Thankfully, the main storm has passed and we were able to get some dry shelter in the dense woods near Llyn Crafnant for a bit of forest fun with some of my younger students. At least with a good campfire on the go, it gave a good excuse to brew up some tea and keep warm.
Apart from the odd pine needle, the tea making was deemed a success, but the fried campfire cakes were somewhat less appealing. As the saying goes, 'the first bite is with the eye'...
Today (Thursday), I've been out with a group of hill walkers in some 'challenging' conditions, involving heavy rains and strong winds. I had a couple of plans in mind, but no matter where you went today, there was no getting around the fact that it was going to be a soaker! In the end, I decided that if we were going to get wet, we might as well go and see a decent waterfall. We unanimously decided that there was little in the way of benefits in trying to get a view from a mountain top. On the way up to Aberfalls, the path was littered with fallen branches and trees from Monday's storm. We counted well over a hundred rings on this large ash branch.
At least our battle into the wind and rain paid off with some dramatic scenes at the base of Aberfalls. This time two years ago I'd been here to try and climb it while it was frozen!
It felt like a real force of nature and being up close to the base; the noise was deafening and spray in the air, soaking. Quite invigorating on a very dark and dull day. From the waterfall, we made a sound mountaineering decision and retreated back to base, to discuss expedition plans while drying off with over a hot cup of tea in the Chaplins Cottage. Even I had wet feet by the time we'd got back!
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