Borders Thinking

Moel Hebog

The walk begins in the woods a couple of miles from Beddgelert and Moel Hebog looms clearly above you as you approach the start. After a short walk through woods there was a gradual if strenuous hill climb up to the base of the summit. The small plateau provided a good place to catch my breath and enjoy the views over Beddgelert; Cnicht and the Moelwyns were clear to the south, and the Snowdon range was straight ahead, with snow still on many of the slopes and thick cloud over the summit. After this break, there was a rough scramble up over the obscure path to the ridge. On my own, after my brother pulled out with a pulled muscle, I tentatively reached for the next foothold in the shale and wondered what I would do if I slipped at this point. This was mid-week in late March and I’d only seen one other walker so far (who’d kindly warned my of how tricky this bit of the route could be); and though the weather was mild at the moment it probably wouldn’t stay that way. So with extra care I looked round for the best route up (and I still l think I never found it), and was relieved eventually to pull myself up onto the ridge that leads to the summit. The view from Moel Hebog includes the whole of the Nantille ridge stretched out beyond Moel yr Ogof and to the west the coast of Wales stretching up from Porthmadog. Off the summit I followed a stone wall that dropped steeply to the bwch and then climbed up to Moel yr Ogof (the Bare Hill of the Cave, which takes its name from the cave just off the summit where Owain Glyndwr hid from the armies of Henry IV).

Past the summit, the path cuts across the rocky crest to the Moel Lefn. Dark grey clouds had now gathered over Nantille ridge, so I moved on quickly down through the valley into the far end of the woods from where I’d started. Inevitably there were a few false steps in the woods, but not too much of a delay, and I made it back finally to the car at the end of a hard but worthwhile 6 miles that felt like much more.