The Carneddau mountains of Snowdonia are truly special. They seem slightly different from the rest of Snowdonia, perhaps it is the fact that once up on the plateau, you rarely drop below 800m, or that it feels much quieter and more remote than other parts of Snowdonia. Whatever it is, it has always been my favourite part of the national park; so naturally, a longer backpacking rotue traversing the range was something that had to be on the agenda.
Day 1
We started the day at Platt’s Farm campsite in Llanfairfechan. From here, we walked on a large track up towards Drum. Unforchenately, the visibility was non-existant so we missed out on some of the views.
From Drum we continued to traverse across to Foel Fras.
We decided it was a little to early to eat lunch, so pushed on to Carnedd Gwenllian for lunch.
After pushing on to Foel Grach, we moved on to Carnedd Llewelyn and then across to Carnedd Dafydd. At long last, the visbility began to increase and we enjoyed a stunning cloud inversion.
At this point, we were hoping to camp near the summit of Carnedd Llewelyn, but we couldn’t find any water. We did sight out a small pond near the top of Foel Grach, but it was extremely grim and we agreed it was not safe to drink from, even with a filter. So, reluctantly, we dropped down to Ffynnon Lyffant to pitch up.
Day 2
The day started with a ridiculously steep pull out of the Cwm.
From here, we climbed to Foel Grach, and then along to Foel Fras.
We decided to drop down to Llyn Anafon and take the track back down to Llanfairfechan. This turned out to be surprisingly stunning!
Final Thoughts
I loved this route. It is undoububly one of my favourite backpacking routes, and I have no doubt I’ll repeat it in the future. It does have to be said, the distances and elevation gain involved are significant – with about 1600m of climbing on the first day, and 500m on the second, good fitness and confidence over mountain terrain are required. Much of the route is on a plateau too, which in low visibility can be difficult to navigate on.
Nevertheless, anyone who is comfortable moving in the mountains should try this route. For me, it is an ode to a range that is often forgotten about. Crowds are drawn to the rocky structures of the Glyderau, and the fame of the Snowdon range, but for those that like their hills big, remote, and with a splash of wilderness, the Northern Carneddau are difficult to beat.
Oscar Outdoors 