We said our farewells to the beach at Barmouth this morning and began to meander our way back north along the west coast of Wales.
After an accidental turn up a very steep hill, so wheel spins and high revs landed us outside Harlech Castle.
And then, after a bright and breezy start, the first in a series of blizzards swept over us!
We reached the cliffs of Tremadog between the showers and it looked, somewhat unbelievably, considering what we had driven through to get there, as though it might be climbable? A window of blue sky convinced us to walk up to the cliff base, but having got there and about to uncoil the rope, snowflakes started falling again and suddenly we were engulfed in another downpour! We beat a hasty retreat back to the van.
Having packed all the kit away and changed into dry clothes, the same thing happened again! Blue sky returned as the blizzard blew past.
The heat of the returning sun was lovely and the prospect of a sunny climb, looked like it might return as the cliff dried off.
Got the kit back out of the van and a second attempt was mounted, only to arrive at the top of the first scramble pitch to find hail and snow falling again!
This time, we decided to sit it out as we were reasonably protected by the tree and the cliff was sheltered from any wind. The van thermometer had read 4 degrees, but out of the wind, we were perfectly warm enough. As the sun returned and the next window of opportunity opened up, we made a dash for the summit!
It got hotter and hotter as Clare climbed and the cliff was almost dry by the time I followed her up.
From the top we could see in the distance, that the mountains had turned completely white!
Yet, we were still in the Spring sunshine!
With the passing showers to clear the air, the clarity was superb.
On the way back down we passed our first Bluebells of the year!
We had time for a sandwich outside the van before the 'window' closed and the heavens opened again! We drove over to Porthmadog in a blizzard and arrived at the docks in time for the next sunny spell. I've been past here so many times, but always to climb and have never actually stopped - it's a lovely little harbour.
Especially with a snow and blue sky backdrop!
The tour then took us onto Criccieth, where a sheltered beach provided a bit of exercise and some stone skimmers.
The weather was looking much better out west on the Lleyn and there seems to be a bit of snow on the ground at The Cottage at the moment, so we decided to stay out with the sunshine for a bit longer!
So instead of driving home, we moved up to Nefyn on the North Coast and found somewhere suitable to retire for the night!
Tremadog Climb:
- Boo-Boo, Diff* (in one long pitch)
No comments:
Post a Comment