Llanberis, Afon Arddu, Dinas Ty-du Hill Fort and Ceunant Mawr Waterfall

The walk begins at the terminus of the Snowdon Mountain Railway, completed in 1894. This is the only rack railway in Britain, and the rack which you follow in the initial stages of the walk has a narrow gauge of two feet 7.5 inches.

The line goes all the way to the summit, but you part company with it soon after the Ceunant Mawr Waterfall. Llyn Padarn occupies the bottom of the valley that was hollowed out and deepened by a glacier in the last Ice Age. The mountain streams that run into it cascade down the steep sides of the mountain and hill slopes from hanging valleys.

The falls of Ceunant Mawr are created by the little Afon Arddu. There are actually two separate falls: the first is a 40-foot plunge into a pool, and the second an 80-foot oblique-angled slide down a rock face.

You continue the steady climb a little further and follow roads and tracks across the slopes towards the Iron Age hillfort of Ty-du.

Ty-du (Black House City) is reached by a winding, sometimes rough path. There is very little here to remind you of the past — just a few scattered stones. The point of the visit to the hillfort, though, is the view from the site.

Llanberis is set out before you, with Llyn Padarn to its left and Llyn Peris to its right. On the slopes to the north are the grey scars of the old slate quarries, some of which have now found use as reservoirs. Mountains fill the horizons in all directions save the west, where you can see across to Anglesey and the Irish Sea.

The descent tracks across the slopes lower down, heading through a network of small walled fields before rejoining the outward route just above the waterfall.

Acknowledgment: Text derived from the Out and Out Series; Discovering the Countryside on Foot. Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia.