This is one of my favourite areas. You see very few people climbing Cnicht, and I’ve never seen anyone walking the lakes below. I used to think it was pronounced nicht, like nicked, but in fact the C is not silent. Here at least, it could be changeable depending on the word; I don’t know. “Moel” is roughly pronounced as “merl” which is not clear in my film. I get it wrong. I get most of it wrong.
I’ve camped here multiple times – maybe six – and never seen people do that either. The crowds are at Snowdon, which you see in the distance, most popular of all UK mountains. That’s partly because of the railway and cafe, although Crib Goch attracts many people. The first time I scrambled across it I was very frightened. Second time, not bothered.
This part of the Moelwyn hills is a connoisseur area. It doesn’t have the drama and height of other places but it’s beautiful and quiet.
“Moelwyn” is a tricky word which I’m not using correctly. The Welsh plural is “Moelwynion” but that’s harder than the singular, and likely to confuse, when inserted into English. It bothers me slightly, corrupting an original language, but with Welsh it’s almost unavoidable.
There are lots of places like this in Wales. Rougher and perhaps not as beautiful as the Lake District, but with an atmosphere I like.