Snowdonia Way - Dy 7

Llyn Ogwen to Aber falls - 16 miles

Waking up early has become my routine and surprisingly I don't feel sleepy just excited. I managed to catch the sunrise this time and had a blast enjoying it with my camera. Walking around the lake was stunning with amazing views, the path however was a bit rocky, and the weather was very windy; it took me almost 1.5 hours to walk 2 miles. The name of the lake made me giggle a bit 'The Lake of the Lively Piglet' 😁 OH, come on you must smile ... oh and it's possibly the resting place of Excalibur 😊 now that's quite COOL. The double bridge by Pont Pen-y-Benglong was so fascinating to look at that I decided to have a long breakfast there ..... 10 minutes later (shivering like a leaf) I set off again. When I noticed the cafe on the other side I almost wept with joy; the hot chocolate was simply pure bliss, I was very tempted to pour it on my frozen fingers though. Next came the Nant Ffrancon (Valley or Stream of the Solders) ..... ahhhh .... no words come to mind that actually fit: stunning, magnificent, and stupendous are a few but still not close enough. I wanted to sit here for several hours and just watch this view and simply exist. A local told me this valley is taught in geology class as it is a textbook example of a glacial U-shaped valley, well I've been, I've seen, and I've enjoyed looking at it. The path was stunning, the sun was shining, and the wind was blasting; I ended up donning all my gear so I wouldn’t get frostbite. Before reaching Bethesda, I passed the slate quarry ... I read that in the 19th century, it was the largest in the world and the deepest man-made hole on earth, WOW. Apart from a nice hot chocolate at a cafe, I didn't stay long as I wanted to get to my destination before sunset. Leaving town included a steep climb where you could really see the size of the slate quarry. It’s shocking knowing that most are dumped there and left as waste and only 10% can be split and trimmed into roofing slates. After 30 minutes of beautiful Mooreland, the view changed again, and I joined the North Wales path with views over the Irish Sea. The sun was out but I had to put my layers on again due to high winds. My first glimpse of the Aber Falls was from 2 miles away and it looked amazing, but from close up, it looked fantastic. As I've done my research, I knew I could camp near the falls so my next step was a quick splash and wash. A very lovely lady agreed to take pictures whilst I attempted not to get frostbite, I almost succeeded. Getting into the water was more of a challenge than expected: I had to reject 2 spots close to the falls for safety reasons but the third was knee-deep and safe enough to enter. It was one of the quickest splashes in recent memory but oh so very refreshing (aka OUCH freezing) and it made me adore my thermals even more 😊. Once I changed into my evening gear, I found a nice cosy and somewhat sheltered spot to sit, read, listen, and stare .... Ahhhh moment again. It felt like a storm was brewing as the wind picked up quite a bit so to ensure my tent didn’t fly off like a kite, I planted myself inside and prayed for a ‘grounded’ night 😁