Wild camping in Ogwen and Snowdon

Q. Hi guys, off to climb Snowdon on Saturday with a couple of mates. Does anybody know of any secluded/quiet wild camping spots in Ogwen?

Somewhere where we can be alone, with a river/water, not too far from the mountain?

Andrew Hart, Birmingham

A. It�™s a national Park you are NOT allowed to wild camping here! There are loads of lovely wild type camp sites within a few miles but you must NOT wild camp in Snowdonia National park! There are sign all over Cwm Idwal which state NO WILD CAMPING!

Ben Stanley, Denbigh

A. Hi, if you park in the layby just outside the car park at the Ogwen Valley Youth Hostel (at the western end of Llyn Ogwen) you can climb up from the youth hostel into the Cwm Idwal (see Walks in Cwm Idwal).

You could wild camp around Llyn Idwal under the shadow of the Idwal slabs and the Devil's Kitchen (Twll Ddu) but if you can bear to carry all your kit a little higher you can leave the path just a little higher than the youth hostel (where it turns the bend to head off to Llyn Idwal) and climb the cut steps up the side of the waterfall.

At the top is another tarn (Llyn Bochlwyd) and you could pitch tent somewhere round here under the shadow of Tryfan (see Walks on Tryfan), Bristly Ridge and the Glyders (see Walks on The Glyders).

Only prob is both areas are pretty popular with walkers but I have on numerous occasions seen people pitched by the tarn above the waterfall which is set lower than the path off to Tryfan/Bristly Ridge so although a popular area you should be pretty much undisturbed if you wanted a lie in although its best to rise with the sun and make the most of the summits.

Climbing Bristly Ridge onto Glyder Fach means you can follow the tops pretty much all the way to the quarries at Bethesda. A great walk right along the tops but you probably would have to come back the same way but you have the option then of descending Y Garn (see Walks on Y Garn - Glyders), the Devil's Kitchen, Y Gribin ridge (which completes the semi circular encasement of your camp) or Bristly Ridge again.

Claire , Northampton

A. Snowdon isn't readily accessible from the Ogwen valley which has The Carneddau (including Carnedd Dafydd, Pen yr Ole Wen and Carnedd Llewelyn) to the north and The Glyderau (including Tryfan, Glyder Fach, Glyder Fawr and Y Garn) to the south.

For access to Snowdon you would be better off finding a spot in the Llanberis valley, Nant y Betws (Llyn Cwellyn) or Nantgwynant (Llyn Gwynant & Llyn Dinas)

Hope this helps

Mike (Editor)

A. Wild Camping and The Law in England, Scotland and Wales.

Tents cannot be pitched just anywhere because every piece of Britain is owned by some individual or some organisation and according to the strict letter of the law permission must be obtained prior to pitching tent and camping.

In practice however, this is often impractical and wild camping is usually tolerated in the more remote areas - typically, more than half a day's walk from an official campsite or other accommodation providing you:

Keep groups small
Camp as unobtrusively as possible
Leave camp as you found it
Remove all litter (even other people's)
Carry out everything you carried in
Carry out tampons and sanitary towels (burying them doesn't work as animals dig them up again)
Choose a dry pitch rather than digging drainage ditches around a tent or moving boulders
Toilet duties should be performed 30m (100ft) from water and the results buried using a trowel
At all time, help preserve the environment
And if you are in any doubt about what you're doing, find out more

In Scotland, the current access legislation (which came into effect in early 2005) is explicit about your right to wild camp on hill land. However, there are exceptions. Since March 2011 you are not permitted to wild camp between Dryman and Rowardennan on the shore of Loch Lomond. See Loch Lomond Wild Camping Ban for more information.

There appears to be an exception to this with respect to camping in Dartmoor National Park where the right to wild camping is actually enshrined in the National Parks & Access to the Countryside Act, 1949 amendment Dartmoor Commons Act, 1985 - see Wild Camping in the UK for more details.

For the definitive answer with respect to wild camping in Scotland see the answer supplied by the Scottish Natural Heritage

For a few (tongue in cheek) tips on wild camping see Some Wild Camping Tips.

NB. go4awalk.com cannot offer any advice on suitable locations for wild camping - but click here for walks from exisiting campsites.

Hope this helps

Mike (Editor)

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