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Illegal Offroader Destruction

By Dave Roberts   

on September 11, 2009    No ratings yet.

Illegal Offroader Destruction

Did my little walk up Mynydd Mawr yesterday.

I was stunned as to how quiet it was walking across the Uwchgwyrfai Common, and how unseasonally warm it was. The only thing that was against the day was the exceptionally poor visibility. Moel Eilio, barely a couple of K across the valley was just a faint outline.

Of course, the tranquility was too good to last. In the distance i could hear the annoying engine noise of scrambler bikes. At first, i thought it was the farmer on his quad bike; fair enough as these hills are a workplace as well. But soon i saw the pair across one Moel Tryfan. Hopefully, they”ll disappear into the quarries and i”ll get some peace i thought.

But the worst happened. As i arrived at the start of the main slog up Mynydd Mawr, i realised that they were coming my way. Now i was firmly inside the National Park at this stage, and i doubt they had permission (on a common i don”t know how it would work?). They continued on and up the mountain, i couldn”t believe it. I took a few shots, but i failed to get their plates.

Now just for the record, Mynydd Mawr is always ascended from Rhyd Ddu. However, while this route up is a bit of a slog, it is a short ascent after a nice flat warm up across the moors. You follow the rim of the Cwm for a large section of the ascent, and the views into the cwm are far from dull. The best bit though is that you don”t get to see the Nantlle Ridge and the rest of the view until you literally summit. The view then hits you and you forget about the trip up. I decided to relax up here for half an hour, but my stay was cut short when a massive group of 20 arrived en masse on the summit. Why does that always happen? So i plodded back down, slighly annoyed, following the line of cairns that lead to the left of the path rather than towards it!

I then heard those bikes again, this time across the cwm on top of Craig Cwm Bychan. There”s a definite problem here with illegal motorsports (or legal, it”s still a problem) churning up the land and making a right mess. The track up is exceptionally wide and cannot be caused by the walkers who come up here as it is a very rarely walked track. The Moelwynion also suffer in a similar vein, pictures are on my website in the gallery.

May i then, offer my first (of many, i”m sure!) Tarred and Feathered award to the offroad scrambler bikers who deem the hills of Snowdonia a suitable place to both undertake their hobby and to cause environmental damage (both physical and noise pollution).

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Dave Roberts

Dave Roberts founded Walk Eryri in 2004, with the aim of providing routes that are off the beaten track. Walk Eryri is now part of Mud and Routes which continues to provide more off beat routes and walks in Snowdonia and beyond. Dave has been exploring the hills of Eryri for over thirty years, and is a qualified Mountain Leader. Dave also established Walk up Snowdon, Walk up Scafell Pike and Walk up Ben Nevis just to mention a few.

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