OS Maps – Walks With Olly

Planning for Snowdonia – March ’23

In a few weeks’ time, I’ll be heading north to Snowdonia for a few days, just as I did in this same month last year. In this post, I’m going to share some of the walks I’m looking to embark upon. Each of which will be new to me.

Old Man of Coniston

Tuesday 13th September 2022

My first ever walk in the Lake District! I’d skipped the chance to climb Scafell Pike on Monday, as the weather was abysmal and it was more than an hour’s drive from the campsite. But Coniston was only twenty-five minutes north of where I was staying. I hadn’t ranked the Old Man too highly on my to-do list but it would be very convenient and probably worth doing.

The Aran Ridge (Snowdonia)

Tuesday 29th March 2022

My inspiration for this walk came from a trip to Snowdonia in May 2019. A group of us were camping at Bwch yn Ychaf in Llanuwchllyn and very close to the Bala Lake Railway. We spent much of the weekend looking up at the ridge but, with other plans on the table, not one of us quite decided to venture up and explore it (even fewer of us could pronounce its summits).

It’s been on my mind ever since. I had to wait almost three years but I’m pleased to say that I have tackled and conquered the Aran Ridge. My walk starts in the small car park at Llanuwchllyn, after a forty-minute drive from Ffestiniog.

Finding Exmoor’s ‘How’ Cairns

Searching for the Joaney How and Robin How cairns on Exmoor and not far from Dunkery Beacon.

Tuesday 24th August 2021

This would be my final walk of a three-day weekend down on Exmoor, ahead of my final night of camping at Halse Farm. I drove to Webber’s Post for the beginning of this one. I’d been up Dunkery Beacon many times but for now, I wanted to find a couple of named cairns from the OS Map.