Carnedd Llywelyn 9th august 2025

• 9.33km route
• Rucking with 20kg's
• Route difficulty - Extreme. this route is not suitable for rucking. We had to turn back.

We decided we would go for an adventure in Wales so we set off really early on Saturday morning and headed to Bethesda in north Wales with the aim of summitting Carnedd Llywelyn which is he second heights peak in Wales at 1064 meters. We had a route planned out, packed plenty of coffee, snacks and water and the weather was looking perfect for a mountain adventure.

The route started from a lane at the back of Bethesda. We got there at about 9am and it was already getting busy but we were lucky and found a parking spot. the route headed out across farmland scattered with the remains of old farm buildings, and we could see the mountain range out ahead of us.

The route followed a path which took us into the basin of the mountain alongside a lovely stream, but the further along the path we got the more of a challenge we could see we were in for, as the mountain was standing above us but we didn't appear to be climbing much so knew we would have a tough ascent when we got to it.

We eventually got to the end of the path following the stream and it turn right, heading up towards the cliffs and loose shale. although it was tough, it wasn't beyond our capabilities so we pushed on carefully. The path twisted and turned up the mountain side with a little thin route to follow which was obviously a popular way to the top as we were passed by quite a few groups of people which made us feel more confident.

As we got higher, the path got steeper and we started to get into the rocks, and on occasion found ourselves having to climb over or between large boulders and lifting Rosie through as as the steps were too big for her at times. Each time we got to a place where we found it really challenging, we assessed our situation and discussed what the best course of action was, as we knew that if we decided to go back, there was only one way back, so we would need to still have the energy to make the return journey, but we pushed on a bit further.

We then got to a point where the path appeared to go up a steep granite face at a out 45 degrees. we could se a group of people ahead of us so knew we were in the right kind of direction, and couldn't see any other obvious routes up. By this time, our legs had taken a pounding climbing the 500 meters of accent we had already concurred, and although we would have been able to get past this rock face with out the weight in our packs, we decided that this was too big a challenge to be able to get ourselves and Rosie over, and even if we did manage to get over it, we were not convinced we could safely get back down it if the route got any harder further up. So we made the sensible decision to turn back and get ourselves safely off the mountain without putting ourselves in danger.

We thought now would be a good idea to have our breakfast so we found a nice spot to sit, have a cup of coffee and some food and give our legs a chance to rest for a while be fore heading back down. After we had a break, we headed back down, now it was time to give our quads a good bashing as we slowly descended back down towards the path along the stream.

All in all, it was a lovely challenging ruck in beautiful surroundings and we can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday morning. We will be heading back here in the future to reach the summit, but we will find a more suitable route for rucking so watch this space.

We had a night booked in a hotel in LLanberis so we could have a relaxing afternoon/evening after our adventures. We found the Padern Hotel which a great little stopover and they were supper dog friendly with a little doggy welcome hamper waiting for Rosie when we arrived. Once we'd showered, we headed out for a well earned drink and some fish and chips by the lake, we found a great little place called Pete's Eats for a glass of wine and a pint and then on to the infamous Allports Fish & chips before heading to the lake to relax and enjoy the evening.

The next morning we thought we'd go on a bit of an explore, so we headed round the lake towards the Slate Museum and it was like a little nature reserve with people setting up for a day by the lake, swimming and paddle boarding. We headed along the path at the back of the lake to see where it would take it, and we enjoyed a lovely walk through the woods along the shore and up into the hills beyond.

 

On our way home on Sunday we stopped off at Colwyn Bay for a coffee and a cake, and let Rosie have a run on the sand, and i think its fair to say, she LOVES the beach as she had a major fit of the zoomies!!

 

All in all, we had a great adventure. We may not have made it to the summit of Carnedd Llyweleyn, but we had a wonderful time, and we will certainly be back to attempt a more suitable route to the summit.