A remarkable journey from Ogwen Cottage to Bethesda

22 walkers and three guide dogs came on our latest five-mile walk from Bwthyn Ogwen to Bethesda.

The weather was perfect as we gathered at the Society's resources center in Bangor and picked up more walkers in Bethesda.

After taking a group photograph before starting, it was nice to be able to extend a welcome to some new faces who had joined us for the walk.

The views were magnificent as we started walking along the Nant Ffrancon road.

Nant Ffrancon is an example of a valley created by a glacier, and shows a "U" shape with steep sides and a flat bottom.

On the eastern side of the valley are the slopes of Pen yr Ole Wen and Carnedd Dafydd while on the western side are the slopes of some of the Glyderau peaks, such as Y Garn, Foel Goch and Mynydd Perfedd.

We were surprised by the number of small waterfalls cascading down the mountain and into Afon Ogwen.

Besides animals such as calves, sheep and lambs and the occasional horse, we saw that quite a few rushes along the fields that get sodden when it rains.

The lane ran parallel to the A5 road which was rebuilt by Thomas Telford.

After crossing several animal obstacles on the way we had lunch in an ideal spot by a stream.

It was an opportunity for everyone to continue chatting while enjoying the contents of their lunch boxes.

We passed a cottage that was used as the home of postmaster Alan Bates in the recent documentary film and another farmhouse, Maes Caradog, which had a criafolen tree (rowan or mountain ash) either side of a nearby gateway to keep evil spirits away.

Before long we were walking down the hill towards Bethesda before getting up again to reach Zip World where we had a cup of tea and a chat before the bus collected us and returned to Bangor with everyone having really enjoyed our walk.