Valentine’s Day with the Martins! Although I had a strong desire to have a slow start to the day, after a non-stop February thus far, the day was also set to have the best weather of the week. As well as settled weather, our combined day off also coincided with the start of half term, as well as Valentine’s day, so we decided to head for a route less travelled…

The cold rain and low clouds of the past few days had cleared to reveal snow and ice-covered mountains. The ground was well frozen and the paths were covered in delicate and intricate needle ice that collapsed under our footsteps.

We drove up the hill behind The Cottage and left the car in order to complete a one-way journey over four summits and along the ridge to Cwm Idwal – with the return transport being bus, hitch, or worst case, a walk back down the A5.

It didn’t take too long to get up high, where the views were excellent, and the wind was virtually non-existent. Perfect hiking conditions. The snow was mostly cosmetic, and our route ahead was easy to follow.

The morning was mostly blue sky as well – even the distant summit of Snowdon was out of the clouds. We crossed Carnedd y Filiast, before continuing over to Mynydd Perfedd summit for some leftover pizza from last night’s dinner.

Ice was rimed up on the fence posts and in places had fallen off the wire still in it’s grid shape.

We also came across some fine examples of ‘raised footprints’ – created when someone walks through and compacts the fresh snow, before the wind transports the rest away!

After reaching the less frequented Foel Goch summit, we descended the ridge and continued up to Y Garn, after a nice chat with a friend whom we happened to pass by.

From this high point, we could look back along the ridge line to where we’d come from – very satisfying!

All that remained was to descend into the valley. We used our micro-spikes on our boots to get down. Crampons would have been a bit overkill, but having just boots for grip on the icy terrain looked very difficult for the walkers we passed, slipping and sliding without them!

Back down at Ogwen Cottage we discovered the next bus was an hour and twenty-five minutes away. It was only about three degrees, and the wind was picking up, so not ideal for sitting at the bus stop. We stuck our thumbs out, and within 5 minutes, we were sitting in the front of a very warm van heading back to Bethesda! From there, we thanked our saviour (who’d never picked up a hitchhiker before and was very glad to find we were ‘okay’) and walked back over the river to The Cottage. Boots off, fire lit and kettle on. Bliss!