A spare Friday in Jan just called for a trip to the hills, and so a very early start saw Cookie and I heading over the bridge heading for the Brecon Beacons. As we left the M4 and headed north the temperature gauge duly dropped a half degree every few miles, so by the time we reached the car park it was a balmy 2 degrees. Even Cookie who had been considering shorts decided that long trousers and a hat was the order of the day.
Read moreSome people walk in the rain, others just get wet
A Tavs training walk in preparation for the 3 peaks challenge later this year. Dave H was enlisted as he knew the walk and we decided to do the bomber walk which takes in a crashed Wellington and a crashed Vulcan. As we neared the start, it started to rain. No problem, on with the rain gear - except for Dave who having decided it was June turned up in .....
Read moreBloody Hell my knees hurt
They say that a kilometer in the Rhinogs is worth 3 kilometers in any other mountain. That was what we found - at least until a certain 50m on the Barmouth sea front - but more of that in a moment.
A dash up the country on Wednesday evening found Tav and Dave H seated in the bar of a nice (if slightly quirky) hotel near Dolgellau. After sampling a fine range of Welsh craft beers (this theme continued) and vague route planning we crashed out in preparation for what had the potential be both fun and some of the most challenging walking we had done. Not only were we planning to walk in country that had a reputation for being tough but as we were wilding camping we had full packs....
Read moreAnd today, an entry from our guest blogger, Jack Tavener:
In the early morning me/Jack, Dave and Tav met in Pentramue car park as that was our starting place.
First was table mountain. It was incredible how the top was so flat further on.
We were all...
Great things are done when men and mountains meet
Ridge scrambling and tea with fat people
The Nantlle Ridge is reputed to be one of the finest ridge walks in Wales and it didn't disappoint. Paul T and Dave H, headed up on a Wednesday evening to stay at the Cwellyn Arms for a couple of nights. Whilst the bar itself was a touch 1970s, the beer and food was good and the rooms were lovely - they also have a farmhouse, a bunkhouse and a campsite (complete with fire pits) up the road. It also had the advantage of being at the foot of both the Nantlle Ridge in one direction and the Rhyd Ddu path up Snowdon the other.
After a typically large breakfast we headed straight out of the pub and after a short stroll on paths, we went straight up onto the ridge - doing most of the climbing for the day in one go. The weather was somewhat confused and was largely unable to decide whether to obscure us in cloud or bathe us in weak sunshine. Having reached the top of Y Garn (no, not that one) we headed along the ridge which was a combination of walking on grassy paths and then scrambling up and over intermediate peaks. Think of it as Crib Goch with......
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