Hi, I’m looking to get me & my 9yr old son up to Cader Idris if we get a weather window (maybe Wednesday looking at the MWIS forecast).

We are planning to follow this route:

http://www.trekkingbritain.com/cadairidristheminfforddpath.htm

which starts:

This walk starts at the Minffordd car park on the main A487 trunk road several miles south of Dolgellau. The car park is situated on the west side of the road just by the junction with the minor B4405 road to Tal-y-llyn at grid reference SH732115.

I’ve done a Google maps drive by & can’t see the car park mentioned, only what looks like a B&B with its car par.

So, we’d like to arrive late in the day, sleep in the back of our 2 seater Berlingo and then start the walk in the morning. Does anyone have any knowledge of any nearby spots we could car camp at? even better if we’d get away with an off the ground BBQ for dinner which then doubles as a small fire pit for the evening?

Also, the MWIS seems to be for the whole of Snowdonia, Cader is in the Southern edge of this, would i be better off using the met office forecast for Dolgellau?

Ta

I used to camp at the small camp site just at the foot of the trail. Will look it up see if it’s still there!

That path is bloody steep. I’m not sure how much your 9 year old will enjoy of it.
Minffordd was a pub, now a b&b. If you head up Bwlch Tal y Llyn (main road towards Dolgellau), theres a few really big laybys you could stop in overnight.

Shell island is close, as is nantcol waterfalls which is a lovely site.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Gwynedd+LL36+9AJ/@52.6850455,-3.8797028,18z/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x48657d1fba5e9093:0x7a6fcc511c544f52?hl=en-GB

Dol Einion campsite was the one I was thinking of. Sorry OP I speed-read yr question

Hmmm, i hadn’t thought of using a campsite, just fancied crawling out of the car and onto the trail. Google has thrown up Cwmrhwyddfor Farm Campsite just up the road which could be a Plan B.

Any other rustic car parking ideas?

The car park is between the A487 and the Cadair tea room. The entrance is just a little past the bus stop on the B4405. Not obvious I’ll admit.

Edited to add: that link you gave shows the car park on the map if you zoom in.

crogthomas – ta, i did wonder. Do you reckon we’ll get moved on/upset any locals if we camp in the car there?

Do you reckon we’ll get moved on/upset any locals if we camp in the car there?

Hmm, last time I went there we got into an early-evening spat with local landowner whose driveway is adjacent to the Minffordd trail entrance from the car park. She was a parochial older woman with daughter in tow, obv beating the bounds and challenged us robustly for being (mistakenly) on their driveway. No idea if her range of interest extends to the car park or if we were just unlucky.

That path is bloody steep. I’m not sure how much your 9 year old will enjoy of it.

IME that is why it is a great path for a 9 year old.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/ndDfPR]Ben Venue[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr

Why not just arrive late at the car park and stop there?

Other than that, the camp site is 500 yards from the start

My daughter climbed it last year when she was 8

It’s a lovely hill

I’ve stayed in that car park in my van before and had no bother.
The path is steep, but is mainly steps so easily do-able for a 9 year old.

I’d go up the RHS and come down the LHS 😀

So, a quick update, we drove up on Tuesday afternoon, car camped at Cwmrhwyddfor Campsite which for £5 for the two of us was amazing, clear skies at midnight gave an awesome view of the stars. The weather forecast was very good. Walked the horseshoe clockwise, amazing visibility and warm and sunny. Got to see all of Northern Snowdonia laid out in front of us. Nice doable, steep, rocky route. Saw two lads descend off down to the lake from Bwlch Cau, looked testing, fair play. A very recommended route to walk.

It is doozy of a walk – I did it regularly when I was working down there for four months at Arthog outdoor centre. 😀