Llyn Cowlyd, at its deepest, 229 feet, 70 metres, is the deepest lake in Wales. The lake is long and narrow, measuring nearly 2 miles (3 km) long and about a third of a mile (500 m) wide, and covers
an area of 269 acres (1.1 km2). The surrounding hills drop steeply to the water's edge, from Cefn Cyfarwydd and Creigiau Gleision to the east, and Pen Llithrig Y Wrach to the west, the general aspect is one of bleakness. Dependent on the weather conditions, the waters often appear dark.
It was bright but nippy when I arrived at Capel Currig on a Thursday Morning. Parking behind the Joe Brown shop down a narrow lane I got kitted up and the dogs on their leads for the first stage of the hike, three quarters of a mile Northwards along the A5. The footpath, where it existed on this stretch is very narrow and care must be taken with traffic flying along this main road.
Just Past a farm called Bron Heulog, on the right side of the road there is a style and sign post stating the way. Its a relief getting of the road and into the open.
The first half mile or so from here is a little on the steep side until I come to Tal Y Waun, a small holding on my left, it then levels out a little to become a steady slope all the way to the point where two footpaths join at the river feeding the lake.
I keep along the well defined path
heading North through what is quite bleak and boggy landscape heading for the menacing looking peak of Pen Llithrig Y Wrach.
The Boys stopping for a pose !!
Eventually I come to the wooden bridge crossing the river leading down to the lake. From here its a steep decline passing the waterfall just below the bridge. Keeping to the path eventually levelling out above the lakes shores, the sound of the rushing waterfall suddenly disappears behind me.
Two footpaths join here at the bridge to cross over the river.
First view of the lake.
Looking back up the river.
The waterfall.
The river flowing down to the lake.
From here it a two mile hike along the West side of the lake under the towering presence of Pen Llithrig Y Wrach. The name translates as 'Slippery peak of the witch' probably in reference to its resemblance to a pointed witches hat. It stands at 799 metres, 2621 feet high.
Its a straight forward up and down walk to the dam with only a few sheep to keep me company. This doesn't seem to be a much visited area unlike some other parts of Snowdonia. Its along this stretch that I change plans. Across the lake I can see another track in the shadows. There is no track shown on my map, just steep slopes leading straight down to the shores of the lake. My original plan was to have some lunch by the dam and head back the way I came, but the adventurous side of me came out. The way back for me now lay on the darker East side.
I crossed the dam and found a nice level grassy area right next to the lake where I decided to have a coffee and warm up a tin of soup, rest for a while before the retuning walk.
Refreshments taken, legs rested, its time to start the walk back. First to find the 'Footpath'. It takes a while then I realise there is no footpath, only sheep tracks. I follow this thinking it will get better and turn into a path of some sorts, but it does not. The track leads on winding through ferns and bog, over rocks, down troths, back up again then disappears !! This continues for the whole two miles. Many times I lost the track, twice ended down on the boulders on the shore of the lake only to have to scramble back up to find a track again. All this with one dog in front of me and the other behind. It was a long walk to say the least. The end of the lake never seemed to get any closer, just sitting there watching me struggle in the shadows of Creigiau Gleision. The final stretch is the worst, rather than go down to the shores and follow the river up to the path, I decide to head up hill and around the East side of a rocky outcrop. I hate to head down when I've struggled to get up to where I am, then to have to struggle up again. The legs are getting weary now, every twig and stone seems to want to trip me up and send me arse over tit, my patience is wearing thin. Finally I reach flatter ground but the bridge I'm looking for where I know the clear path is, is still about 300 meters away. Not that bad really until it dawns on me that there's on track here and its mostly bog. But hay ho, the bridge is where I need to get to, so off I go, rout one, a straight line. It wasn't as bad as I thought and my feet stayed dry unlike the bottom half of my trousers.
Finally getting there I sit down to rest my weary legs for ten minutes before the relatively easy walk back down the track to the A5 and back to the car.
The return trip back along the lake was hard on the legs and I know now why the path is not marked on the map. This was a walk I'd looked at doing for the last couple of years but had never got to do, so its one ticked of the to do list. Next time I walk this area I may go up to the summit of Pen Llithrig Y Wrach or Creigiau Gleision to admire the views from up high, possibly, if the legs allow, returning along the path on the West side of the lake, but definitely not the sheep tracks on the East.
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