CEFN-DU + DINAS OSIAN.21-7-12.

Today me and Julie visited Llanberis to do a small walk up to visit the antennae buildings on Cefn-du.Llanberis was a hive of activity today as it was the day of the Snowdon Mountain Race so we parked in the long car park that runs along side Llyn Padarn and waked through the town and took the steep road to reach the narrow lane that runs below the hill fort of Dinas Osian,it was very hot as we gained height and the views weren't bad,below looking back to Elidir Fawr.

Julie's feet were hurting already so we slowed the pace down and had a few stops so she could recover.Once we got to the path that branches off for Moel Eilio the path flattened out and we could see Cefn-du ahead.

Julie's spirits were lifted when we saw that we didn't have far to go or to gain a lot of height.We left the lane near to the Chwarel Fawr slate mine and picked up a narrow path and as we gained height we could see the peaks of Yr Eifl to the right of Moel Tryfan.

We were soon at the summit which is marked by a trig point,seen below,and the ruined antennae buildings.

Cefn-du was the site of the first radio transmission from the UK to Australia in 1918.Marconi used this hill to experiment with long distance radio waves.We stopped and had dinner here,marvelling in the far reaching views across to Anglesey,the Lleyn Peninsula,the Nantlle Ridge,Moel Eilio and its 2 small quarries of Donnen Las and Bryn Mawr,Snowdon and across to the Carneddau.We took a detour to see the massive chasm of the Chwarel Fawr quarry before returning to the track.Below is the hill fort of Dinas Osian in the foreground and the scarred side of Elidir Fawr.

I made a quick visit to the hill fort whilst Julie carried on down the track,its summit cairn seen below.

Leaving the hill fort i took the very steep path down through the bracken slopes to get in front of Julie and took a photo of Yr Wyddfa,below,while i waited for her.

We made our way back to town by 1.30.The Snowdon race started at 2 o'clock and there was a lot of competitors running around warming up for the race.A quick change by the car and we made our way over for the start of the race.

The lad in the white vest is last years winner and 6 times champion Andy Jones but he pulled out with injury half way up,and the lad in the dark blue vest on the left is Murray Strain from Scotland.Last year he finished runner up but this year he won it,his Canadian girlfriend won the womens race in her first ever mountain race !.
    Today we walked 7 mile with 1,500 feet of ascent.

MILEAGE WALKED     341.5
ASCENT                         81,800
TOPS                               78.