Waste of time fishing Llynnau Barlwyd

As part of my further exploration of the Cambrian Angling Association waters I thought Llynnau Barlwyd looked intriguing and remote. According to the CAA website the larger 10ha llyn was emptied in 2003 to repair the wall and would slowly recover. My research in preparation for the trip suggested that the wall may not have been repaired properly as there were photos on the web that showed it empty as recently as 2016 …. I was uncertain whether to visit but with the website suggesting it was only a short 30 minute walk in, planned to walk back out and try elsewhere if it came to it. 

The walk in turned out to be a bit of a mission. The map on the CAA website is unclear and there are no rights of way indicated on any OS maps. Standing at the parking you are presented with a massively steep hill with a choice of rock scree at a slightly better angle or steep slopes with dense vegetation. I decided to walk half way up the tar road leading to the top of the Antur Stiniog mountain bike trails and see if there was a path along the contour. The mini bus shuttles stopped to ask where I was going and to warn me of their speedy presence. I did find a path halfway up and thought I had struck the jackpot. Unfortunately it soon petered out. I chose to head directly uphill along the edge of the marshy bits but soon had to cross this and was glad it was dry weather and it had been dry for some time. I should have continued along the contour to the fence line that runs up the hill. At the top of the hill is another fenceline that you need to cross, there are some spots with no barbed wire to do so in waders. The second half of the walk was much better, with a handy sheep trail along the base of the hill but above the marshy rushy bits on the flats. This was mostly sheep mown grass so quite pleasant and drops you down right at upper Llyn Barlwyd.  It took me 75 minutes to walk in, while I am no spring chicken, you would need to be an Olympic athlete on performance enhancing drugs to do the walk in 30 minutes.

I can confirm that lower llyn Barlwyd is basically empty apart from a few residual muddy pools. I headed on up to upper llyn Barlwyd. It wasn’t exactly full either and also has a hole in its wall. I have since measured the surface area using google maps and it is just over 1ha in size! Twenty minutes after arriving two teens arrived and spent the afternoon trawling the water with spinners so it was a bit crowded. An hour later and another fly fisherman arrived …. now it was just unpleasant as I choose remote locations to try and get away from the madding crowd. I am sure the teens were not thrilled to see adults either and were there for a bit of a laugh and some fishing. Four people fishing 1ha of water was ludicrous. I was the only one to catch a trout, taking a classic bibio wet fly, fairly early on while the last of the cloud burnt off. Then it was bright and hot and the fish were nowhere to be seen.  I decided to walk back out. I was barely 100m away when I heard the first rock clatter into the water and sound of teenage laughter.

The first 2 thirds of the walkout was fine as I followed the sheep trail along the base of the hillside. The really steep section was a nightmare. I decided to stay along the fence line rather than cut across the slope but encountered loads of loose rock and boulders covered with moss. I fell twice, once trapping my foot between 2 rocks and could easily have broken my leg. The walkout was a 70 minute slog in the heat, so much for the 30 minute walk time. If you do decide that going all that way to fish such a small water floats your boat then it might be quicker and less hassle to walk in on the longer but more defined footpath that approaches from the Llechwedd slate caverns.

I decided to head into town and get some iced water and then finish with a short session at Llyn Ffrid y Bwlch. This was the best decision of the day and I finished with a fiesty blue trout taken on a deer hair cranefly and had plenty of interest in the shuttlecock emerger as well. I also met some older club members who shared some sage advice about getting to Llyn Conglog the easier way …. the subject of my next post after I head there this coming weekend.

Tight Lines

Greg