The Old Men of Coniston

I've been up in the English Lake District since Thursday, assisting and assessing a team of BTEC students who have had to plan and complete a multi-day expedition. It's fair to say that the weather didn't show the area in its best light, but the level of general, harmless banter and good camaraderie easily made up for that. 

On a climbing trip in 2011, Clare and I had had a look around the camping barn below Wallowbarrow crag and I thought it would be a great place for a little expedition group such as this, so I was delighted to find that it had been booked by the team for us. There's an 'alpine bunk' style sleeping area upstairs. Aled and I opted for the downstairs option; I took the table top and he the fireside. I  slept soundly couldn't even be woken by the persistent Cockrel that got everyone up at 6am! Or my alarm an hour later for that matter. 

It's always good to be able to walk straight from the hut. No faffing around with buses or lifts, just get up, eat breakfast, put your boots on and go. We had a big day ahead of us and the team had insisted on cooking a full English breakfast. Who was I to get in their way! It made for a good start, especially as there was even a bit of sunshine around as we set off up the Duddon Valley.

The way to Seathwaite involved some pretty straightforward navigation and despite the temptation for an early break, we dug deep and pressed on past the pub and tea room with great resolve.

We soon joined the Walner Scar Road for a short section, before cutting off across the fells to Seathwaite Tarn.

Over to the west, the familiar summit of Harter Fell dominated the skyline and brought back good memories of when Paul and I had made an ascent one summer in the mid-1990s.

Just before the tarn, the first wave of what was to be several hail storms arrived. The wind was strong meaning that they tended to be short, sharp affairs, blowing through quite quickly.

With the mist down, we had to concentrate on the map much more. Gloves were worn all day long, as well as my waterproofs.

After a couple of exciting river crossings, (or Becks, as they say around these parts), we reached the very windy summit of the Old Man of Coniston, where we got some fleeting glimpses of Coniston down on the far side.

We traversed the ridge from the summit over Dow Crag, Buck Pike and Brown Pike, which eventually totaled a 20km distance day. While we moved along, the sun kept doing it's best to break through in the distance.

But every time it looked like it might, the clouds lowered and we were left in the mist again.

Until the final descent from Brown Pike down onto the Walna Scar Road.

The light from the distant setting sun was superb as we made our way down to the easier ground in fading light on the Walna Scar.

It was dark by the time we got back to the hut and we were all glad to have our boots off and huddle around the warmth of the fire. Simple things. There's been no phone signal or wifi anywhere in the valley and it's meant that we've all taken part in some good debates, games and even had a belting sing-song with me on guitar and Aled playing the piano in the hut! Good times...

The Elidir Fawr Circuit

The cloudy start and maximum forecast temperatures of five degrees, persuaded us at the last minute to change our planned scramble to something that involved more movement and less time with hands on cold rock. It turned out to be a wise choice as it was a cold morning to be in the mountains. However, it was eerily calm, with barely a breath of wind all day. Perfect for a quick blast around the local peaks of Elidir Fach, Elidir Fawr, Mynydd Perfedd and Carned y Filiast. 

From the summit of Elidir Fawr, we enjoyed the leftovers of last nights pizza while watching the clouds roll in and out. Snowdon's summit was quite white and the rock around us were rimed up with ice.

As we continued along the ridge section, the clouds lowered and we almost had the conditions for broken specter spotting.

All was calm down on the reservoir below us.

As we neared the final peak, we were treated to views across to the Carneddau, where the sunlight was catching the big bank of clouds that was sitting on top of them. 

We crossed the top of the ripple slabs of Atlantic Slabs and were glad to have not tried to climb them today. Worth waiting for a sunny morning!

A very agreeable three hours and ten minutes round trip and just a ten-minute drive from The Cottage. Happy Days...

North Wales Tourists

Something a little different this weekend! We've been looking after some international students and showing them some of the sights and tourist attractions of North Wales. We've been staying at the excellent Dol Peris Guesthouse in Llanberis, but spent Saturday zipping around Bleneau Ffestiniog in attractive red overalls...

Followed by the surreal experience of underground trampolining....

After some cooking lessons and a tasty dinner, we were entertained by some very talented piano players while we played jenga and relaxed by the fire.

Before bed, we hiked by moonlight up to the Castle ruins in Llanberis. Exciting and stunning.

Then to complete the weekend, we had a go on the forest sledding at Betws-y-Coed. Equally as bonkers as the previous days, but great banter with the lads... It's been a fun change of scene with some lovely people.

Rock Skills

The first real snows of winter have arrived on the mountain tops of Snowdonia.

The clear morning skies meant that I pulled over several times to delight in the views of this mornings commute to Plas y Brenin, where I was to be spending the bulk of my day.

The irony of spending a day like this indoors on a training workshop for providing 'Rock Skills' courses was not lost on me. However, as Mountain Training are in the process of introducing this new course, it was good to be a part of the first wave of instructors who are now trained to deliver this new scheme.

The day started off with the standard 'lecture' type chat, before we broke off to spend the rest of the day in smaller groups working through the details of the syllabus.

This involved a good deal of technical chat and a look through a bewildering array of belay devices and karabiners!

I made it home in time for a quick brew with John, who was passing by The Cottage from the Lake District, before heading straight back out to Capel Curig to support Sam and Mick who were running a winter skills lecture for the BMC - how timely with snow on the hills now!

How to take a bike on a plane - some thoughts for cycle-tourers

While clearing out some old files, I just came across this article that I'd written and forgotten about. Although I'm making no claims to be an expert in this, I have taken my bike on a plane a couple of times now, so I’m sharing my experience here to reduce your worries and hopefully minimize any problems. The two main concerns we had were:

a) physically lifting, dragging and/or carrying the bike as well as panniers, helmets etc to the check-in desk.

b) protecting the bike enough to ensure it was rideable at the other end.

Here’s how we got on. First and foremost, we checked in advance that the airline would accept a bicycle. We have flown with EasyJet and SAS. Both required an online extra baggage payment when booked the flights and each had a policy that the bike should have the peddles removed, handlebars twisted in line with the frame, tyre pressure reduced and the bike should be in a box or bag. We opted for the CTC bag as our choice of container and chose to ride/push the bikes right into the check-in area. This meant that we had less distance to carry the packaged items.

Once in the airport, we found a space to prep the bikes into ‘flight-mode’ and bag them up. This took about half an hour and we had arrived thirty minutes earlier than we normally would have to account for this.



I’d recommend doing a ‘dress-rehearsal’ of this at home, prior to the flight. Having done this made the process much quicker and less stressful for us. It also meant that we arrived prepared with various bits of kit to aid the process. First up was some cardboard (a mid-quality pizza box!), to protect the back de-railers. This was held in place using the big roll of sticky tape we had also brought.



A yogurt carton protected the front light and after twisting the handlebars, these, and the front wheel, were locked into place using some straps, cut from an old rucksack.



I also used my towel to give the brake and gear levers a bit of padding too. Waterbottles were left in the holders to stop them from getting snapped.



Once the peddles were off, we put the bikes into the clear plastic bags and taped up the ends to seal them in. Now, obviously a box or a padded bag will give more protection, but our thinking was that if a baggage handler can see that it’s a bike, they might be more inclined to treat it gently and not throw it about or stack a load of heavy suitcases on top of it. The other advantage to us, was that after the flight we could fold up the bag and stash it in the bottom of a pannier while we went on our cycle tour. Then once back at the airport, we could reuse it for the homeward journey.

As a team of two, once the bikes were packed, we used the remaining tape to bundle the panniers into a heavy duty big plastic bag. (Clare used a couple of bin bags and I had an old orange emergency bivi bag that mountain walkers carry). This created us a single package each which could be checked into the plane as normal luggage. Clare was able to push the pannier parcels on a baggage trolley, while I was able to lift the bikes by the seats by standing between them and walk them to the check-in desk. Once flight labels were stuck on, we took them to the ‘outsided baggage’ area and handed them over.

This left us to board the plane travelling relatively light with just our handlebar bags and helmets.

Having flown to the desired destination, all we had to do was complete the process in reverse. Panniers were retrieved from their bin bag parcels, packaging and cardboard disposed of.



We then folded the bags up carefully and stashed them away ready for next time. If you’re lucky enough to land in a bike-friendly city like Copenhagen, you might even find a designated area to do this, complete with bins, bike pump and mechanic rack!



With the bikes back together, we pushed through the customs zone and out into the sunshine and peddled off.... 

Good luck and happy travels!

Life on the Lake - Canoeing on Llyn Padarn

The first proper snows of winter have arrived on the mountain tops, accompanied by a strong easterly wind. Hardly ideal conditions for a few days of tootling around the lake, but that's just the way it goes sometimes. We togged up in fleeces, sought shelter where we could and kept our wetsuit mitts on as much as possible. Character building stuff right? Right?!.... 

Doesn't seem half as bad, recalling the day by the fireside here at The Cottage...

Sunset from Snowdon

It's been a long day out in the mountains with students, but worth it for the stunning sunset on what has been a crystal clear November day.

We didn't get an early a start as we'd hoped for, but were well equipped for the coming darkness as the sun set behind Cloggy on our way down the mountain. With a bright moon rising up behind us though, it turned out we didn't actually need to use our headtorches.

Despite the blue skies, it has felt quite cold all day, with a biting easterly wind. We did at least have the sun on us for most of the day though.

Until we reached the zig zags that lead up to the summit ridge - they were already in the shade when we got there and it was a welcome relief to get back into the sunshine for the final stretch.

The photos all look benign, but it's hard to convey just how windy it was on the exposed areas of the ridge. People were down on all fours at times and we saw two bobble hats fly up over the summit and off down the other side of the mountain.

On the summit steps, I had to force my legs to push forwards into the wind as I just about managed to remain on my feet. The group came up, by crawling along, with me holding onto them. I thought the smallest lad, might actually take off! We managed a disheveled summit selfie then beat a hasty retreat.

As we made our way down the ridge from the summit, the helicopter came to pick up a walker who had an injured leg. We were impressed by how it could hover in such conditions. A slow and steady descent got us back to the village at around 18:00, where Pete's Eats provided a well-earned feed.