Y Garn & Surf Combo on a Windy Day

It felt like we made the most of living in North Wales today and managed to pack a lot of good stuff in! We started off with a very sociable morning with visiting friends at The Cottage. The weather has been crazy warm today - the thermometer hit 20 degrees this afternoon in the valley!? There has also been a very strong southerly wind blowing all day. 

We didn't realise quite how strong the wind was until we attempted to go up Y Garn around lunch time. The sun was out and the tops all clear of cloud, but the wind was relentless and hampered progress massively! We set off from Ogwen Cottage and as soon as we popped up into Cwm Idwal, the wind was inescapable!  We buffeted our way up Y Garn to the little lake, then decided to call it a day! The views were great, the the wind was exhausting (also, we figured that if we headed straight down, there might be time to sneak a surf in as well!). The wind would literally take you down if it caught you even slightly off balance - which it did a few times on the descent!

Wrestling our way up against the wind on Y Garn

Crazy Halloween temperature at The Cottage!

It didn't take too long to descent back to The Cottage, where we took some respite form the wind, had a coffee, reloaded the van with surf kit and headed to the beach! The gamble paid off, and we found  a suitably sheltered cove, which was surprisingly busy! Being used to surfing on Anglesey, we are normally spoilt by being one of the only few surfers at any one time. This afternoon there was a veritable line up of surf vans in the car park and a whopping 10 or possibly 15 people in the water! Still, there was just about enough room (and waves) to go round! Got out as it was going dark, then raced back to The Cottage for more socializing! 

Busy for the afternoon session

NEW WINTER GUIDEBOOK!

Hoorah!! I've finally finished tweaking the guidebook that I've been working on! It's an introductory guide to winter mountain walking in Snowdonia, North Wales. It's a downloadable PDF guide - check it out via the link below... 

NEW! Winter Guidebook - Front Cover

https://www.facebook.com/SnowdoniaWinterMountainWalkingGuidebook/app_149792611866853


Roll on winter!! - But until then, I'm off down to the Beacon Climbing Wall....

Rhoscolyn in the sunshine

Blue skies and no wind made the grey skies, storms and surf of the previous week like a distant memory! Wales at its finest today! The temperatures were cool and crisp, but in the sun it was T-Shirt weather! The swell was due to drop, but we decided that with the weather being so good, that it was worth a trip onto the Island to try and catch a wave...

Well the lack of surf was disappointing, but the stunning summers afternoon was not! 

Looking towards the Lleyn

Flat calm in Rhoscolyn Bay

We carried on up the coast having seen the flat calm beaches and stopped at Rhoscolyn. We'd not climbed there in years, but knew the cliff top walk would give a good panorama. We walked over the main climbing area, but didn't have climbing kit (having planned to be surfing). It was unbelievably warm in the sun as we sat picking out the various climbing lines.

Rhoscolyn Main Crag

Distant Snowdonia

Snowdonia and the Lleyn from Rhoscolyn

Pre-Cambrian Folds...

Having soaked up the best of the rays, and got a well needed vitamin D fix, we strolled across Rhoscolyn beach then up past the White Eagle pub, where we stopped off for a drink and bowl of chips!

Also had a quick evening bouldering session at the Indy climbing wall to burn off a bit of energy, before picking up a friend from the station who is staying with us at The Cottage tonight.

Wave hunting on the West Coast

The surf phase continues... You've got to be there to find out. Unfortunately, an early(ish) start from The Cottage to catch the tide at a certain beach almost proved fruit-less this morning. As calculated, the bay was nice and sheltered, but sadly without any real waves to surf! After a particularly refreshing walk along the deserted sandy beach, we decided to get in at a different spot. Having got up and out from a nice warm cosy bed, into a grey windy day, we thought we should at least get some exercise. 

As always, the waves turned out to be bigger than they looked from the van, and it was certainly worth getting in. It was much more of a work out than a surf session for me, but Clare, once again was ruling the waves. Steep drop ins and quick turns were required. We both took a few tumbles, but nothing as rowdy as previous days. Disaster only struck as I was about to get out - a final tumble in a wave and my surf board fin cut right through the leg of my lovely wetsuit! Nooooo! Being the optimist that I am though, I guess I'll just have to be glad that the wetsuit took the pain, and it didn't chop my leg off...

View from the van - sheltering from the on shore gale

Trip Planning....

Been Cottage bound for most of the day. We've had a productive, but tiring day of planning, searching and not without a fair amount of head scratching! We're putting together a plan for a rock climbing road trip around California, which is going to be amazing, but there's a lot of planning to get done first! Given the absolutely grim weather today, inside was the venue of choice today, so we've made the best of the conditions! Plans are beginning to take shape, but only after spending way too long, almost drowning in information from the web...

A bit of reading

To preserve some sanity, we popped down to Menai Bridge for some fresh air and food, but conditions were less than ideal for soaking up some sun.. Beat a retreat back The Cottage before getting too wet and blow away..

Grim day on the straits

Surf-a-sonic!

Woah!!! Bigger waves today, but it was the increase in wind that was the real difference. After checking all available options, we sat in the van at Cable Bay, Anglesey looking out to sea. It wasn't even 9am; the van was rocking violently in the wind; the sea looked like a battle field. To top it all though, in the back of the van were our cold, wet wetsuits! Anyone keen?!...

Wave Ahoy! Big rollers heading into Cable Bay

There are two main rules/observations that we've established over many years of surfing, which I'll share with you now:

1. It's always worth getting in.

2. It's always bigger than it looks from the beach

All action in Cable Bay this morning

Today, both of these were true. It was our friend Luke that gave us the nudge to wriggle into the damp neoprene and get out there (thanks Luke!). There was just enough of a gap on the left hand side of the beach to 'sneak out' without getting pounded by the big stuff, then once out of the 'impact zone', we could relax a bit and try and pick a wave. Clare was ruling the line up today, catching some outrageous faces, and manoeuvring in and out of the 'drop zone' with ease. Very cool to watch, even with salty sea spray in your eyes!

Onshore Breeze!

Line Up, Line Up!

After a great morning, we stopped off at Mojo's in Rhosnigr for some coffee and croissants in the sheltered outside seating area, and watched the world go by. Instead of going home though, we carried on to Conwy, where we'd remembered there was a food festival today. Spent the afternoon sampling fine foods and watching some live music before finally making it back to The Cottage for hot showers after dark!

Back in the surf!

Trailing the back hand...

Totally mega day in the surf on the west coast of Anglesey. Insanely windy, but found a spot with just enough shelter to provide some really great rides... Despite the wild feel to the weather, there was even some sunshine and magical beams of sunlight out on the horizon.....and once again, we had the ocean to ourselves!!

Thanks to Poppy for the photos!

Going for glory!

Clare taking off!

Rhosnigr Beauties

The sunny rip-tide

Clare crusin..

Blasting shorewards...

Catching the sun

Ooof!  Who greased my board!?

Sunset Spectacular!

Woah! Just had the most amazing sunset show. It came out of nowhere after a pretty dull and damp day. Sprinted up the road to catch the end of the show - there was even a little vertical rainbow coming up out of the sea at one point! Tried to just take in the colours as was pretty sure the photos wouldn't do it justice, but here they are anyway...

Boom!

Note the little rainbow in the bottom left!

Carneddau in pastel colours

Just kept getting better

...and better

Too much to fit in one camera lens

Mist on the hills

The finale...

All eyes alive!....

Sunset Surfing

Storm force winds and rain all day today. Went over to Anglesey late in the afternoon to check the surf and could barely stand up in Rhosnigr on the West coast of Anglesey!

Nice finish to a wild day

I managed to seek out a bit of shelter at Cable Bay, where there were some sizeable lumps rolling in. It was a great work out, but the waves would build up then flatten out, making it difficult to actually get a ride. However, the sunset more than made up for it! There was no-one else around (no surprise due to the hurricane forecast), but there was just enough shelter to feel relatively safe and it was a buzz to be out on such an unlikely evening! The water temperature is still plenty warm enough to be pleasant, but the wind was really stealing the heat from my hands!

Rowdy conditions on broad beach!

Sun down at Cable Bay, Anglesey

Excitable and windswept!

A brief spot of fishing...

It's been a nicely chilled day today compared to the hectic-ness of recent days, that began with a late brunch, followed shortly after by a lunch of banana pancakes. (Top recipe - 1 Banana, 1 Egg and 1 spoon full of Flax Seeds - mix it up and pour into frying pan)...

Traversing on the slates

Still managed to find time for a spot of traversing outside The Cottage and a blustery walk down the pier at Bangor, where once again, the fish weren't fooled by my amateur tactics! One day I'll catch something! It was nice to get out anyway...

The 'Mackerel Magnet'!

Afon Ogwen - Sunday morning white water kayaking

Early start for a Sunday, but worth it to catch a trip down the Afon Ogwen while there was still enough water in it. Overcast and drizzly, but still unseasonally mild, which made it all the more enjoyable. Just the two of us, a heron and a couple of dippers on the river, and at a level that was very enjoyable.

Ogwen Rapids, Bethesda

Get to the Eddie!

Catching a wave

Approaching the Scout Hut Bridge drop

We both had other stuff to do today, so ran the 'village section' down to the Scout Hut Bridge (the beginning of the fisherman's gorge). It's a great grade three(ish) section, with nothing too taxing (it was Sunday morning after all!), and plenty of eddies after the trickier bits to regain composure. It was only a two minute drive from The Cottage to the get in. so really must make use of this river more often!!

Spent a bit of time in 'the library' later this afternoon getting very excited about our up and coming world tour!... Soooo much to do!

Planning Adventures!

Anglesey Storm Surf - and some dry tooling!

Wild day to be out and about today! Southerly gales have arrived, and a good sized swell with it.

There is one little sheltered spot that we thought would be working on the west coast of Anglesey, and sure enough, the gamble paid off. Where as most of the coast line was completely blown out, we managed to get some great rides (once we'd battled in the wind to get down to the beach!)

The waves were pretty unpredictable due to the winds, but when you got into the right place, we could ride some sizable waves right across the little bay!

Rowdy Seas!

Totally buzzing when we got out - even after a few beating, when I ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time, beneath big breaking waves!

Fresh out of the waves after some big rides

Today is also the 20th Anniversary of our local climbing wall, so this evening I went along to see the finals of a dry tooling competition and to hear a talk by Will Gadd and Tim Emmett. Before doing their talk, they both climbed the main competition route in front of the assembled crowd, which was pretty cool to watch. Real technicians. Such smooth climbing, which they made look very easy, especially having just walked in through the door!

Tim Emmett at the Beacon

Dry tooling technician.

Inspirational talk, photos and a bit of video - all good stuff for motivation and planning for the next adventure. And a great social as well...

New routes at Penmaenbach Quarry

Went over to Penmaenbach Quarry in search of some newly bolted routes today. Over on the far side of the main climbing level are a bunch of new low grade routes, which made for a nice day of rock climbing instruction. The day started of beautifully, but warning signs in the form of rapidly forming high cirrus clouds, heralded the arrival of a change in conditions...

Spooky Cirrus 'Herring bones'

Classic mackerel skies over Anglesey

Despite being mostly north facing, the air temperature was very mild for the time of year and it was, as always good to be doing climbs I've never done. 

The Orme for the approach path to Penmaenbach Quary

We stayed dry on the climbs, but by evening the gales had arrived along with a deluge!