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PLACES AROUND PEN-Y-PASS
Capel Curig + Pen-y-Gwryd + Beddgelert
Photographs by Noel
Walley & Elwyn Jones
The writer, a
resident of Llandudno, regularly uses public transport to visit his
favourite haunts in North Wales. He sometimes takes the Arriva S2
through bus at 9:50 am from Llandudno that arrives Pen y Pass (shown
here) at 11:10
am. Pen y Pass stands at
the head of the Llanberis Pass and is the location of a large car
park, a Youth Hostel (formerly the Gorphwysfa Hotel) and a popular
cafe. It is of course the starting
point for several walking routes to the summit of Snowdon. Pen y Pass
is the hub of the Sherpa bus network and there are good bus services to
and
from Llanberis, Beddgelert, Rhyd Ddu, Waunfawr, Porthmadog, Capel
Curig, Ogwen, Bethesda,
Betws y
Coed and Llanrwst.
Llyn Llydaw by the Miners Track
Take the Miners track via Llyn Teyrn, Llyn Llydaw and Glaslyn, an easy walk as far as the lakes, and the only way in which to see these hidden Snowdonian lakes and also the Snowdon copper mine locations as well as superb views of the Snowdon Horseshoe. The walk is about a mile each way.
On the way back the Pen y Pass Centre with the Cwmffynnon bowl high above and behind, seen from the Snowdon Miners Track. Cymffynon and its lake are hidden away behind the ridge but can be reached by a footpath to the left of the Youth Hostel.
In the jottings below the writer refers only to places easily reachable by the Sherpa bus service.
Click this link for details of the walk from Pen-y-Pass down the Llanberis Pass to Nant Peris, a little over two miles or about four miles to Llanberis, but you are never far from a Sherpa bus stop. This is the view at the head of the Pass:
In the opposite direction, the descent from Pen-y-Pass to Pen y Gwryd is a short but steep downhill walk with the most magnificent views of Nant Cyndyd leading to the Nant Gwynant Pass, see below (served by Sherpa buses), the pass descends from Pen y Gwryd to Beddgelert. In the valley foreground is the Cwm Dyli hydro electric power station.
Pen y Gwryd is noted for its ancient hotel built on the site of a Roman Marching Camp. It has frequently been visited by climbers who left their mark during training expeditions and notably by Sir John Hunt and the members of the successful Everest expedition of 1953. This photo below was taken from the Sherpa bus stop.
Here can be had a very good pub
lunch. Here too are to be found the signatures of the successful
climbers of Everest, in June 1953 – Sir John Hunt (leader), Sir Edmund
Hilary and Sherpa Tensing – not in any conventional and dusty visitors
book – rather, with others, written on the ceiling of the climber’s bar
for all to look up to! More recent Himalayan climbers including
Chris Bonnington have also added their mark. Behind the hotel are the
steep scree covered slopes of Cwmffynnon.In the neighbourhood
of Pen y Pass:
Llyn Llydaw by the Miners Track
Take the Miners track via Llyn Teyrn, Llyn Llydaw and Glaslyn, an easy walk as far as the lakes, and the only way in which to see these hidden Snowdonian lakes and also the Snowdon copper mine locations as well as superb views of the Snowdon Horseshoe. The walk is about a mile each way.
On the way back the Pen y Pass Centre with the Cwmffynnon bowl high above and behind, seen from the Snowdon Miners Track. Cymffynon and its lake are hidden away behind the ridge but can be reached by a footpath to the left of the Youth Hostel.
In the jottings below the writer refers only to places easily reachable by the Sherpa bus service.
Click this link for details of the walk from Pen-y-Pass down the Llanberis Pass to Nant Peris, a little over two miles or about four miles to Llanberis, but you are never far from a Sherpa bus stop. This is the view at the head of the Pass:
In the opposite direction, the descent from Pen-y-Pass to Pen y Gwryd is a short but steep downhill walk with the most magnificent views of Nant Cyndyd leading to the Nant Gwynant Pass, see below (served by Sherpa buses), the pass descends from Pen y Gwryd to Beddgelert. In the valley foreground is the Cwm Dyli hydro electric power station.
Pen y Gwryd is noted for its ancient hotel built on the site of a Roman Marching Camp. It has frequently been visited by climbers who left their mark during training expeditions and notably by Sir John Hunt and the members of the successful Everest expedition of 1953. This photo below was taken from the Sherpa bus stop.
Pen y Gwryd to Capel Curig
This little lake at Penygwrd Llyn Lockwood is named after the 1920's hotellier who created it as a fish pond and to give his visitors a view of a lake. It is, with the hidden Llyn Cwmffynnon the source of the Afon Gwryd that flows through Nant Gwryd and Dyffryn Mymbyr, the sheep farm made famous in "I Bought a Mountain" by Thomas Firbank, to Capel Curig.
Just above Capel Curig is Llyn Mymbyr with this famous view of the Snowdon Horseshoe.
(photograph © September 6th 2005 by Elwyn Jones)
Here also at Capel Curig is an ancient church Eglwys Santes Julitta now in the care of a local charitable trust. In pre-Norman times the dedication of this church was probably to Saint Curig, a Welsh Bishop of the 6th Century. Later the name became Latinised to Cyriacus and identified with Saint Cyricus who with his mother Saint Julitta was martyred at Tarsus c304 AD. Probably known by the end of the 12th century as Saints Cyricus and Julitta, it later became known just as Saint Julitta.
Pen y Gwryd to Beddgelert
Reflections in Llyn Gwynant.
(photograph © September 6th 2005 by Elwyn Jones)
The
peak of Yr Aran reflected in the still waters of Llyn Gwynant.
(photograph © September 6th 2005 by Elwyn Jones)
(photograph © September 6th 2005 by Elwyn Jones)
Craflwyn, one of several National Trust Properties near Beddgelert,
is described as a restored miniature Victorian estate.
(photograph © September 6th 2005
by Elwyn Jones)
.