This morning looked overcast, but we felt we needed to get out on a walk, even if it did rain, so we headed to Beddgelert again. This time to climb Moel Hebog, (SH564469) an unknown peak to me until we started to plan the holiday. Moel Hebog is not a high peak coming in at around 782m, but it got us out on a walk.

We parked up in a car park (SH588482) as you come into Beddgelert via the A4085 from Caernarfon, opposite a school. Once we had our gear sorted and boots on, we looked over to Moel Hebog and noticed it was topped off with low cloud. From the car park we turned right, going towards Caernarfon, we followed the road uphill until we got to a turning on the left, (SH585483) this looks like an un-surfaced lane with a cottage on the right of the lane. We headed down the lane. I have since noticed that as you follow this lane, they have rebuilt the old Welsh Highland Railway line; there was no real evidence of a railway line crossing this lane when we did this walk.

We followed the lane until you reach a farm on the left; the main lane turns a sharp left just after the farm. (SH580478) We carried on straight, following a smaller lane. This lane soon ends at a farm outbuilding.

Moel Hebog was directly in front of us, the land starts to gently rise towards Moel Hebog. We followed the track that led from the outbuilding; we eventually reached a small wooden bridge which crossed a stream. We then started to go through an area covered in ferns. We had some fun finding the best route through the ferns, Andy going one way, Ray going another and me just trying to find the best route through!

Although it was over cast, the sun did show itself from time to time, the day was very humid also. Once clear of the ferns, the route became steeper, meaning we took more and more breathers (on the pretence of us taking in the views down into Beddgelert and the valley it sits in).

We continued up, the track became quite stony in places and meandered left and right, at times it turned to short scree slopes. Then the sun came out, so we thought we would make the most of it and take another break to take in the views and take some photos, also a group photo of us relaxing.

Ray decided he didn’t want to go to the top; we tried to talk him round, but he said that he didn’t feel up to it. So after a short rest, we left our bags with Ray, then Andy and I set off for the top. Moel Hebog has a rounded top to it, so it seemed to go on and on before reaching the trig point. It was quite blustery on top, there was a couple taking a rest taking shelter behind a wall. Andy and I got the typical trig point photo. Even though it was overcast again by this time, we still got some good views. With the blustery conditions we decided not to spend too much time on top so headed back down. As we started back down we saw Ray had moved to behind some rocks to get some shelter from the wind and the slight bit of rain that had started to fall.

Once we had sorted our gear out, we started to head back down. I didn’t put my waterproof jacket on at this point as the rain was so intermittent, being dry more than it raining. After about half an hour this changed as the rain started to steadily come down, so off came the rucksack and on came the waterproof jacket. Andy had gone on ahead of us, and had started to video us coming down past him. Ray went 1st, and then as I was still catching up, I followed. Just as I got near to Andy to do the walk past and off into the distance shot, I lost my footing on the shingle of the path, and all Andy got was a mass of arms, legs, walking poles and the odd swear word! (So ended my movie career in that one unceremonious moment).

Once I had regained my composure, we carried on down with no real incident. We returned to the car and then headed back to the cottage.