Moel Siabod (TR, Photos & Video)

[Ian A]

Walk
Moel Siabod

Distance
8 Miles Approx. (Shorter circular)

Elevation
872m

Time
5-6 Hours approx

Parking
Park on the A5 between Betws-y-Coed and Capel Curing (2 laybys and one paid parking area)

Walk Description
The walk begins on the A5 where you take a bridge over the river and quickly take a right up a tarmac track heading to a farm with a million “keep dogs on a lead” signs and a diversion to miss the farm. The track is steep and it pops out by a newly built holiday cottage with a splendid view of Moel Siabod straight ahead.

The path then levels out a little heading in a virtually straight line directly towards the mountain until you reach the lower shoulder and it swings to the left to miss it and takes you by a small lake.

Not much further you begin to ascend through the two small quarries Rhos Slate quarry and Foel Slate quarry with a worked lake at the upper part of the second one.

Following the path upwards and still around the left shoulder you come to a larger lake, Llyn y Foel. Here it is swampy and you need to skim the right bank looking for a break in the mountain shoulder in front of you â€" the path travels through here and swings right to begin the scramble up.

From this point the path is difficult to follow and it appears there is a lattice of paths all heading up to the summit. A little scrambling is required in places although these can all be avoided by working your way around the outcrops (or just scramble over them). All paths lead to the summit from here as long as you are heading UP!

The summit hides a plateau with a fantastic panorama of Snowdonia.

There are two paths down the otherside â€" one heading to the Plas y Brenin outdoor centre in Capel Garmon and the other heads off along the ridge (it’s a very wide ridge) and down the shoulder to meet the original path you walked up.

Of course, there is a short video here;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKKQ4F0DNdg

And the photos;