All walks › Eryri: Yr Wyddfa and Llanberis
Eryri: Yr Wyddfa and LlanberisYr Aran
The shapely peak south of Yr Wyddfa that thousands photograph and almost nobody climbs, with the best view of the Snowdon massif from anywhere.
- Distance
- 5.6 mi / 9 km
- Time
- 4 hr 30
- Ascent
- 750 m
- Difficulty
- Strenuous
- Shape
- There and back
Where it is
The circle shows the general area, not the exact start. Use the directions link below to get to the car park itself. Contours and paths shown are OpenTopoMap, drawn from OpenStreetMap data.
The route
Climb the Watkin Path from Bethania then break off south-west onto the ridge and up to the summit. the way back is the way you came or by the southern ridge to Nantgwynant.
Worth knowing
- The view of Yr Wyddfa and the Horseshoe from here beats anything you get from the mountain itself.
- Old copper and slate workings on the lower slopes; keep clear of the shafts.
- Far quieter than anything else in this valley.
What you’ll see
The whole Snowdon Horseshoe, Cwm Llan and its quarry ruins, and the sea to the south.
Background
The Watkin Path was the first designated footpath in Britain, opened in 1892 by Gladstone, who addressed a crowd from a rock in Cwm Llan.