Llyn Elsi Walk

A waymarked circular lollipop of 3.9 miles (6.2 km): up from Betws-y-Coed on the main forest approach, a full loop of Llyn Elsi, then back down the same way. Reckon on 2 to 3 hours with 318 m of climb, and treat the grade as strenuous rather than a stroll.

You start behind St Mary's Church in the village centre, through the gate onto the forest road, and the hardest work comes almost immediately. The gradient eases as you gain height, and a viewpoint on the approach opens out over the lake with the Carneddau and Glyderau ranges behind it. Then the reservoir itself arrives: quiet water with small islands, ringed by a path that swings close to the shore and then back into the trees. Once you finish the circuit you rejoin the main path and retrace your steps down.

Those resting spots matter. The climb is the sort where you are grateful for somewhere to sit every few minutes, and the descent asks a bit of care on the loose and rooty sections.

• Mixture of forest roads and narrower footpaths, some under a metre wide
• Unmade and uneven, with mud, rocks and exposed tree roots
• Benches and resting perches on the ascent and several more around the lake

The start is in the village, not a drive-up forest car park. Pont y Pair car park is the durable reference point, about five minutes' walk away; it is run by the local council and carries a parking charge. Village facilities are close by, which makes this an easy walk to do without carrying much.

Dogs are welcome. On open access land they must be on a lead no longer than 2 m from 1 March to 31 July, and on public rights of way they should be under close control, with a short lead sensible near livestock and wildlife. Keep an eye out for wildlife around the reservoir and in the surrounding forest, and give it space.

The steep start is the whole story of this walk's difficulty, and the return is the same main path you came up, so there is no fresh scenery on the way down. If the climb sounds like too much, Coed Tan Dinas or one of the short riverside walks from the same part of the village gives you woodland and water for a fraction of the effort.