After working abroad for 6
months, on a site I couldn’t leave, while being surrounded by beautiful
mountains, one of the first things I wanted to do when I got home was… …head
out into mountains of course!
I had been keeping in touch with
someone I met during training for the role, and as he seemed interested in that
kind of thing too I invited him hill walking in North Wales. The plan was that I
would organise something, but in the end I had to beg his help, as my return
journey suffered delay after delay, and I didn’t get back in time to make any
arrangements for the date we had picked.
All was good though, and Adam
picked a route to take in Tryfan and the Glyderau, got the relevant OS map, and
even booked accommodation in nearby Betws-y-Coed.
Driving from my house in Coventry
to North Wales, we discussed the plan and got to know each other better. It could
be awkward to spend a whole weekend with someone you’ve hardly met, but luckily
everything went smoothly.
The next day, we got off to a bit
of a late start, and then compounded things by going for a cream tea before the
walking too! We did however pick up some local info about the conditions in the
mountains: still some snow on the ground, and strong winds at the top.
Eventually parking up on the A5
by Llyn Ogwen, we started up the footpath towards the North Ridge.
Beyond the Canon Stone, the snow
was appearing underfoot.
In some places it was deeper than
others, and as we continued upwards the mist rolled in, the wind picked up, and
the icy drizzle came down.
Scrambling up in the poor
visibility, I was still having a great time. We passed many other walkers who
decided that it wasn’t for them any more on this day – either the snow, the
wind, or the scrambling was not suiting them. I respected their decisions to
take it more slowly, or to turn back altogether when they became too
uncomfortable with the conditions. I found it exhilarating to be out though: I had
good enough gear to still be comfortable, my fitness was good and I was finding
it easy to keep up a good pace, and my love of rock climbing meant that I was
able to take the scrambles all in my stride.
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| The summit |
By the time we reached the summit,
it was cold and so windy, up to 40kph. Although you could find shelter amongst
the boulders at the summit, I had been on my knees for some of the more exposed
parts leading up there as the wind was threatening to knock me off balance.
Despite being disappointing, it was an easy decision to miss out on the Leap of
Faith on the Adam and Eve boulders at the top due to this wind – I didn’t see
anybody else try it either!
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| Summit photo |
We didn’t stop for long as it was
so cold when you were no longer moving. A quick bit of hot drink from a flask,
a summit photo, and a brief chat about the rest of our route, and we were off.
Although we had planned to
continue our walk to take in the Glyders as well, we decided the conditions
weren’t great for that any more. We had left a bit late and the light started
to fade while we were in the fog, so navigation would be difficult at best,
dangerous at worst.
Instead therefore, we headed
south west off the summit to a col, then on towards a small lake, Llyn Bochlwyd.
Mostly it was thick with fog, but occasionally gaps would appear and you could
get a brief glimpse at a bit of a view before the grey curtains closed in
again.
Despite cutting short the walk,
we were in good spirits and we made the most of the views when they appeared, and
talked and laughed the rest of the time.
I was glad of my Goretex jacket,
as the rest of me was soaked through thanks to the fine, driving drizzley rain.
The wet was a problem that was
only compounded a short time later. We were walking down a grassy slope with
water running over the entire surface. Adam jumped over a little stream that
had formed, onto a higher bank beyond, and I tried that too but didn’t quite
make it… landing in the boggy wet grass I immediately sank up to my ankles,
while my forward momentum had other ideas and forced me to face plant into the
bank I had been aiming for! Thank goodness it was a soft grassy bank, and not
rocks!
It took me a while to stop giggling
about that one, and I guess it was good to end on a funny note!
So we had to miss out on parts of
our plans because the conditions weren’t suitable, and I made a prat out of
myself at the end, but any day in the mountains is a good day :)
