Distance: 12 miles
Weather: fine
We didn't really start at Conwy; we started at Llandudno Junction, as that was the easiest place to get to by train. But, it's only a short hop over the estuary to Conwy, where, to my surprise, we found a walled town with a substantial castle.
I don't recall having been to Conwy before (although I'm sure I must have at some point in my teens), and it looks to be a town worthy of further inspection. In fact, given my fondness for poking around castles, it took some will-power to walk on by today.
Field paths, woodland, marshland, lanes and more marshland formed the terrain for most of the afternoon, all of which required (in the absence of waymarks) a lot of attention to the map. It was actually a pretty nice day for the ridge route (which would have given far easier navigation, I'm sure), but if we had embarked on it then we would have been forced to camp high tonight (or descend unnecessarily), as we wouldn't have been able to make the full distance in the time available.
The surroundings changed remarkably as we climbed up and over the dip to the east of Moel Eilio. Out we strode along a grassy track, into a rugged landscape, marred only by the cuckoo calling to our right, and a big hydro-electric pipeline to our left.
Our progress over the final mile was the slowest of the day, as we kept stopping to investigate potential pitches, all of which got rejected. Just as we were wondering where we would end up tonight, we climbed over a stile and found some dry, short grass, right next to a stream. Even better, we've got a cracking view over the reservoir below us. We're happy campers tonight!
Lyn Cowlyd is lovely as long as you're not looking in the direction of the dam. Reminds me a bit of Scotland. Never camped there but probably should.
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