Clare and I had planned on going climbing in the Moelwyns today, but when we were getting ready, we couldn’t help noticing that the weather was looking significantly better than forecast. Spending 50 minutes driving there seemed like a bit of a waste of blue skies, so we quickly changed plans and drove the short distance up the valley, with the intention of getting up high on to the peaks of the Carneddau.

The air clarity was outstanding and everything seemed in sharp focus as we ascended to the Llugwy Resv.

As we approached the summit of Carnedd Llewyllyn, a little mist blew through, but then dropped down below us, giving incredible cloud inversions, with the summits staying above the clouds.

We had planned (loosely planned!), to traverse the ridge lines to Daffyd and Pen yr Ole Wen, before descending in to Ogwen and returning to the car, but with clouds approaching from the south, we pressed in to Yr Elen – a peak that is rarely climbed and whose distinctive summit if visible from The Cottage.

With a huge bank of cloud building and chasing us northwards, we decided to carry on and run all the way back to The Cottage!

The only slight snag, was the small river that needed to be crossed. It looked like a tidal wave of white water was slowly sweeping over the mountains that we’d just descended…

Once over the river, we re-joined a path that we knew would get us down to the village.

Then from the village, we followed the track back to The Cottage – Yr Elin in the peak in the centre of the photo below, just staying clear of the clouds.

In the suntrap of The Cottage garden, we kicked off our shoes and soaked up the heat of the October sunshine while hydrating. A fantastic journey, with 14.4km travelled and over 800m of height climbed. We just had time to shower, fetch the car from the valley before meeting Howard, Mel and Mum for dinner. A great day!