Betws y Coed Snowdonia North Wales Betws-y-Coed

A family in Snowdonia. (A Blog)

More than 'just' the mountains..

I am a lifelong fan of the outdoor activities and adventures to be found around the mountains and coastline of Snowdonia, or Eryri as it is known locally.

This blog is made up of selected entries from my 'Outdoor Adventure Blog' and will give an insight into what one family, based in the mountains, gets up to in its work and leisure time.

I am presently recuperating from a couple of operations to remove a cancer from my arm and because of this am a little less active than usual. This means that I will be using more 'past blogs' than I would like, normal service will soon be resumed!

To read past blog articles go to website link

The ‘Ben’ went well, I was gifted a nice group of 8 friendly and fit folk. They charged off right from the gun but soon slowed to a more reasonable pace (ie, on that I could keep up with) and we had an enjoyable stroll up the hill. Once the clouds descended at about 3,000ft I thought that would be the end of the views but I was to be proved wrong. I think one of the team and I exchanging war stories burned a ‘hot air’ hole in the clouds and we were presented with some lovely snatched views back out to the sea.

There were the usual snow patches near the summit much to the team’s delight and then we had an easy descent in the late evening sunlight, 4 hours 30 minutes for the round trip. Sadly we had to wait another four hours for the slowest team to complete their walk, a tad frustrating but probably inevitable. I had three complete changes of clothes, one for after each hill and it was great to get into clean, non-sweaty, gear for the next leg of the journey.

You hear on the news of ‘lorry stuck in farmyard due to GPS route information’ all the time and on the way to Scafell it happened to us. Sure a car could have got through, but not a 52 seater coach! There were a few anxious moments as our cheeky chappy ‘cock a nee’ drivers extricated us from a rather bemused farmers courtyard and then retraced our steps a short way back to the real route.

A narrow cattle grid was next on the coach driver’s Krypton Factor weekend before a minibus transfer got us to the bottom of Scafell. Once again they were off in a burst of youthful energy and once again I was able to catch up and then overhaul them on the long grind up Brown Tongue. Nice to know that technique can still make up for exuberance!

It was good weather all the way up and by dint of sending the slower teams in the first transfers we all ended up on top together. On the way down the weather changed from fine to foul and we all had a good soaking as the wind picked up and drove the rain at our backs. Brown Tongue has been stone pitched in recent years but I have to say that it is a pretty poor job. All the stones pitch too far forwards and are too small for good purchase as well. I saw many slips on the way down and was glad of my walking poles for extra security. I would hate to come down this way in anything near freezing conditions, it would be lethal, not up to Welsh footpath standards!

The accounts were out again as we left the hill, this time by three. Luckily we kept asking them to do head counts, otherwise they would have left a few in the Wasdale Head Hotel, I am sure they would have been happy there, propping up the bar.

By the time we reached Pen y Pass the weather was ‘grade A’ horrid! We headed up the PyG path in pelting rain and howling wind, not nice. The higher up we went the worse it got with big squalls throwing pointy lumps of water down the mountain side at us. The summit was a 30 second job before I led them back down to a sheltered spot at the finger stone.

With poor visibility and fading light I wanted to get them safely off the hill as soon as possible. We legged it PDQ down the first third so as to get past the vague areas on the path above the mines and miners track. After that I relaxed but still drove them quite hard as far as Bwlch Moch. As I bowled along the path above Llyn Llydaw I suddenly realised that I had a silly grin on my face, could I actually be enjoying the horrible weather?

It all reminded me of being out in stupid conditions, nice and fit and well geared up, I get a great feeling of confidence from being out in evil weather but safe and sound. I even had to wait for the group to catch up a few times, not such an old bugger after all! Having had a tough time since February and a particularly torrid last couple of weeks this was a most welcome feeling.

Back at Pen y Pass we loaded them into the waiting Taxi and then sat in Gerry’s car with the heating on full blast. We then waited for the last groups to arrive, by the light of their head-torches an hour or so later.

47 hours after leaving the carpark, there I was again with my pile of gear, this time unloading form the car and wondering a little weary and foot sore down to the house. A quick shower, a warm bed and zzzzzzzzzzzz! Glad I was not in the coach leaving the victoria Hotel at 3am for the five hour trip back to London. I wonder if they remembered everyone?!

I can see how the event is a great challenge for ‘non outdoor folk’. It is definitely no pushover and success has to be earned through sweat and effort. I would however have to say that it is not for me these days. Having gone to all the effort to get up to Fort William and then to only spend 4 and half hours on the hill before running away is just wrong!

Mountains should be savored, enjoyed and appreciated in good time and not reduced to statistics and time sheets. Better to do one hill well than three with your head down checking your watch and trying to get it ticked as fast as possible.

Having said that though it would be churlish of me not to give the guys ‘respect’ for getting stuck in and grinding it out, especially given the awful weather in the latter stages.

To read past blog articles go to website link

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