A Low-Gear Outing

I've always wondered if it would be possible to cycle from The Cottage and up the reservoir access road to Marchlyn Mawr. I suppose I've always known that it would be possible, but not known how easy or difficult it would be. Today we decided to find out. 

There's not much in the way of a warm-up, as the journey is relentlessly uphill from the word go, but we steadily gained height on the quiet back roads upto and around Mynydd Llandegai. On reaching the access road that leads up into the mountains, we had to lift our bikes over the big metal gate before continuing traffic free. Here, upon the hillside, the wind was stronger but was at least mostly behind us as we inched on upwards.

It was a leg-pumping affair and we had to stop halfway for a rest and a snack. I would have liked to have rested longer, but it was too cold to hang around!

When the tarmac ended, we left the bikes and continued on foot up Carnedd y Filiast. As we started hiking, the weather began to worsen and the summit was soon lost in the cloud. As such, we opted to go to the northern top which is slightly lower to get a quick view before it was lost in the mists.

Behind the shelter of the summit cairn, as the views disappeared, we put on all our spare clothes in anticipation of some serious windchill on the way home. And also because it had now started raining!

Now heading into the wind, we scampered back down to the bikes, catching a brief glimpse of the reservoir as we went.

My fingers were numb by the time we got back to the bikes, but all I had to do from here was cling to the brakes as we coasted back down the hill.

It's definitely getting time for a new bike when you've got the brakes fully applied and are still travelling at over 35km/h. The road downhill was fantastic and made the uphill peddling all worth it. I was very cautious with my speed and rarely ventured over 40km/h. Partly due to the wet tarmac and partly due to me not being completely sure that my old bike might not just fall apart at any moment. 

Two hours of uphill travel was despatched in just over 30 minutes as we arrived exhilarated back at The Cottage and only slightly damp from the rain. A good adventure and curiosity about the ride now satisfied.

Soggy Scrambling on the Crib Lem Spur

One of the best days out that I've had here in the 'hills near home', was climbing the Crib Lem spur one winter, with a set of skis on my back and then traversing the Carneddau, on said skis, under a deep blue sky, before skiing home. It's a brilliant little ridge scramble and in one of Snowdonia's more remote spots. You can just make out the dark profile of the ridge in the photo below. Today, was far from ideal in terms of scrambling conditions, but great (i.e terrible) weather for testing some Rab kit. And, inspired by last weeks night navigation, I fancied another solitude experience, relying on my map and compass skills. 

Setting off from Gerlan, at the top of Bethesda, I soon came across my first obstacle! The tiny stream had swollen overnight to produce a raging torrent! It was now far too wide to jump even after balancing out into the middle of the flow on a few protruding rocks. In the end, I decided to go for it, via a series of submerged rocks. Thankfully I had good boots on which kept water from penetrating, but my left sock got a bit wet as I stood too deep for my boots at one point! Not the start I had anticipated, but exciting never the less. I squeezed the water from my damp sock and continued upwards, figuring that the levels should have dropped by my return.

Water was literally pouring from the mountain and the ground underfoot was completely saturated, thanks to heavy rain and melting snow. I was soon up into the mist and hidden from the world.

It took an hour to get to the base of the Llech Ddu Cliffs, and then another hour an a half to ascend the excellent ridge and find the summit of Carnedd Dayffd (with a few stops along the way).

Despite the low temperatures and a summit windchill of below freezing, I wore only a thermal t-shirt under the Rab 'Alpha Direct' Jacket. It's a great combination of being incredibly warm, breathable (so I never got too sweaty) and completely windproof (so your body heat doesn't get lost). I also had one of  Lowe Alpine's 'Aeon' rucksack range with me which was the perfect size and weight for a scramble like this. One really cool feature is the stretchy side pockets which were great for stashing my walking poles while climbing.

After enjoying a hot drink and the satisfaction of following a bearing through the mist, directly to the summit cairn, I set off back down (on a bearing again) the main ridge.

The eeriness of walking in the mist on your own was compounded by passing the skeleton carcas of a wild pony. It looked like a prehistoric dinosaur. 

The mists began to lift as I lost height. Travelling as fast as I could, I descended while watching the new views unfold. 

Back at the stream, the levels had dropped as predicted and I was able to cross with dry feet, although the outside material of my boots were already completely saturated.

Spring was in the air again as I followed the lane back to the car in the afternoon sunshine. An hour and ten minutes from the summit and I was back at The Cottage.

In the evening, I drove down to meet Clare who had cycled to the Straits before last light. What a contrast from the wet and misty morning!

Zip Wire or Death Slide?

I've been away this weekend, but not far from home. With a group of International students, I've been staying in Llanberis (at the excellent Dol Peris Guesthouse) and have been sampling some of the region's tourist attractions, in between teaching a few little life skills. Spring was in the air when I took a morning run from the bunkhouse along the lakeshore on Sunday morning. It actually felt quite mild and there were plenty of snowdrops alongside the trail - the first I've seen this year.

The highlight of the weekend was going on the Zip World zip wires. Unfortunately, the biggest one (near Bethesda) was closed for maintenance, but we were able to go on the ones near Blaenau Ffestiniog. It was super misty, damp and much colder than Llanberis. Once togged up in red jumpsuits, helmets and goggles, we had to ride in the back of a truck up to the top of the mountain, where the first of the two zip wires started. I think the staff (well, me anyway) were more excited than the students.

Things have changed considerably since my first zip wire experience (previously known as 'Death Slides' until this was deemed an inappropriately titled activity for youngsters by HSE). On a Scout camp, somewhere in Derbyshire, in the early 90's with an inch thick rope tensioned from the towbar of a transit minibus, I travelled, untethered, at great speeds sitting on a wooden swing seat and hanging on for dear life. The breaking process was somewhat of a hit and miss affair, involving other Scouts charging uphill towards the incoming 'death slider' pulling a rope and carabiner that would halt the descendant in a somewhat abrupt fashion. The rider could (and several did) perform a full loop the loop at the end of the slide if they were of a heavy enough weight and were stopped dead in their tracks by the gleeful uphill pullers. Spectating was almost as thrilling as taking part. I don't think helmets had even been invented...

With this in mind, the company slogan of  "Experience Adventure" felt somewhat stunted, once we'd been strapped into the latest safety kit, checked twice, had helmet straps clipped up, wind speed monitored and individual riders weights calculated to allow for smooth deceleration. However, the thick mist did add an element of excitement as the properly tensioned wire vanished off into the gloom at the launch site! What was exciting though, was when the safety gates opened at the top of the ride and I slipped on the wet metal floor and shot off down the wire as the instructor was about to start his countdown to zipping!! 

I'm not sure 'adventure' is the most accurate description, but it was great fun none the less - even without the views...

Night Navigation

After a day spent working in the woods then expedition planning with a Bronze Duke of Edinburgh’s Award team, I set off into the mountains after dark. As part of the assessment process to become a Mountain Leader in the UK, you have to be able to navigate in both poor weather and the dark. A friend of mine who has an assessment coming up soon asked if I’d head out with him and offer some tips and advice. It was raining hard and rather cold. Perfect conditions for a bit of practice!

I was quite happy to help and seeing how I have a Rab waterproof jacket that I’m currently testing, a double win was achieved. The jacket is made of ‘Proflex’ material which is very soft and flexible. I had my doubts about its waterproof-ness, but it passes the test! I remained bone dry! And with the Rab ‘Guide Gloves’ my hands stayed warm and dry - especially when the rain turned to hail!

There was plenty of pacing, walking on bearings and looking for contour features. It’s actually quite absorbing, navigating in the dark and the time flew by as we made a zig zagging route between tiny features on he hillside above Rachub. Time spent practicing this skill in such conditions is seldom wasted. It was a good refresher for me as well as good practice for the budding ‘ML’.

Arriving back at The Cottage at around 22:30, we were delighted to find a freshly baked loaf of bread and set about devouring it with mugs of hot tea, by the glowing embers of the fire. A full day!

Exploring Holyhead Mountain

St Cybi's church in Holyhead is built on the settlement of an old Monastic settlement around 540AD. These days it's hidden, hemmed in, between other other houses, shops and buinesses and easily passed by. I've been leading a small group on one of Anglesey's coast path trails known as the 'Celtic Saints Walks. Seeking out the church seemed a good starting point and we weren't dissaponited. It has an incredably ornate entrnce porch, covered in all sorts of symbols, that we had a go at deciphering. 

A service had just finished and the vicar happily gave us a  quick tour of the church, including the Organ, which was built in 1750 and was still being played. A good value purchase for £1500 I thought. Soon enough though, we were hiking up from the Breakwater Country Park and around the coast. We were sheltered from the strong winds at first, but could see waves crashing high on the coastline.

Up on the summit of Holyhead Mountain, we could barely stand up! The summit stands at 220m above the sea level and even down at 100m, we were getting sprayed with water that was being lifted up from the waves! (the video below may or may not work to show this!).

It was all but impossible to look into the wind, but with our hoods up and backs to it, we could see the port of Holyhead and the incoming Irish ferry clearly, and we glad we were not on it - it must have been a rough crossing!

On the walk back down, we stopped to do an activity called 'The 2mm Man'. Down on our bellies, everyone had a small patch of ground to explore, imagining that we were only 2mm tall. With a bit of imagination, suddenly, little ferns had turned into giant trees and bugs became unknown monsters! It's amazing how a different perspective can change the normal things...

Bangor and Birds by Bike

The brief excitement of winter in the hills had all washed away down the rivers by this morning, so with the mountains looking gloomy and sodden, we set off downhill, by bike to Bangor. It's only a half hour ride down to the Menai Straits on the cycle track and soon we were by the sea. It was overcast and dry, but not exactly picnic on the beach weather.

A short ride east, took us to the wildlife reserve called 'The Spinnys'. Here we locked up the bikes and quietly tiptoed into the bird hide to see what we could see. There were loads of blue tits, robins, chaffinches and other little ones that we didn't know, as well as a big Heron, keeping lookout, hunched over the water, looking a bit cold. The couple in the hide already, said they had been watching a Kingfisher, but he didn't re-appear for us.

There was a good tally of recent 'spots' on the whiteboard inside the hide, but to be honest, our best encounter had been on the cycle ride. While on the old railway track, we were coasting along side by side, when we disturbed a huge Buzzard, who was sitting in the undergrowth, about a metre away from the edge of the cycle track. Having been interrupted by us, it took off and slowly launched right in front of us. We slammed on the brakes, to avoid hitting it, but also to stop and stare. Instead of flying away, it gracefully swooped up onto the drystone wall and sat there looking at us. It was a real close up encounter. Amazing. The stare-off continued in silence for a few minutes, until we quietly rolled away leaving it to return to its business.

On the route back from the Spinny, we took a slight de-tour on a small back road, that turned out to have a ford crossing! After some hesitation, regarding estimations of depth and water speed, we made the crossing with (more or less) dry feet!

Intentions of stopping off at a cafe we swapped for heading back to The Cottage as time was ticking on and we wanted to be back before dark. A few spots of rain amounted to nothing as we peddled our way happily home.

NICAS Assessment at The Boardroom

NICAS - the 'National Indoor Climbing Award Scheme' is an award that takes young climbers right from beginner level (Level 1), up to competition standard (Level 5). It's a fun award to deliver and this weekend I've been helping a group of students to achieve the first and second level awards.  After a good day on Anglesey yesterday at Indy Wall, we travelled to Deeside to use the Boardroom Climbing Wall. It's probably the best designed wall for working with groups and although busy, there was plenty of space and a friendly atmosphere. It's always a sign that you're enjoying your work when the time flies by easily. Everyone did really well and we left with tired arms. Having climbed almost everything we could, the team were very chuffed to leave with their logbooks signed off with a pass mark.

Association of Mountaineering Instructors

Due to heavy rain, I had to change plans today with my group. Instead of our intended day of winter mountaineering, we retreated inside to the climbing wall where the rains battered down on the roof until mid-afternoon. Clare however, made the most of the late bright spell by biking down to the coast.

The views of the mountains as I drove to the Association of Mountaineering Instructors AGM were fantastic. The low sun was casting light on the freshly snow covered peaks and if I’d not been running late to the meeting, then I’d have stopped to take some better photos.

Spent the start of the AGM evening getting upto date on new changes to the UK mountaineering qualifications, then after a social dinner at Plas y Brenin, stayed a while to listen to a talk about climbing in America, before more social time. By the time I left, the van was covered in frost. A long, tiring, informative and social day!

Woodland Wanderings

Less time in the mountains this week, but more time in the woodlands. Over in the Conwy Valley, I’ve been helping run a student ‘Spirituality Day’. There was a load of different activities going on in the woods and one of mine was making and following a trial through the underground, which is always good fun.

And spending a bit of time noticing the ‘small stuff’.

And the big stuff...

Got pretty wet and very smoked out for the various campfires! Good fun with a good team though.

Winter on Tryfan

My first proper day in the mountains of North Wales for 2018. There had been a fresh dusting of snow on the higher peaks overnight, but down on the valley, things were starting off brightly. Storms were due by evening, so we made our way around to Tryfan's 'Heather Terrace' as fast as we could after a slightly delayed start.

From the terrace on the east face, we began to ascend Little Gully, just as the mists rolled in. There was some thick ice around and the odd patch of old snow. The higher we climbed, the more eery it became!

Then, having joined the top section of North Gully, seemingly as a reward for our efforts, we topped out, momentarily above the clouds!

Arriving up on the North Ridge, conditions changed completely. Thick ice lay between the rocks and there was a little of snow about too. This wasn't too much of a problem, but the arrival of a gale force wind was! The temperature plummeted. As everyone in the group was still keen to make the summit, we pressed on, crouching low to avoid slipping and getting pushed around by the wind too much. It was cold!

After a quick photo, we retraced our steps back to the top of North Gully and slowly (very slowly at times) began to descend down the slippery rocks of the west face and back into more pleasant conditions. Halfway down, we were released from the clouds, feeling tired but happy.