Three North Wales walks with perfect swim + café stops
Emma Marshall, local insider and author of guidebook, ‘Wild Swimming Walks Eryri/Snowdonia’ shares with us her three favourite walks from the book which have great places to eat en route.
Wild Swimming Walks Eryri/Snowdonia leads you on 28 walk-swimming adventures in the soaring landscapes of Eryri National Park. As well as full directions, maps and descriptions of the history and legends associated with the landscapes of the walks, there are recommendations for places on the walks, or nearby, for refreshments. Here are Emma’s favourite three:
Capel Curig Circular
A delightful and easy, five-mile loop of Capel Curig featuring river dips beneath an oak canopy and a surprisingly warm lake swim with an iconic Eryri backdrop.
Plas y Brenin has a relaxed bar and dining room that is open to the public and is bustling with those here to enjoy outdoor activities. The bar arguably has the best views of any pub in the UK, looking out over Llynnau Mymbyr and Pedol yr Wyddfa (the Snowdon Horseshoe), it serves great pub grub and legendary Sunday lunches. It’s a great spot to stop and relax after a tiring day in the mountains.
Deep in the heart of Eryri, ideally situated between the Afon Llugwy, the twin lakes of Llynnau Mymbyr and the surrounding mountains, the charming village of Capel Curig has long attracted anglers, kayakers, landscape painters and mountaineers alike.
This route provides stunning views of the Pedol yr Wyddfa (Snowdon Horseshoe) and Moel Siabod as it wends its way through pretty oak woodland, mountainside pasture and alongside the beautiful babbling Afon Llugwy.
The first swimming opportunity is in the Afon Llugwy at a huge old oak with rope swings. The river here is languid and calm, benefiting from a large, deep pool. The last time I swam here the robins were singing their dewy September song in the green canopy above. I floated on my back, closed my eyes, and let their song wash over me in the cooling waters of the Llugwy. More swimmable pools are reached via a secret path through the trees, where rhododendron watch the Llugwy slip by.
The final swim spot is in one of the twin lakes of Llynnau Mymbyr, with their iconic view up to Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon), Crib Goch, Crib y Ddysgyl and Y Lliwedd.
Right next to these lakes is Plas y Brenin, the National Outdoor Centre, accessed through a gate off the path just over the bridge.
The Plas y Brenin (‘king’s mansion’) building is a prominent and important part of Capel Curig’s story. Built for Lord Penrhyn in 1798, it began life as the Capel Curig Inn and was renamed The Royal Hotel in 1870 after Queen Victoria stayed there. Fascinatingly, the Queen scratched her signature, as did Charles Darwin and Lord Byron, on one of the cocktail bar’s windowpanes. This historical graffiti was removed, protected for posterity, and is displayed in a corridor beyond the bar. There is also a secret tunnel that was dug for Queen Victoria’s stay, in case she needed to escape for her safety. It emerges onto the lawn below the building near the lake. If it was needed, she would have run from the trap door of the tunnel (which is still in place) and boarded a waiting boat that would have rowed her to safety on the other side.
‘PyB’ offers all sorts of outdoor courses and residencies. After refuelling on food, drink and mountain views, it’s a short walk across the road to the start of the walk.
Llynnau Diwaunydd
On a sunny day, the twin lakes of Llynnau Diwaunydd take on a spellbinding, kingfisher blue. This fabulous 4.5-mile romp offers breathtaking views of the Pedol yr Wyddfa (Snowdon Horseshoe.)
The Pen y Gwryd is an iconic Eryri hostelry and is happily located right at the start/end of this walk. Within you’ll find a warm welcome and homemade soups and open toasted baguettes.
Named after the pass it stands on, this famous hotel has a rich mountaineering history. Sir Edmund Hillary, Sherpa Norgay Tenzing, Charles Evans and the rest of the team who went on to make the world’s first successful ascent of Everest in 1953 stayed here whilst training in Eryri and their signatures can still be seen on the ceiling of the public bar, as well as much more memorabilia from the time.
The route begins at Pen y Gwryd, a pass which lies at the intersection of three valleys: Nant Gwynant, the Llanberis Pass and Dyffryn Mymbyr, and continues across tussocky land up to Bwlch Rhiw’r Ychen (‘pass of the oxens’ hill’) The view from here will stop you in your tracks. The scene below is breathtaking, as first one, and then the second of the glittering and enticing lakes are revealed. Only during dry spells do the lakes separate and become two. Most of the time they are one lake, cinched in at the waist with steppingstones as a belt. Pine trees are dotted about and there’s a little beach area, where a large, flat rock makes a useful changing platform. Llynnau Diwaunydd provides the thrill of an almost-guaranteed private swim, with only the surrounding slopes of Moel Siabod and the crags of Carnedd y Cribau for company. Gliding through the velvety waters, chasing the outwardly-arching, sparkling ripples in this green-sided arena is a swimming memory I cherish dearly.
After swimming, retrace your steps back to the start, with the rocky Glyderau now towering straight ahead. The steep hill back up to the top of Bwlch Rhiw’r Ychen will warm you after your swim. Legend has it that an ‘afanc’, a water beast, lived in Pwll yr Afanc (‘pool of the water beast’) in the Afon Conwy near Betws y Coed. When angered, the afanc caused the waters in the pool to rise and flood the surrounding fields, drowning the animals. The local people tempted this afanc out of its pool by persuading a beautiful maiden to sing lullabies and then trapped it with chains. Two oxen then dragged the afanc across the mountains, past Llynnau Diwaunydd and up over the pass, where the effort of the pulling caused one of the oxen’s eyes to fall out. From the poor beast’s tears a new pool was formed, which was called Pwll Llygad yr Ych (‘pool of the ox’s eye’). The struggle continued, finally pulling the afanc up Yr Wyddfa and dumping it in Llyn Glaslyn, below the summit, where it remains trapped to this day.
Craflwyn, the Watkin Path pools and Llyn Dinas Circular
A lovely 6.5 mile walk through a landscape of ancient legends, which offers unmissable waterfall pools, a surprise sandy beach and an unusually warm lake.
Caffi Gwynant is a great place to stop en route for refreshments. This converted chapel is a cosy haven, which even has a table on the altar! During peak season it gets very busy as it’s a popular coffee stop for road cyclists as well those who have tackled the Watkin Path up Yr Wyddfa. There’s a lovely, relaxed atmosphere and great homemade food.
The walk begins on the 200-acre Craflwyn Estate, which dates back to the 12th century. The handsome, ochre-painted Craflwyn Hall, built in the 1870s as a gentleman’s residence, is now owned and run by the National Trust as a holiday let. A woodland path leads the way, ribboning behind the hall and outbuildings through some impressively tall pines, around ornamental ponds, waterfalls and past a bench carved in the shape of a dragon.
A hidden path leads to what I consider to be the best of the pools in the Afon y Cwm. The emerald green pool is enchanting, and the flat rock to the right of the fall is the perfect launchpad on a hot summer’s day. Above the pool is an area of sand. A beach. Why it is here, who knows, but it gives the pool an exotic feeling and a great digging opportunity for my border collie, Seth.
The route continues over Bylchau Terfyn and then heads downhill to join the very obvious scar of the Watkin Path (note the singular; it’s often misnamed ‘Watkins’), one of the six main routes up Yr Wyddfa.
The Watkin Path was the first designated footpath in Britain, named after Sir Edward Watkin, an MP and railway entrepreneur. In fact, the opening of the Watkin Path was the first step in opening up the British countryside to walkers.
The Instagram-famous Afon Cwm Llan waterfalls and dipping pools (also known as the Watkin Path Pools) are the highlight of this triple-swim-walk, even though they can get extremely busy during peak times. The truth is, on a summer weekend you may see more G-strings and shellac nails here than dry-robes and neoprene boots! However, the clear, turquoise waters of these pools are popular for a reason. They are stunning and thrilling in equal measures and a must in the Eryri wild-swimming portfolio.
After your second swim, head back down the path to the road, where you will find Caffi Gwynant, the perfect spot for refreshments, and then onwards to finish the walk by skirting the tree-fringed Llyn Dinas, one of Eryri’s loveliest lakes. It’s relatively shallow and often quite warm. Testament to its beauty, the point where the Afon Glaslyn flows out of the lake at the far end appears in a scene in the film ‘Inn of Sixth Happiness’, starring Ingrid Bergman. And it’s near here, at the end of the lake, before the footbridge and off some grassy banks beyond the ferns, where I recommend a final swim.
