First awesome mountain day

I've been training for mountain walking for a few months now so on Saturday with a clear day forecast and the mountain clear of ice it was time to head off onto the mountains that I have looked at from the lake.  The Llwybr Crib yr Aran (Aran Ridge Path) was the route for the day and I set off at 8:30 to make the most of the day.  The route starts at Pont-y-Pandy, Llanuwychllyn with an easy road and grassy ascent.

It's not long before the views open out, to the north across Llyn Tegid and to the west over to Arenig Fawr and south-west to Cadair Idris. In the first photo below you can just make out the sun shining on Moel Emoel and in the second image a view up towards the first summit of the day, Aran Benllyn (885m).

I got to the summit of Aran Benllyn just before 10, it's not a difficult climb for fit terrier and the views were excellent, the first is looking north with Llyn Tegid in view and the Clwyds visible in the distance (Moel Fammau to the right and Penycloddiau just visible too).  The second picture below shows the view south along the ridge towards Aran Fawddwy which is about 2.5 km distant.

The ridge walking was great with incredible views in every direction as you can see from 

the photos, there was even some snow for me to play in (only a few patches though).

Just before 12 I got to the top of Aran Fawddwy, this involved a bit of scrambling for me over the rocky bits but I had practiced this with my human so I just loved it.  Although it was very windy at the summit (905m) it wasn't very cold so I didn't need my jacket!  The photos show the views I had from the summit, you can tell it was windy as my normally dapper appearance is looking a bit windswept.

  

 

I had a nice easy descent from the mountain, heading back north and taking in an extra summit, Erw y Ddafed ddu (872 m) on the way back (picture below) with lots of stops for taking in the view and scampering around in the snow patches. By the time I got back to the 

car-park at 3pm I had had the best ever day out as my first proper mountain walk and had covered 17.2 km with about 945 metres of ascent in total.  Was I tired ?   No but I think my human was!

Wags and woofs , Dexter the mountain terrier.