Empty Road Exercise

Strangely, the busiest traffic has switched from the roads to the cycle paths. To remain in isolation and exercise, we took the main road up the valley - something I'd never normally consider as I'd be too worried about the traffic. It was a surreal experience. The views were different on a bike than from a car. You get to soak in so much more when you're not going 60mph. And as a bonus, the road had been recently resurfaced!

We had the wind behind us for the uphill, then after a quick pitstop in a layby, we cruised downhill into the wind. Moving quietly and generally pretty slowly, we passed right by a huge buzzard in a tree on the side of the road without disturbing it.

We only saw a handful of cars.

Footpath Exploration

Having never really spent much time locally during the holiday around here, we are taking the opportunity to do a bit of exploring from the front door.

Having studied the local Ordnance Survey map, it reveled a network of footpaths; most of which we'd never really noticed before. So we set off to try out one of some different local walks.

Even just getting a different angle on a familiar view felt like a holiday, even though we were so close to home.

And would you believe it - there's even a 'Welsh Pilgrims Way' going through the woods!

Our 'short walk' turned into a bit of exploration and we arrived home later than expected, completely shattered (it was supposed to be a day of rest after yesterday's uphill bike-a-thon!). Legs tired. Slept well....

An Uphill Workout

The trouble with riding a bike around here is that you are never far from having to peddle uphill. For today's 'daily exercise' away from The Cottage, we rode straight up the hill behind us. It was far from ideal in terms of having a warm-up, but did give us plenty of exercise and some new views from above the valley. In some ways, it is great cycling conditions as everyone has to stay at home, but it did feel weird having the road to ourselves for most of the ride as we only saw a couple of cars.

In a 'there and back' ride up the hill, we traveled about 18km and in doing so, pretty much covered more vertical height than we did in an entire summer of cycling up the west coast of Sweden a few summers ago! At the high point, we lay down and watched the clouds, while re-fuelling with a tuna sandwich.

It was nice to see over to Snowdon again.

There was a bitterly cold easterly wind blowing, which had us working hard on the way up as we battled into it on every other zigzag, but for the descent, we had to put on extra windproof trousers and big gloves and down jackets to keep warm. The wind chill was tremendous and caused tears to pour from my eyes as we 'battled' downhill into the wind. At times, we even had to peddle downhill to prevent the wind from stopping us!

Having left the views of the lake at Llanberis, it was a delightful downhill all the way, passing only a couple of dog walkers at a 2m berth.

Settling into Cottage Isolation

All mountain activities have ceased for the time being so I've been spending a good deal of time over the last week devising online Outdoor Education activities for my students. Here in Wales, we are still allowed out to exercise once a day as long as it's to and from our front door (i.e: you can't drive somewhere to then go for a walk). Naturally, we've been trying to make the most of this daily freedom. We've biked on three days this week, two of which involved a very steep start up the hill behind The Cottage.

We hugely appreciate, now more than ever, our proximity to wild spaces.

Which are now quieter than ever, without any visitors.

One of the tasks I have set my students is to adopt a plant or flower wherever in the world they are. They have to check in with it each day and watch how it has grown day by day. I've encouraged them to give the plant a name - this is mine, who we now know as Geoffery.

Even on foot, we can get straight onto a network of footpaths. We got a glimpse of the sea in the distance above The Cottage.

As with many gardens around the country, they are suddenly receiving a lot of attention from their housebound owners. Geoffery got a little bit too much attention from the lawnmower this morning and lost a few leaves, but thankfully escaped relatively unscathed! Phew!

As well as being able to walk and bike from The Cottage, the real savior so far has been the weather. A spell of high pressure has given Wales it's best period of uninterrupted sunshine in months. Of course, it's a shame that we can't make us of it up in the mountains, but it has made getting into a new 'local' routine all the more pleasant.

This afternoon's bike lap of the hill behind us gave us a glimpse of Snowdon's summit. I imagine the last time when the top of Wales' highest peak would have been left unclimbed in such conditions must have been in 2001 when the National Park was last closed due to the Foot and Mouth disease.

One task that I had set some pupils, was to come up with a way of working out which way is north, without using a compass and then test it out. One reply that I got back, I had never heard of, but tested the hypothesis, and it seems to be correct! You should try in out and let me know if it works for you? I was told to check out the JumboJets in the sky. Apparently, in the UK they generally travel East to West in the mornings and West to East in the afternoons. So they do!

It's Friday night now and the Easter Holidays have technically begun. Having lived in The Cottage now for ten years, We've never had an Easter in Wales before, so there is still plenty of novelty to keep us entertained around here. Looks like the skis can take a rest this year though....

Seeking the Solitude

With more reports of overcrowding in the National Park, we set off from The Cottage on a route we were pretty sure would not be overrun.

We certainly saw more wild horses than people.

We headed out onto a peak that we've only been on once or twice before and took in several others along the way.

We really did have the place to ourselves.

There was full blue sky all day, but the horizon remained hazy.

Having spent most of the day working at The Cottage, we were able to make use of the light evenings for the first time this year.

We descended towards a lowering sun, feeling it's warmth. (it was 15 degrees when we left home!). On the way down, Clare spotted a Sparrow Hawk coming into land on the cliffs. Luckily, I had a pair of Uncle Ken's binoculars in my pack, so we were able to see it on it's nest.

Made it home just before dark...

Amazingly, just a few miles away in the other valley, below Snowdon, we later found out that this had been the scene at the Llanberis Pass. Bonkers.

Out on the bike

Hearing news that the whole country has flocked to the National Parks, we decided to stay put, only venturing out late in the afternoon for ride up the valley. This time, with no eBike assistance to help gain some more fitness. Where ever the masses had come to, it wasn't here...

There was a really strong headwind, which really increased the effort we thought we'd require, but it paid off on the return journey. Especially useful for me as my chain snapped - I got blown back as far as the river without having to peddle before Clare returned in the van to rescue me!

Working the lungs on Moel Hebog (783m)

I'm still trying to get my lungs back up to full working order, so we continued with our recent flurry of hill walking again today. Plenty of isolation to be had over on the far side of Snowdon too.

Starting from Beddgelert, we made an ascent of Moel Hebog. It's only a 35 minute drive from The Cottage, yet we rarely venture over this side of the National Park. Consequently, it felt like we were on holiday, with new, yet slightly familiar views in every direction. Even mountains that are well known to us, took on a different form when viewed from this new perspective.

As forecast, the weather was stunning (possibly for the first time this year when we've both been off at the same time!). However, a cold easterly wind was blowing and a below zero windchill meant that we had our down jackets on for parts of the ascent.

We took our time and enjoyed the views on the way up. As we reached the summit, we got views of the west coast and all of the Lleyn Peninsula. I think I'd been up here twice before, but had no memory of it what so ever. But to be fair, I think the last time was around 1994 with Paul and Bek, so a lot has happened to need remembering since then. It's a great summit.

Next to the summit, trig point is a low wall, so we tucked behind it to benefit from the sheltered sun trap that it created. Shortly after lunch, I fell asleep. Guess I'm still recovering then!

That's Snowdon in the centre of the photo.

And down there is Beddgelert, with Llyn Dinas above it on the right-hand side.

Brilliant to be out in the sun with great views and company.  

Moel y Ci

Blue skies are returning. Another gentle hike up the hill, for the views and some sunshine...

Carnedd y Filiast

Another day and another chance to get the lungs working. This time with a bit of uphill progress too. There's been a dusting of snow overnight on the summits  (we had 30mm of rain in the night!).

Once the storms had passed, the wind completely died off and we able to get out and enjoy some still conditions in the mountains. 

This is Clare's reflection in the small lake on the way up.

It was also full of clods of frogspawn!

The mist rolled in as we got to the summit, but we didn't really care. I was just delighted to be back out in the hills. I felt much more tired than I should have, but overall, pretty good.

It was a quick descent down the reservoir road, then back to The Cottage for some fireside entertainments.