Cader south (east)

Peaks: Gau Graig, Mynydd Moel, Pen y Gadair, Mynydd Pencoed

Area: Cadair Idris

The mirror image of the 'northern' circuit I did on this day (I think) last year, a rather strange and entirely coincidental quirk. Maybe not entirely coincidental, however, as there is something about Cader from Tal y Llyn in springtime. I can remember doing the southern loop for the first time in April 1989 or thereabouts, and have also taken Morgan round it at this time of year too. Today we set off from the car park at the top of the pass, where I did my Maesglase traverse earlier this month. This gave a superb climb to Gau Graig which I had never done before - just 28 minutes to the cairn. Then, you are perfectly placed at the end of the main ridge. So after enjoying the expansive views over Aran, Rhinog and Waun Oer, we set off at a sustainable jogging pace west towards Cader. This was brilliant, superb views on all sides, comfortable pace, and the great thing about approaching from this direction is that the scenery changes from the gentle eastern hills to the dramatic glacial cwm of Llyn Cau. We stopped briefly on Mynydd Moel (these two are the 'alliterative hills', and MM is something of a tautology too!). Then an another easy climb leads to the trig on Pen y Gadair, still fairly empty as it was before 10.30. The descent to Mynydd Pencoed is awkward and rocky, indeed I have never done it this way round, anti-clockwise as logic takes you clockwise round this famous cwm. My knee was a tad painful but this eased as we got to the base of Cwm Cau to enjoy one of Wales's finest views, the classic glacial scenery building to the pyramidal peak of Pencoed. Steep, awkward but fairly fast down to the Tal y Llyn car park, and then came the sting in the tail, up the bridleway to the top of the pass. Again, this was new ground for me and a very useful discovery as I have always wanted to do a long loop around Cader, which I reckon would be better than the Snowdonia marathon, a Welsh TMB! As such, this route above Tal y Llyn would avoid the busy road. Two hours for the 14k/1050m round, in more cool but delightful spring weather.