Bodnant Gardens

Not only was there another 25mm of rain at The Cottage, there were gales of 85mph in the mountains today. The rain was heavy and persistent all day long. Going into the mountains was out of the question! Instead, we took the planned 'introduction to navigation' lesson inside. This meant there was less moving about, but did at least mean that the students had a chance to learn, rather than just survive!

The morning however was spent braving the elements in the National Trust's Bodnant Gardens. It's a really cool place with plants form all over the world. There is definitely a bit of a 'Jurassic Park' feel, down in the lower area of 'The Dell'.

The autumn colours just about remained, but were certainly getting a bit washed out - especially with the river right up on the banks.

We stayed until lunch - by which time, our waterproofs had given up - then aborted back to the warm and dry!

Later that evening I attended a meeting in Llanberis to discuss the future management of Snowdon. It was a very interesting debate involving all users (Mountaineers, tourism, farmers, National Parks, National Trust etc..) to try as establish some common ground with regard to managing the mountain in a beneficial way to all parties! A tricky combination to please everyone and the start of interesting debates....