Forestry Plantations Above Lake Bala

Introduction

This is the walk I had planned to do last week. I was in unfamiliar territory this deep into Wales, and I arrived at the terminus of the Bala Lake Railway by 11.00.

My “Back in 5 Hours” mantra was not to be realised today!

It is a 1 hour and 45 minute drive from Cheadle Hulme to the eastern edge of the Snowdonia National Park.

The walk was a about 7.5 miles, with a total ascent of 1500 feet, 455 metres.

The walk took 3 hour 45 minutes to complete plus 15 minutes for lunch. It should have been much less, but the route became quite challenging at one stage…. of which more later. For now, let’s just say that I don’t recommend this route!

Furthermore, for dog walkers, this is not a good walk for you. There’s lots of sheep, as you’d expect in Wales.

The weather was splendid, around 20 C and sunny.

The walk is on OS Explorer Map OL23.

I parked on the road by the railway station, at postcode is LL23 7PH.

Up To The Moors

Bala Lake has a lakeside narrow gauge light railway.

I set off over the railway bridge. The lake was soon in view.

Then, I really enjoyed the first section of the walk on a pretty, wooded slope.

Increasing height brought spectacular views of the water. The lake is natural, but its level was raised by Telford to create a feeder for the Llangollen Canal. It is full now, no sign of drought here!

I liked this perfect smooth toadstool found in a grassy bank.

The heather is now in flower, and makes a wonderful view across the hillsides. There were swarms of flies, bees and other insects here, so I didn’t hang around.

To The Timber Forests

At this point, the view west to the mountains including Cader Idris appear.

When I reached the plateau, I was feeling pretty warm. The views east to the Clwydian Range could now be seen.

Before entering the forest, I stopped for lunch, and spent some time watching this little grasshopper. See if you can spot it in these pictures.

In the forest, it was really quite wet, which surprised me. There are a lot of sunny glades, and lots of furry, mossy branches and rocks.

I suddenly emerged into a wasteland. This cleared area is not shown as such on the map, so felling has occurred quite ecently.

I crossed a track, towards the bottom of my route map above. After re-entering a forest I emerged at the bottom point of the map. The path turned left and followed the forest edge, giving a wonderful view to a valley in the mid-distance.

Disappearing Tracks

I crossed a stile back into the forest, and met this.

A huge tree had fallen across the path. I attempted to drop down to my right to get round the tree. After 10 minutes I faced this.

There were so many fallen trees. Many were decaying and rotten and couldn’t be safely climbed over. I retraced my steps and tried the left side of the first tree. There were a lot of young trees with sharp low branches. I could feel my legs and arms getting badly scratched.

So, I put my coat and over-trousers on, and ploughed through. The path up to the summit and supposed fire tower had been completely overgrown with new plantation. I’d say the new trees were probably 15 years old, but the track was still shown on the map. I carried on, warily. The ground was very uneven. At least with GPS mapping I knew I was heading in the right direction! Eventually I reached a more recently felled area.

I stopped and enjoyed the views.

The terrain here was very rough underfoot, with some sinking areas in the sphagnum moss.. After another slow 20 minutes I was delighted to reach a real track! My route didn’t follow the line drawn on the map, but I did eventually reach my intended point of exit from the forest. Enough of the Indiana Jones, thank you!

Back To Bala

The route and views coming down the last stretch were as good as those on the way up.

Soon, I had the lake back in view.

And then the town of Y Bala too.

So, as they say “Don’t Try This At Home”. The map has plenty of alternative routes, avoiding the foresstry plantations, and they would be great walks. I learnt a lesson today!

And Finally….

More new music this week. I do like a bit of reggae. This is reggae with a bit of swing thrown in. The Dualers with “Mr Penniless” from the lovely album Voices From The Sun.