Llyn Crafnant Valley — Experience #93

The walk from Trefriw in the Conwy valley to Llyn Crafnant — a quiet mountain lake in a forested valley — passes a rock overhang associated with a Victorian hermit, one of several eccentric personalities who made the Conwy valley their home in the 19th century. The valley itself is one of the quietest in the park. This is Experience #93 of the Snowdonia 100.

Walk Details

The Lake

Llyn Crafnant is a reservoir — dammed in 1874 to supply water to the Conwy Valley — that has acquired the quality of a natural lake over the intervening century and a half. The surrounding forest is mixed — conifer and broadleaf — and the lake sits in a narrow valley with steep sides that limit the sky to a strip above the treetops. A cafe operates at the lake in summer. In October, the reflection of the autumn colour in the still water is outstanding.

The Hermit

The rock overhang known as the Hermit's Cave, passed on the ascent, was reputedly used as a dwelling by an eccentric Victorian recluse — one of several such figures who populated the margins of the tourist Conwy Valley in the 19th century, when the valley was a fashionable destination and its fringes attracted those wishing to escape society. The shelter is modest; the determination implied by its use as permanent accommodation is remarkable.

Experience #93 of 100 — Hidden Eryri category.