Thursday, April 24
hello from chester in wales.
after a gruelling, well sore-butting trip by bus, i arrived at birmingham, which seemed like a hole. anyway got on another bus and heasded for shrewsbury to meet up with andi and madd.
they haven't changed a bit and it's good to see that we kept going where we left off.
had a bite and saw johnny english...kinda cliche but entertaining-ish.
had a beaut few days with em and madd's family, great food!
saw some local sites including wales' highest waterfall, a lake and a castle where prince charles stays (no wonder, if we had gone in would have cost us a tenner!!).
on mon we headed to snowdonia and got lost in the forest while following the map, the path and the compass...well,especially the path. this was reasuring cause i was gonna go into the mountains that night...
great day and great to see good friends.
they then dropped me off at the start of the watkin trail, where after a few sad good-byes i headed up into the hills towards snowdon (which i couldn't see!), in the rain at about 6:30pm. walked past the nicest waterfalling creek (past crystal clear pools) i have ever seen!! up the track, looking back occasionally to admire the superb view...
i kept walking up the well marked path into the mist and horse-shoe shaped mountain. a rescue chopper flew over me, just doing an excercise i gather.
at about 7:30 i started looking for a spot to camp, wanting to get as high as possible in the good-ish weather (it had stopped raining and was fairly clear), but wanting to be beside water and on a flat grassy ledge. eventually i came down a little and found a great little spot, set up, and went back down a bit more for some water.
the mist was coming with the night so i cooked my tuna & noodles in tomato soup (yuuuummmmmm!) and got inside. at this stage i was 100% happy with my newly purchased packable down jacket for £20).
read some narnia (the horse and his boy) and got to sleep.
after tossing and turning for ages (all night) i woke, saw twas only 6 and went back to sleep for an hour. i looked outside to see... mist. oh well!
got some breakkie (oats with butterscotch pudding) packed the tent and started up the hill.
at the top after quite a steep trek up the scree-y slope i got to a flat bit. i was sure that it was straight ahead, looking at the map and from what i'd just climbed, estimating my position. but according to the compass it wasn't. the visibility was about 20m at this stage. i prayed for clearing, but nothing. so i forgot about intuition, feeling and sense of direction and followed what the compass said...
50m away was the summit! had i gone the other way i would've walked back down via a different route! so there we go, i was thankful for having it and thankful for knowing what to do!
obviously not much to see...so i took a photo of the trig station on top the cairn.
did a lengthy bog in the summit cafe (yes, there's a cafe!!) and headed down, in the mist, via the Pygg track.
As I was walking down the mountain, I met about 100 people walking up. The further I got the better the weather got, which opened up to a magnificent view of the valleys, lakes and peaks surrounding the still mist covered Snowdon.
Almost at the bottom I decided to go off route up "the horns", a steep grassy knob. Past a few sheep, what a view (down the pass towards Nant Peris). I then walked down to Pen-y-pass, past the youth hostel and headed up the mountain behind it, just E of Glyder Fach (which would be a great one next time!!). I followed the miner’s track to the top, checked out the view of the other side (smokaroonies, i see what people mean when they say rock scrambling!!) and continued along the ridge towards Capel Curig, a mighty fine hilly walk indeed, less craggy and mountainous, but majassive.
I made my way down to the river and camped there for the night, which cost me £2 when the farmer came round the next morning (while I was checking out the frost on my tent!).
From there I walked to Betws-y-coed ("sanctuary in the trees") where I caught a train to chester, then a train to Birmingham.
A total of 25kms(15miles) walking.
My legs are now aching and my feet feel like they’re gonna drop off!
after a gruelling, well sore-butting trip by bus, i arrived at birmingham, which seemed like a hole. anyway got on another bus and heasded for shrewsbury to meet up with andi and madd.
they haven't changed a bit and it's good to see that we kept going where we left off.
had a bite and saw johnny english...kinda cliche but entertaining-ish.
had a beaut few days with em and madd's family, great food!
saw some local sites including wales' highest waterfall, a lake and a castle where prince charles stays (no wonder, if we had gone in would have cost us a tenner!!).
on mon we headed to snowdonia and got lost in the forest while following the map, the path and the compass...well,especially the path. this was reasuring cause i was gonna go into the mountains that night...
great day and great to see good friends.
they then dropped me off at the start of the watkin trail, where after a few sad good-byes i headed up into the hills towards snowdon (which i couldn't see!), in the rain at about 6:30pm. walked past the nicest waterfalling creek (past crystal clear pools) i have ever seen!! up the track, looking back occasionally to admire the superb view...
i kept walking up the well marked path into the mist and horse-shoe shaped mountain. a rescue chopper flew over me, just doing an excercise i gather.
at about 7:30 i started looking for a spot to camp, wanting to get as high as possible in the good-ish weather (it had stopped raining and was fairly clear), but wanting to be beside water and on a flat grassy ledge. eventually i came down a little and found a great little spot, set up, and went back down a bit more for some water.
the mist was coming with the night so i cooked my tuna & noodles in tomato soup (yuuuummmmmm!) and got inside. at this stage i was 100% happy with my newly purchased packable down jacket for £20).
read some narnia (the horse and his boy) and got to sleep.
after tossing and turning for ages (all night) i woke, saw twas only 6 and went back to sleep for an hour. i looked outside to see... mist. oh well!
got some breakkie (oats with butterscotch pudding) packed the tent and started up the hill.
at the top after quite a steep trek up the scree-y slope i got to a flat bit. i was sure that it was straight ahead, looking at the map and from what i'd just climbed, estimating my position. but according to the compass it wasn't. the visibility was about 20m at this stage. i prayed for clearing, but nothing. so i forgot about intuition, feeling and sense of direction and followed what the compass said...
50m away was the summit! had i gone the other way i would've walked back down via a different route! so there we go, i was thankful for having it and thankful for knowing what to do!
obviously not much to see...so i took a photo of the trig station on top the cairn.
did a lengthy bog in the summit cafe (yes, there's a cafe!!) and headed down, in the mist, via the Pygg track.
As I was walking down the mountain, I met about 100 people walking up. The further I got the better the weather got, which opened up to a magnificent view of the valleys, lakes and peaks surrounding the still mist covered Snowdon.
Almost at the bottom I decided to go off route up "the horns", a steep grassy knob. Past a few sheep, what a view (down the pass towards Nant Peris). I then walked down to Pen-y-pass, past the youth hostel and headed up the mountain behind it, just E of Glyder Fach (which would be a great one next time!!). I followed the miner’s track to the top, checked out the view of the other side (smokaroonies, i see what people mean when they say rock scrambling!!) and continued along the ridge towards Capel Curig, a mighty fine hilly walk indeed, less craggy and mountainous, but majassive.
I made my way down to the river and camped there for the night, which cost me £2 when the farmer came round the next morning (while I was checking out the frost on my tent!).
From there I walked to Betws-y-coed ("sanctuary in the trees") where I caught a train to chester, then a train to Birmingham.
A total of 25kms(15miles) walking.
My legs are now aching and my feet feel like they’re gonna drop off!
