Walks report An alternative Snowdon Horseshoe 11 June 2011

19 of us set off from the car park in Rhyd Ddu in pleasant weather to do the alternative horseshoe. We followed the Rhyd Ddu path up into the hills before branching off on the footpath to meet the south ridge of Snowdon. Immediately we had left most of the tourists behind. After a coffee stop we started on the climb up the ridge towards the summit as the sun came out giving us some excellent views over Snowdonia. The south ridge certainly is an excellent way to ascend Snowdon, and perhaps the quietest of all Snowdon's paths.
We lunched before the summit thus avoiding stopping amongst the mad bazaar that is the summit of Snowdon in the summer. The peak was also a little misty and cool. But it wasn’t long after we had set off on our descent down the Snowdon Ranger path that the sun came out and we were treated to a gloriously sunny afternoon.
We meandered back through the old slate quarry taking time to marvel at the depth of the workings there. After that it was time to walk back into Rhyd Ddu arriving back at 5.30pm and in time to enjoy a very well earned pint of Shandy sat outside the Cwellyn Arms.

Ian