This walk up to llyn Dulyn is a lovely quiet circular walk in the beautiful Carneddau Mountain Range in Eryri, but llyn Dulyn has a dark history. In this post i share a video with the full walking guide for this route.
The walk goes past two reservoirs, Llyn Melynllyn and Llyn Dulyn. Melynllyn means yellow lake and Dulyn means black lake in English.
The Aviator’s Graveyard
The water level of Llyn Dulyn reservoir is currently really low. At the moment you can very clearly see the remains of WW2 planes which is quite eerie.
According to wikipedia there are 8 plains in total that crashed against the dark rock face at the back of the lake. This BBC Archive footage from 1973 is fascinating – the chap says that Llyn Dulyn is known as The Aviators Graveyard. He explains how there is a down draft which literally pulled planes out of the sky. Plus there is a rather sombre recollection of a little boy seeing the bloated body of a German fighter pilot being carried down the path.
#OnThisDay 1973: Nationwide reported from a spooky Welsh lake. Bottomless? Possibly. Haunted? Certainly… pic.twitter.com/y2eZePuj6C
— BBC Archive (@BBCArchive) October 17, 2018
The website Mysterious Britain shared this account translated from a Welsh magazine printed in 1805:
“There is a lake in the mountains of Snowdon, called Dulyn, in a rugged valley, encircled by high steep rocks. This lake is extremely black, and its fish are deformed and unsightly, having large heads and small bodies. No wild swans are ever seen alighting upon it (such as are on all the other lakes in Snowdon), nor ducks, nor any bird whatever. And there is a causeway of stones leading into this lake; and if any one goes along this causeway, even when it is hot sunshine, and throws water so as to wet the furthest stone, which is called the Red Altar [yr Allawr Goch], it is a chance if it do not rain before night. Witness, T. Prys, of Plas Iolyn, and Sion Davydd, of Rhiwlas, in Llan Silin.”
Llyn Dulyn Route Map & Walking Guide
The route starts on an easy to follow track that takes you all the way as you gradually gain height to the first reservoir in this walk.
Where to Park to walk to Llyn Dulyn
Park in the Llyn Eigiau car park – there’s space for around 12 cars and if it’s full there are a few places to tuck your car before you get to the car park – but obviously take care. Take the tiny twisty road up from Dolgarrog – it’s very narrow and you’ll need to get out to open a few gates too.
NB. Be careful not to end up at Coedty Reservoir. If you are using a sat nav make sure you are aiming for the Llyn Eigiau car park. There’s an off-road track from Coedty. It could take you on that route instead. You definitely don’t want to take that road!
The path from Llyn Melynllyn to Llyn Dulyn is fairly easy to spot on the ground as it takes your round to the left and down a fairly steep path. Recently they have installed a rope handrail and improved the steps on this steep section of the footpath. I believe this must be to do with the hyrdro-electric workers.
Cwm Dulyn Bothy
There is a fairly large bothy which is maintained by the Mountain Bothies Association. If you’re interested in staying at this bothy you might find this Bothy Code leaflet useful – remember you can’t book a bothy, it is a shared space so you may have to share it with other hikers. You can take a look around the inside of Cwm Dulyn Bothy in my video above.
Cwm Dulyn is VERY BOGGY!
Be warned, even in the height of this draught summer of 2025, this route has some very boggy spots and none worse than the first of two metal stiles. My dog is great with wooden stiles but this metal one really freaked him out (barbed wire too so he couldn’t just jump it) and I ended up quite covered in mud… Looking up the fenceline there is a gate you could try but I don’t know if it has a padlock.
You’re very likely to see Carneddau Ponies in Cwm Dulyn
I’ve done this walk 3 times and always seen some beautiful wild ponies, don’t try and interact with them unless you need to move them from a gate. Most are shy and will run off, especially if you have a dog.
Let me know about your experiences in the Dulyn Bothy – are they all positive? perhaps I should get over my worry about them being a bit creepy!
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