Saturday, 28 December 2019
Each year there is an annual “walk off the mince pies” walk in the Snowdonia National Park organised by the Walking For Pleasure Facebook group. This year the walk started in Llanberis and took in Moel Eilio (726m), Foel Gron (629m), Foel Goch (605m) and Moel Cynghorion (674m) and Susan, and I decided we would do it!
Saturday, 02 March 2019
Walking For Pleasure is a facebook group that has been running now for several years and, each year, there is a social meet-up to walk up Mount Snowdon on or near St Davids Day and 2019 was no different. Arrangements were put in place for those who wished to attend to meet on the 2nd March and climb to the summit of Snowdon via the Llanberis path. However, as the day approached, so did Storm Freya which threatened to batter Britain with winds of up to 80mph while, at the same time, drenching everywhere with a deluge of heavy rain or even snow. Yellow warnings were duly issued by the…
Sunday, 04 February 2018
Susan and I were very fortunate to have been in the area when this walk came up. The weather had been completely rubbish in the week leading up to the walk and it was only at the end of Friday that the forecast showed any signs that, if nothing else, it might not rain on the day of the walk, Sunday. After a quick coffee at the Moel Siabod Cafe with some other early arrivers in our group, we proceeded to the official meeting place in the car park behind Joe Brown’s shop. After some deliberations, the group decided that the Marchlyn Horseshoe would be the objective for the day…
Wednesday, 18 September 2013
The weather had been difficult over the past few days to say the least and the forecast for today was not much better. In the hostel, the talk over breakfast was about the heavey rain and strong winds forecast for today. Having spent much of yesterday drying out my gear and trying to get my satnav working again, I decided to pick a low-level walk for today. From the hostel, I walked along the road and up to the junction at Capel Curig. From there I took a path heading uphill to the east and along underneath Clogwyn Mawr. The wind was already picking up and the rain holding at…
Monday, 16 September 2013
It was raining when I left the hostel, I was planning on catching the bus from Capel Curig to Idal Cottage but when I reached the bus stop the time table told me that I had about an hour to wait for the next bus. I decided to walk. I had reached Gwern Gof Uchaf by the time the bus zoomed passed me and I was already cold, wet and tired by the time I reached Idwal Cottage and took a little break. I had never walked on the Glyders before and it was one of the main objectives of my week in Snowdonia. From the comfort of the warm…
Sunday, 15 September 2013
Having had a great wild camp in the Brecon Beacons I made my way to Snowdonia stopping briefly for lunch in Betws y Coed. I had booked a dormitory bed at the ‘posh’ hostel in Capel Curing known as Plas Curing and upon arriving the only real hassle was trying to find a spot to park in the small car park. Bizarrely, the place seemed empty. Definitely posh, but empty. I checked in and made my way to the room. The manager told me that I was sharing with two climbers but the room was empty when I got there. I found my bed and sorted my gear for my…
Thursday, 05 April 2012
Today’s objective was Snowdon and after the terrible weather yesterday the MWIS forecast seemed to be in our favour with clear skies, no rain, 15mph winds, a wind chill of only -1 to -3, and a 90% chance of a cloud-free summit. From the front of Craflwyn Hall there is a view of the summit of what I think is Yr Aran (747m) behind and I could see that it was still covered in snow from the day before and so packed my rucksack accordingly. Our group assembled at the gates of Craflwyn Hall at 09:20 and caught the Snowdon Sherpa bus to Pen y Pass. When we arrived at…
Wednesday, 04 April 2012
Overnight snow had fallen across Snowdonia and the MWIS weather report forecast winds over 40 mph and a windchill of -20 on the summits so we knew would be doing a low-level walk to avoid the worst of the weather. We left Craflwyn Hall and made our way past the Sygun Copper Mine to the edge of Llyn Dinas with the freezing cold rain being rammed into our faces by a strong wind. From Llyn Dinas we climbed up a path which roughly followed the Afon Goch to Bwlch-y-Sygym and at around 200 meters the rain turned to snow. In the distance, we could see Moel y Dyniewyd (382m). It…
Tuesday, 03 April 2012
Today was the first of our three walks and we were heading to Cnicht. I had never heard of this mountain and didn’t have a clue where it was located. Not far from Beddgelert as it turns out! A coach picked nine of us up from the gates of Craflwyn Hall and took us up the very narrow road to a village called Croesor. There were times when I thought the coach was going to get stuck as it only had inches to spare on each side and we were very lucky that we did not meet any traffic coming the other way! At the top of the narrow lane,…