Ambling above Aber Falls
Date: 05-Apr-2009
Map: Landranger 115
Weather: Bright
From the car park at Bont Newydd follow an easy path up to the falls, the scree path being up to the left of the main path, and returning by the same route: a 5 mile stroll as measured on memory map.
As my flights to Norway were cancelled today, I decided to take a quick trip down to Aber Falls or Rhaedr Fawr close to the North Wales coast. I was so enamoured by this location when we walked the Carneddau last week that a return visit was a must. It didn't take long to drive down from Manchester and the weather was good. The falls aren't signposted from the A55 which means that it isn't overrun with tourists (maybe it is on a bank holiday). It is a lovely peaceful valley and a gentle walk up from the car park. There aren’t too many parking spaces but I managed to squeeze onto the grass verges, if you are in the official car park you have to pay. In the village of Abergwyngregyn is a cafe where you could get some supplies if needed, because further up the valley there aren’t any facilities – thankfully it is as it should be. It is quite a steep sided valley, with a mass of pine plantation to the west side of the valley. On the other side of the valley are some of the original Oak forest that would have been seen all over Snowdonia in times past.
The path from the car park
Coppiced woodland
The charcoal burner
The OS map told me that there are several hut circles to look out for along the valley and they are easy to spot when you look out for them – i.e when you haven’t walked over the top of the Carneddau from the other side! Apparently it is warmer down in Aber, as when the rain clouds come rolling in over Snowdonia from the south west and dump all the rain, the wind rolls over the tops and warms up as it falls down to Aber – something called the Fohn effect, which is probably why the valley has been populated for a long period of history. The path wanders up through coppiced Alder trees – easy to see because of the multi stems rising from the old tree stumps, and they are using this today to make charcoal further along the path. High above are the electricity cables that extend to both sides of the valley – it must have been a hell of a tug getting these set up. Further along the valley as you gently gain elevation I could see the Menai Straights and the Iron Age hillfort on Maes y Gaer down the valley, with heavily wooded slopes below. Some of the birch trees had great gobs of mistletoe growing high amongst the branches – too high to be harvested I suppose. It feels like walking into an amphitheatre as the head of the valley got nearer, and there are three main streams tumbling down from the moors above. Up on the left side of the valley an old field enclosure can be seen with massive boulders forming the wall lines. Once I had got my eye in I could recognise several levels of hut circles, and old enclosures, but the obvious one is to the right of the path just as you draw level with the end of the woods on the right. This has a nice standing stone within with a distinctive yellow/orange stripe of lichen down it – it all adds to the atmosphere of the place.
The stone hut circle with standing stone
The same circle
More hut circles to the north of the path
The big scree slopes
The standing stone could be from up to 5000yrs ago – there are more stones up on the Carneddau. High up on the left are the spectacular Marian Rhaeadr Fawr scree slopes. It is a massive jumble of stones that has been formed over many thousands of years, and if you stand and look at them, you can see it is made up of lots of fan shaped scree that have merged together over the years. We walked down the left hand side of the scree a few weeks back when walking on a Carneddau traverse from Llyn Ogwen, and it was a steep and slow descent after a long walk. On that day we watched a pair of Peregrine Falcons high up on the crags screeching at us, and wheeling around the tops looking for lunch. We found a seat for lunch and sat down in a warm sun to munch our sandwiches, and were passed by many people out for a quick look at the falls. We watched three lads taking a direct route up the scree slopes up to the crags and beyond. They weren’t bothered about dislodging the occasional boulder, which was a bit irresponsible, but then again when was anyone in the prime of their youth responsible? After a peaceful interlude we investigated the path up to the top of the falls that crosses the scree under the crags above. There are a couple of fenced off areas to study how the natural vegetation would regenerate without the sheep grazing. The higher one is a square where the moorland heathers, gorse and bilberry are thriving once more. Hardly surprising really as the slopes on the other side of the Aber Falls are covered in it.
The path across the scree slope
The old hillfort is up on top of the distant hill to the
right
Looking up to the crags above – steep enough
Lower down the scree slope is a triangular enclosure where there are trees and bracken growing quite happily. It looks fairly precarious from down below but with care is not too bad to walk up - quite a gentle gradient, but one or two bits of narrow path and steep drops to the side. The initial path goes up towards the plantation and then swivels around to walk along the scree slope. It is fairly solid, but in one or two spots it is turning a little loose and rubbly so be careful – I was. It also gains height quickly even though the gradient of the path isn’t so steep, and the drop off to the right is spectacular. As we reached the end of the scree path the drop down to the valley below was very steep and you have to be sure of your foothold from here on, even though there is a good path up to the first rocky sections. I just leant into the hillside as a little as we passed around and over the rocky bits and to be honest these are fine to walk over if you have a head for heights. But there is a section that is wet from water coming out of the hillside and it is this part where the danger lays. It is slippery in parts due to algal\mossy growth, so we had to be extremely careful in picking out our route across – it is only a short section but it could be deadly – SO WATCH OUT! Beyond this part the path winds up beside the falls and there is a great place to sit and listen to the water gushing by before it disappears over the edge and out of site. My OH made it so it can't be too bad (she doesn't read this by the way).
Looking down to the valley below
The top of the Aber Falls
You can see the steepness of the scree slopes
This is where we turned around
Back down the same path to above the falls
The path came out above the falls up the valley to Bera Mawr and Garnedd Uchaf, and we could have used this route to come down off our Carneddau Traverse - it would have been a lot easier than the steep scree slope down to the valley floor. We didn’t have the time or the inclination to carry on to the top – I think I’ll come back and do a round sometime. After a sit down, it was time to retrace our steps back down the same path and return to the valley floor the slow way! One thing I noticed today from high up were the stone hut circles - probably about 2,500 yrs old. Once I had noticed one (it did have a sign next to it - derhh) I started to pick out quite a few more. When we got back down we paid a visit to the falls, and as I sat there below the tumbling water, it felt almost hypnotic and very, very peaceful – a grand little walk, even if you just visit the falls.
The path back down across the scree
The scrambly bit
And some more
Aber Falls to the right
Around to the falls
Beautiful clear water below the falls
Aber Falls
But not much life here…unless you’re an insect