A truly awesome day’s walking on the Glyderau. This comprised of Tryfan (South Ridge) with some additional scrambling thrown in, Bristly Ridge taking a tougher initial climb than Sinister Gulley, fun on the Cantilever stone, Glyder Fach with scramble to the top, Castle of the Winds with scramble, summit of Glyder Fawr, and descent via the Devil’s Kitchen. Weather was superb. Great day.
Last night I watched Show of Hands in Shrewsbury’s new Theatre Severn. Miranda Sykes accompanied them on double bass, and it was a fine evening of outstanding entertainment.
Pictures from a walk along the Nantle Ridge with Matt. A very nice outing indeed. Many thanks to the old couple and their labrador for giving us a lift all the way back to the Cwellyn Arms in Rhyd Ddu.
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I just went to watch the Queen Musical, “We Will Rock You” in the Manchester Palace. The story was a little bizarre but that didn’t matter, as many classic Queen songs were served up along the way. Very enjoyable, and a must see for all lovers of Queen’s music.
I spent last weekend down in Devon and visited Lydford Gorge on the edge of Dartmoor. This is the deepest Gorge in the South West, with an impressive 30m waterfall set amongst lovely forest walks. There’s also some cool platforms that allow you to climb down into the “Devils Cauldron”, a deep well that has been carved out of the rock by fast flowing rapids over thousands of years.
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Just went to watch Cirque du Soleil perform Quidam in Manchester. A truly spectacular show, with lots unbelievable displays of skill and ability. Was rather a lot to take in, but very much enjoyed it. Also saw them in Sydney some years ago, but it was a different show.
This sunday Andrew and I scrambled over the Bristly Ridge of the Glyderau. Was great fun and quite challenging in parts. We also threw in the scramble up to the Castle of the Winds and then a scramble down the Y Gribyn ridge. This scrambling stuff is quite addictive… Could this be a new drug? 
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I recently got an Inov-8 Race Pro 12 rucksack for running. It’s of a very lightweight design and intended to serve as a 2 litre hydration pack with storage space for the essentials needed out on the hills. The main pocket is easily large enough for food, map, compass, waterproofs, first aid kit etc. On the back is a useful mesh which can stretch to accommodate a cycle helmet, and there are also two hip pockets for anything you may need close to hand, such as gels or snacks.
What makes the Inov-8 pack different from other packs I’ve seen is the water bladder, which fits horizontally across the hips area. This means the weight is lower down on your body, where it won’t slosh around and affect your balance as much as with a vertical bladder.
I’ve taken the pack out on two runs so far with it fully loaded with water and gear – one road run, and another off-road on a wide variety of terrain. I found the pack to have a good range of adjustment meaning that it fitted snugly onto my back and didn’t move around a lot. I have suffered some slight bruising around my lower back, but no doubt that this will toughen up with a few more runs. Running with the extra weight does takes a little getting used to, and is definitely more noticeable when climbing or descending very steep banks or hills! It does take a little out of your pace, and certainly makes you work harder than without the pack, however on the flat my time wasn’t too far off normal.
Did a very good walk today up Snowdon, ascending via the Rhyd Ddu path then descending by the Ranger path. It was nice to see the mountains from a different angle, and there were gorgeous views across to Y Garn (Nantle) and Moel Hebog. Unusually the weather was bright and sunny for most of the day, however having reached the summit of Snowdon the cloud descended upon us to ruin the view, for what was the only time we saw cloud! The descent down the Ranger path is quite swift going, and near the bottom its possible to take a track that leads roughly south west through a disused slate quarry back to Rhyd Ddu, making a very good circular route. Think this was approx 9-10 miles.
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Today I’d set out to do the Moel Wnion fell race (4 miles, 1600ft) near Bethesda, but due to horrendous and most unfortunate traffic I reached my destination some ten minutes too late. I had my kit with me, so to avoid a wasted journey I decided to run up Moel Siabod.
Starting from Plas-Y-Brenin I slogged my way to the summit (872m) in roughly 40 mins. It was extremely cold and windy up there and probably not the best place to be wearing shorts and t-shirt. Gloves and something long would have been a good idea. I sheltered behind the trig point very briefly to admire the view, then went straight back into the strong winds picking my way through the boulders towards a grassy descent. Running down was wonderful, and only took 20 mins. Got a few funny looks off some walkers I passed on the way there and back.
Have wanted to run this mountain for a while. A good dosage of hill training.
