Moel Siabod via the Daear Ddu ridge

Parking in North Wales is never easy on a summer Sunday especially if the weather is fine but we will aim for the car park at Cyfyng Falls. [Back up plan: If parking is full, we will go to the Pont-y-Pair carpark in Betws-y-Coed and catch the T10 bus back to the start]

After crossing Pont Cyfyng we follow the good path uphill in a SW direction past the ruins of the disused quarry and then into the cwm containing Llyn-y-Foel. We may need to take a circuitous path around the cwm to avoid the worst of the boggy ground (you may have noticed that it’s been a wet summer!) before the Daear Ddu ridge, which has been prominently in view for some time, is reached. Here the fun starts as we head up the fine rocky ridge. It is well broken offering short sections of easy scrambling interspersed with walking. Hands will be needed but all difficulties and exposure can be avoided and there are sensational views of the east face of Moel Siabod and down into the cwm below. The ridge ends just a short distance from the summit from where, on a clear day, there are panoramic views of the suurounding mountains.

We descend by the usual path from the summit NE down to the woods opposite Plas y Brenin from where we walk back along forest tracks to the start point.
As scrambling on wet rock with water running up sleeves isn’t particularly enjoyable, the wet weather option is to miss out the Daear Ddu ridge and follow the path which runs a couple of hundred meters to the south of it.