The Last Y Garn

Sun 22 Oct 2017

We had had Y Garn in the Rhinogs on our to-do list for sometime (I had done a route plan back in July 2013), as it was an ideal single summit to fit in as one of our shorter Sunday walks. So, after checking out of The Wynnstay Arms, we headed off to the village of Ganllwyd with my satnav leading the way and Vince and Jack following.  In 35 minutes we were at the National Trust car park and getting our boots and waterproofs on in preparation for another wet day in the Welsh hills.

The route initially followed the Afon Gamlan and its spectacular Rhaeadr Du (Black Waterfalls). We made a short detour to get a better look at them – with the amount of rain that had fallen in the last 24-48 hours they were an impressive sight. Having admired the falls we pressed on, the first kilometre or so on paths within woodland before emerging onto the open hillside near some old mine workings. At a small pond just above these workings the first spots of rain began to fall.

We headed on up, crossing one broken down wall, and heading up to the substantial wall above Bryn Bedwog that Nuttall said we had to climb over as there were no stiles. We sheltered under the wall for a ten minute banana break and then began to look for a suitable spot to cross. It was a substantial two metre high wall with a couple of rows of barbed wire atop it (surely this was not to thwart sheep but hill walkers?). After an abortive attempt to cross, Vince noticed what looked like a ladder stile about 150m to our right in the mist. This was soon confirmed by checking through binoculars, so contrary to Nuttall there was an easy crossing.

Once over the wall the summit was just 600m away with 130m of ascent still to do. The wind on the top was still pretty fierce, so we only hung around long enough for our customary record shots on the summit. We headed north-east to descend what was an initially very steep section beside a wall on Ffridd Gwndwn-uchaf. At a farmhouse we left the hillside and crossed a field to pick up a track that led us back into the woods, eventually joining up with our outward route back to the car park.

After changing out of our damp clothes and having a bite to eat we went on our separate ways.

On bagging this Nuttall, I have now done all four of the “Y Garns” in Wales (Glyders, Pumlumon, Moel Hebog and Rhinogs).

Summit	Height (m)	Status
Y Garn	629	Hewitt, Marilyn, Nuttall