I`m just back from an enjoyable long weekend at the Torrent Walk Campsite, near Dolgellau. The initial purpose was to activate Cader idris on the Saturday, but I had managed to strain my back a couple of days earlier so an easier objective was sought for the first day, and Moel Offrwm was close at hand.
Now normally I would not consider a one point summit to be worth a report unless it was a first ascent, but bear with me. The route described by Richard, G4ERP, and largely followed by Tom, M1EYP, was obviously done in the cooler months of the year, for the contouring path described as the start of the route was now covered in head-high bracken, in places mixed with a shorter growth of stinging nettles, which frankly I considered to be rather unsporting! In places I had to search gingerly for the path by prodding with my roach pole, which at one point gave a sheep a terrible shock, and me almost a heart arrest! By the time I emerged from the bracken and the path started to slope up slightly I was a little fed up, what if more bracken appeared?..
Just as you pass a white house down amongst the trees a group of a half dozen gnarled hawthorn trees appears on the slope above the path. Just after passing them I stopped to wipe the sweat out of my eyes (it was that sort of day, in Wales, in August - amazing!) and I noticed a grassy ramp sloping easily up rightwards and passing just above the highest hawthorn. This had a sheep track meandering up it and it looked quite inviting, so I accepted the invitation. At the skyline the ramp trifurcated: one branch traversed left, one branch traversed right, and another rose easily to the next skyline (“horizons disclose horizons!”) so I followed it (again following zig-zag sheep tracks) and at the skyline came to a little grassy plateau. The hillside above was the usual trying mixture of heather, bilberry and rocks, but another grassy ramp sloped up rightwards, petering out after a larger rock outcrop. I followed this and behind the rock outcrop another grassy ramp sloped up left with the usual obligatory sheep track. Wonder of wonders, this landed me on the summit ridge not far below a clitter of boulders that turned out to be part of the ruined defences of the hill fort. Yet another sheep track took me past the right end of this and onto the summit by some enclosures.
The summit is marked by a rather odd cube of dry stone masonry, nicely shown in Toms report. The ground around it is covered in more clitter and isnt a promising place to peg in guys, but I spotted near the top of the southeast corner of the structure a place where I could thread through a bungee to hold the pole. Those with rock climbing experience will recognise this as a classic “thread belay”.
There is little more to say. I activated on 5 megs and after a slow start got a nice run of nine contacts. Forty was checked but it was VERY long, none of the few stations heard were speaking English. Eighty was dead, as you might expect from the time of day and season, so I called it a day. Out of curiosity I descended by the wall route. The track, such as it was, was quite muddy and in places involved dodging collapsed sections of wall, as Tom described. In fact, parts of the wall looked ready to fall on the passer-by.
I recommend my route as a viable alternative to the wall route. Mind you, it would take real talent to get lost following a wall, and my route at least needs rudimentary skills, but it also has a pioneering feel to it, rare in the Welsh hills today. It is also dry, though in wet weather (which is to say, normal Welsh weather) this might change.
This summit, by the way, is excellent value as a viewpoint, standing alone but surrounded by mountains except for the gap of the Mawddach Estuary. The Rhinogs are seen from an unusual angle which makes them look a real doddle - which by golly they ain`t!
73
Brian G8ADD
PS What of the next day? It started to rain that evening and carried on into Sunday, culminating in an impressive thunderstorm in the afternoon: a hailstorm drumming on a tent amongst thunder and lightning is an impressive experience that I would prefer not to repeat: Cader will have to wait!
