UKC

On Sunday I descended off the Glyders to the Devil's Kitchen around 4pm and then found the path to Idwal Slabs was closed due to path-building work. A notice bore the logos of the Snowdonia National Park Authority, the National Trust and Natural Resources Wales. The heck with that I thought and carried on regardless, remembering I'd seen bags of stones littering the path by a tricky stream bed crossing weeks before. Sure enough that was the location of the work with metal fences either side of the stream gully and a concreted bridge abutment being semi-built on the Idwal side of the stream gully.

Climbing over the fences was easy enough and crossing the stream bed was as enjoyable as ever. As I went on my way I wondered why the stream gully crossing was being made easier. I haven't seen any information about the work or news of a consultation.

So why is it being done?

Safety? I can understand a concern but Cwm Idwal and the Glyders are wild places and, surely, the three authorities above should be preserving and protecting its environment and not building obtrusive bridges where they have not been needed.

The alternate path up to the Devil's Kitchen from the west side of the lake has no such tricky stream bed crossing. So why degrade/dumb-down the Idwal Slabs-Devil's Kitchen path. If nothing else it kept unskilled walkers away from the Kitchen where they could get into all sorts of trouble. Skilled walkers don't need a bridge. If the stream gully crossing is tricky then it's tricky. That's what being in wild places is about.

If we remove such tricky parts from paths to make them safer where do we stop? Install hand-rails?

I am a touch bewildered by this despoiling of what was once a nice-enough path and also irritated by the authority's approach. Is this attitude realistic and understandable or indicative of an inability to see the wood for the trees?

In reply to Chris_Mellor:

Idwal is regularly voted as being one of the most popular places in Britain's outdoors to visit. I guess we kill what we love by overuse and so the various national and local bodies are trying to mitigate impact and risk in this particular area.

In reply to Chris_Mellor:

Or perhaps they just wanted to make the circular walk around idwal slightly more accessible for folk who found crossing this washed out eroded gully a problem?

Making one very small part of the park very accessible, whilst hopefully leaving the rest as unspoilt as possible seems sensible.

In reply to Chris_Mellor:

That area has a long history of unnecessary pathy building and "improvements". I remember way back in the 90s they dug up an uneroded grass path to replace it with paving slabs. I think they've probably got to spend their money on something in order to get given more money next year.

In reply to Chris_Mellor:

I'd imagine that they want to make a nice, accessible walk up into the corrie and round the lake rather than an alternative approach to the Devil's Kitchen.

Is it justified? Dunno. It seems to me like there's a balance to be struck between preserving the remoteness and inaccessibility (let's not get started on "wildness") of remote and inaccessible places for people with the skill and fitness to get to them and sharing those places by making them accessible to a wider range of people. It's hard to say what's going too far one way or the other.

In reply to Ramblin dave:




in my opinion it is justified as it gives quick easy walking (maybe one day wheelchair?) access into one of the most beautiful cwms in N Wales. the mountains are not just the domain of the fit and health, but some areas need to be accessible to those not so fortunate. Twice now in the last few years I have walked up into Cwm Idwal with elderly and terminally ill relatives and friends, both of whom had been fit and active hillwalkers before they became ill.

To have seen the pleasure and happiness on their faces as they once more stood in such a lovely place surrounded by the mountains they had loved and climbed, scrambled and walked in in earlier years, gives me a resounding YES to your question.

Both died not long after their visits, but I am so thankful that there are park authorities who do make an effort to provide easy access to some lovely areas for the less fortunate in our society, where they can still get a sense of being in the mountains away from traffic.

When my time comes I hope that I shall have such an opportunity.

I am not advocating that we open up lots of areas, but please yes lets keep some for those who can't access such areas for whatever reason.

In reply to Chris_Mellor:
Sounds like it is definitely the Idwal Country Park now. How about all the people who will have overcome that challenge and felt great about it? It's not as if the continuation through the cleft and down the other side of the lake is that much easier, so what's next?

In reply to mysterion:

Handrails. A zipwire. Educational noticeboards. Waste bins. Leaflet racks......

In reply to Chris_Mellor:

They've already built a climbing wall and swimming pool there.

In reply to Chris_Mellor:








Don't you just hate it, when big footpaths are dumbed down for 'leisure walkers', when they should be just left as big footpaths for all us serious 'hardcore proper walkers'?

In reply to Goucho:

Understand your point Groucho and didn't mean to come over as a "hard core proper walker". But could you come my way a little and suggest where the line should be drawn in making Cwm Idwal more accessible to more people? What would be too much for you?

Why have National Park Authorities to preserve and protect our treasured wild place if they don't do that and, like the National Trust, put in (to my eye) eye sore hydro electric schemes on the Watkin path which are new developments, and tarmac part of the Pig Track? Where do you draw the line?

In reply to Chris_Mellor:

Actually, the National Parks have two (competing in some senses) remits. One is to conserve the landscape, the other is to facilitate access and enjoyment by the public.

That means balancing the needs and access of all users with conservation. I don't think that putting a bridge over a stream, on a big path, to allow better access to Cwm Idwal is outside of these objectives.

There are thousands of unspoiled cwms in Wales for you to enjoy, but only one or two with a proper made up path. Seems reasonable.