Tuesday 26th September 2017 Drws y Nant - Dolgellau - 8.5 miles

Tuesday 26th September 2017 Drws y Nant - Dolgellau - 8.5 miles


Our planned mileage for today was 10 miles, so we were reasonably confident that, having walked further yesterday, it couldn't possibly be any more than 10! We parked in the main car park at Dolgellau before heading back to the cottages at Drws y Nant. Here we met a lady from one of the cottages, who was originally from Shrewsbury. Small world!

The route headed on up the lane past the cottages and followed it all the way to Bryn-Coed-Ifor. This was lovely walking; a very quiet, gated lane, through pretty countryside. Just before you reach Bryn-Coed-Ifor you see a lovely lych gate with a decorated interior roof! We went through to the church, small and simple with lovely stained glass windows. Well worth the slight detour.

The lane pops you out onto a slightly larger road through the village. As you walk up here, the guide gives the option of keeping to the road in poor weather. We nearly missed the footpath, but decided to go for it, retracing a few steps to take the footpath up over a field. Having successfully negotiated some muddy patches, I'd just said that we'd probably come early enough in the season to miss the worst of it, when we hit the really boggy bit! It did look muddy, so going first, I decided to take the fence side. Big mistake. Up in to the top of my gaiters and barbed wire on the top of the fence so nothing to grab! All I could do was wade on quickly! Irene next, taking a mid-line, fared better, but Linda came close to getting permanently stuck, just managing to heave her boot out with a huge sticky slurp!

All our advice, shouted across, led to more confusion! Marie opted to use her poles to take soundings in the mud and although a good plan, came to grief, as her run-over, squashed pole couldn't take the strain and snapped, nearly sending her face first into the mud! Hysteria ensued and Marie had to fend for herself, clinging to branches to pull herself across. We survived, but were all on the lookout for long grass to wipe our feet on!

On up, around a cottage and into a lovely wooded area, walking on a 'ledge; along the top of a gulley, with a stream running along the bottom of it. It was worth the boggy bit to get to this pathway! It led to a Roman Road at an old stone bridge, Pont Rhyd-y-gwair.

At this point, the 'road' is a rough stone track with stone walls, through some wooded and some open sections. This too was delightful, lovely views all around.

You cross another old stone bridge, Pont Helygog, and continue until the track becomes more defined and rejoins the road from Bryn-Coed-Ifor. This takes you to Brithdir, where you briefly follow the B4416 before heading off up a cycleway and then grass path. After making the climb, we opted to stop for lunch on a grassy bank enjoying the views.

Fortunately, you don't climb all the way up the hillside, but cut across down a narrow rather overgrown footpath between a hedge and a wall. This gets diverted very neatly past a newly converted barn with a very upmarket stone log store screening the windows!

A short stretch of road walking takes you over Pont ar Ddibyn and up to cross the new A470 which fortunately was quiet! The lane resumes on the other side, but you quickly take a stile into a wooded section of a field. This was boggy! In the end we opted to hop from tree base to tree base using the roots to balance on! Again we were looking for yellow posts, but given the terrain, there wasn't much choice. Fortunately we found the gate to take us to the 'rough' section before the Quaker House at Tyddyn y Garreg. This was a Quaker meeting house and burial ground in the 17th and 18th centuries. We went to look at the burial ground which had been adopted as a regular cemetery in more recent times. This meant it didn't have the distinctive look of a purely Quaker burial ground like the one we have in Coalbrookdale, but still worth the short diversion over a field recently spread with cow muck! Our boots were really taking a pasting today. At least the returning tractor went the other way round the field , otherwise it wouldn't have been just our boots!

From here, a concrete track leads down through woods to a lovely farmhouse and cottages where a tarmac drive takes you onto a lane which drops towards Dolgellau. Here you pass footpath signs, but the route sticks to the quiet lanes. The valley appears to drop steeply so perhaps thats why the lane was the best option!

Past a derelict pub or hotel and on down until you meet the road into Dolgellau. Here you go over a bridge and into the town square. Then we proceeded to wander in circles looking for the loos! We ended up near the car park, but after a quick comfort stop, we headed back into town for tea and cake before collecting the cars.

Back at Drws y Nant, Linda found a lovely card and donation from the lady we'd spoken to earlier. Wales has been lovely - thank you so much.