decided to produce a pictorial guide of the walk, with all proceeds to go to Mountain Rescue. It was very apparent to me during the walk, of the risk we all take undertaking these pursuits.
This was by far the best thru hike I have ever done. From start to finish it was amazing. Very varied terrain with a lot of different difficulties. The views were insane. It was challenging carrying such a heavy pack, particularly with an ageing injured body. But one I would recommend to anyone with a love of hill walking and of wanting to find isolation.
About Rachel Clarke
35 years hill experience, I discovered mountains whilst doing the Duke of Edinburgh award at 16. I have spent every spare moment since then, exploring the fells of The Lake District and the mountains of Wales and Scotland. My love of the hills also involves walking long distance trails solo, wild camping in some of the most remote parts of the UK. Based in North West Cumbria.