Llyn Idwal and The Glyders

Glyder Fach is one of the more underrated mountains in Snowdonia, but coupled with taking in the views of Llyn Idwal and starting from the Ogwen valley, a long summers day or even a whole weekend can be made of this stunning walk.

With plenty of free parking along Ogwen lakeside, and convenient toilets and cafe situated near the youth hostel at the base of the walk, the area can be popular with climbers and walkers alike, but often sticking close to the valley or further towards Tryfan. Not an area of North Wales to be missed!

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Suitable for both winter and summer walks, we parked in one of the many lay-bys along Llyn Ogwen, a place close to our hearts, and situated in Snowdonia. Having Snowdon reasonably nearby means that Ogwen Valley is often less popular and not as busy as other areas, but for us has some of the best walks, scrambles and climbs in the country.

Walking the Glyders has been on our list for a long time after seeing pictures and hearing stories of the beautiful landscape and fun walking terrain. It’s a walk we have wanted to do in various seasons, and so in the January snows, we set off for a simple night navigation, with our trail beginning from waypoint 1.

Hopping over a style at the top of this scrambly section leads us nicely up to Llyn y Cwn, our 3rd waypoint, where we stopped for what turned out to be a brilliant wildcamp in the snow, sheltered by a patch of boulders next to the lake.

This was so that we could make a full weekend of the walk (which can happily be done in a day during the summer), and take our time to enjoy the views, as well as practise and improve our general mountain skills and navigation.

The next morning, views out over the lake were stunning as the snow continued to fall around us, and a few navigation groups wondered quietly past our tents.

Packing up, we set off for the remainder of the walk, to hit our 4th waypoint having crossed the beautiful Glyder Fach, which has a Game of Thrones kind of look about it.

We honestly think this is one of the most special places in North Wales, and definitely gives photographs a bit of a wow factor from up here!

Waypoint 4 is where the trails split and head towards the mountains of Y Foel Goch and Gallt yr Ogof.

Make sure you keep left all along this path, otherwise you might find yourself veering off onto the mountain of Tryfan – another beautiful mountain, but one with a bit more of a scramble and lots of climbing routes on, so unless you know where you’re going it’s best to steer clear.

Continue past Tryfan (on your right hand-side), to hit another lake, Llyn Bochlwyd, and our final waypoint before rejoining the original path close to the waterfall near waypoint 1. From here it is a simple walk along the road and back to the car was parked along Llyn Ogwen.

There’s nothing like that feeling you get after you’ve had a cracking day on the mountains!