We made our way along Ffordd-y-Rhywgyr (Drovers Road) on this moist day with low clouds and mist. Our journey to cross the Rhiniogydd range started just south of the sea side town of Harlech and we passed many rows of blooming Foxgloves standing proudly, nourished by last nights rain. Along the way we crossed over Pont Sgethin a 12 century bridge, the remains of a bronze age burial ground and some prancing lambs. On our way down towards the Mawddach estuary we passed by the Clogau gold mines, the source of very high grade of gold used for the royal family rings. A waterfall next to the gold mine.

The past few days our Walkabout team were out in the Rhiniogydd mountain range in mid-Wales scoping out new hikes. These lonely hills overlooking the sea are a sight to behold. Lake Hywel, a neolithic burial ground, endless stone walls, an Iron Age site high above Cardigan Bay and the Irish sea beyond. Tomorrow our team will cross this bridge over which the drovers took their cattle from Wales to the markets in London and follow it across a range of mountains down to the Mawddach estuary. Droving began between Wales and England during Roman times.

After breakfast we hiked next to the Crogennan lakes along the Ffordd Ddu (Black Road) an old Roman Road. After lunch we headed down through the woods towards the Arthog Falls.This evening at the town hall we were entertained by Mair Tomos Ifans playing the triple harp, sharing mythological tales of Arthur and singing traditional Welsh songs. The earliest Arthurian sources were composed in Wales, and today there is much focus on connecting the warrior to the landscape. The History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth (1139) is one of the foremost texts that researchers are studying for clues. All the French Arthurian Romance tales were written before the Edwardian conquest of Wale

Today we arrived in the medieval market town of Dolgellau. Across the street from our hotel the Ship at a local cafe we were given a presentation by Scott Lloyd an author most recently of his new book “The Aruthurian Place Names of Wales” (2017 featured on our website www.wildwalestours.com) Scott works for the Royal Commisssion on Ancient Monuments and has served on the committee of the British Branch of the International Arthurian Society. After lunch some of us walked up the great massif Cader Idris and others walked around the old town. We all met for supper at our hotel. One of the many woolly sheep in Wales we met today along with some wild Cowslips.

We left our guest house after breakfast to climb Mount Snowdon the highest peak in Wales and England. Our group huddled in the mist at the trail head. As we rambled along ancient pathways we could hear the Cuckoo and Skylarks singing around us above the heather and Bilberry bushes. We made our way through an old slate quarry as we hiked up the west side of the great mountain with spectacular views around us. The clouds moved intermittently around us for most of the day.

Yesterday morning we hiked from our friendly Guest House, and old farmhouse built of stone in 1644 on a hillside at the foot of mount Snowdon across from Dinas Emrys. This hillside overlooking the hamlet of Beddgeleret and the confluence of the Colwyn and Glaslyn rivers is where ancient Welsh mythology and legends tells us where Vortigen and Merlin Ambrosias resided in the sixth century. Archaeological excavations have confirmed this site at Dinas Emrys as a fort during that period and also as an Iron Age Fort much earlier. We walked passed Merlins Pool, forded an ancient stone bridge, through groves of oak trees next to glades of cobalt Bluebells on our way up to Dinas Emrys.

Our Wild King Arthurs Way Walkabout started yesterday on the Isle of Mon, Angelsey on the northwest corner of the nation of Wales. This revered island was the home and headquarters of the ancient Celtic Druids. Yesterday morning we visited a neolithic burial ground fifteen hundred years before Arthurs time. In the afternoon we were met by Gareth Roberts a local storyteller at King Arthurs roundtable on the southeast corner of the island over looking the Menai Straits. A Celtic roundhouse. Off to the Snowdonia National Park next to to visit Merlins haunts!