I thought you might like to see a few pictures from Sunday's walk in The Carneddau. A magical day.
Many thanks to Robin for organising a lovely trip - a shiny star!
There: Quite a few with Robin in them and quite a few of beautiful, beautiful mountains.
So, Welsh honour has been satisfied and I apologise unreservedly for this appalling slight. That's better, see, look you?
When I get back home I will add a few more pictures to today's entries, though you will all probably get very bored looking at luscious mountains in their best frocks. We clambered over some smashing places and never once threw any snowballs.
There were some lovely looking ladies out on the mountains today; I think they didn't fall in love with me as I had Robin as a companion. Next time I shall have to come here with an ugly bloke, then perhaps they will all swoon and make mad passionate love to me. I know - I shall take Phil as he can look grim when clambering up big mountains.
We are now parked up in an intruiging spot, where all about us there are trees rooted in nothing more than soild rock. But the soil we are camped upon is rich and firm, beneath what must have been, a long time ago, a pretty little house. Skylarks, ravens and crows have been our background music with the occassional rush of the mountain wind section. The sun has now slid behind the iron cold hills and so I shall send this tomorrow when I get a phone signal.
A bloody magnificent mountain day.
A few weeks ago I was having Sunday lunch in a very smart restaurant in Grosvenor Square. It was quite gorgeous, but it didn't quite have it for the views from the table (okay I did have Lynnie with me and she did look gorgeous) but todays views from the table are quite magnificent.
We are looking over the Glyderau with Snowdon peeking shyly from behind. Cheese rolls have never tasted so good. We are out of the wind sitting in the snow just about to head off over Carnedd Llewellyn.
Absolutely stunning today. I have even warmed to the Welsh, possibly because we haven't met any today
They slipped back into English and nothing more was said.
This evening we pitched up at a campsite as the Glyders were getting a proper hail-pasting, paid our dues and popped the tents up. Noticing a shower block, I nipped in, stripped off in the cubicle and pressed the button. Nada; nothing came out of the pipes.
Dressed I went back to the farmhouse and a large lady in a magificent pinny told me quite triumphantly that I "needed a token, see!"
Unlike the Pinnacle Cafe, this time there were no notices, no one had told us about the tokens. No apology either.
Welcome to bloody Wales! And they are welcome to it too! The scenery is top drawer, the service industry is rubbish.
Eleven miles, all well and the Exos 46 is a little hunny!
Mick & Gayle left us after we popped into Dulyn bothy, just to be nosey and to get out of the bitingly cold wind. Overnight a small snowdrift had built itself up against Wendy's flank ~ I don't think she was amused as she had had enough to contend with, with the blustery gails and shotblast hailstorms too.
We were blown along Llyn Cowlyd Reservoir and eventually found ourselves in this charming little cafe where they delight in telling us that there are no customer toilets, you may not eat food here bought in their shop and that certain tables are only for parties of 5 or 6. Only in Britain, eh?
Might just pop along the road to see if there is a pub where you are allowed to drink their beer.
OOH! The spell-checker didn't like the title of this post!
Well..... I have packed the Exos 46 for the very first time this evening, and amazingly it has all fitted in, quite easily. And that's with three days of food on board.
Robin has sent me the MWIS forecast, which is a bit crappy but hey ho - that's life isn't it? We shall also be meeting up with Gayle & Mick on Friday evening so there will be a whole bunch of bloggers, all walking which will make a change (for me anyway!)
I have packed some pretty foul weather gear (that is 'pretty foul' rather then 'pretty' gear - I don't do 'pretty') - my Paramo Velez, a Gore-tex jacket and my PHD down jacket as well, as Robin has us clambering up over the Glyderau and the Carneddau with "blizzards likely" according to the MWIS. It looks a bit better for Sunday but still pretty cold indeed on the tops so I shall be prepared.
Son Number Two has disappeared off to the Sahara for his Marathon des Sables and he has pinched the lightweight themarest but that's not a bad thing as I am taking my full length Exped Down mattress for a bit of snuggledom. I think he must have pinched my titanium spoon too so I am reunited with my old wooden spoon. My Lightrek 4 carbon poles won't arrive for another few days, so its the old Leki Titaniums for this trip. For the first time, as an experiment, I have dispensed with a rucksack liner and have packed all the delicate stuff in their own Exped Drybags. It seems to have made for easier packing so I shall see if it works out okay over the trip.
I shall take the Nokia E90 so if there is an O2 signal I shall have a bash at posting a few things.
More tomorrow then - O2 willing.
Lord Elpus has surpassed himself with an excellent cabbage and we have moved through Rick's second hand wines and ports (I have no idea why he can't get hold of the good new stuff from Tesco's.)
It's not often that Rick and the choirboy travel this far south but today Rick has been trying to see if he actually did have a father etc over at the Records Office whilst his choirboy has been buying instruments of torture for her lover: There is an amazing serrated wooden dildo (cunningly portrayed as a ravioli rolling pin) and a metal wringer for his dangly bits (also creatively decribed as a pasta machine).
RIck is in for a good night tonight. Miss Whiplash has nothing on this girl - she could write learned papers on sado-masochistic tendencies.
Lord Elpus has been regaling us all with his dreams of Elpus Hall Mk II; it involves draw-bridges, moats and 'Trespassers will be shot' notices. and, a dining room to match the size of his present magnificent dining table (if extended it would burst through each side of the present Hall simultaneously).
Lynnie is wearing her new pensioners outfit - a waterproof dress in a natty pale shade of yellow - very handy for later years in the care-home.
Lord E's upside-down cake was a triumph and now he is taking on the Welsh bi-lingual road signs.
Plus ca change. Plus, c'est la meme chose.
Reading Phil's excellent piece, over on Doodlecat, on his first TGO Challenge, now ten years ago, I noticed that Lynnie and I were even then both sporting pairs of walking poles. As a walker with a very dodgy right ankle (horribly damaged in a company Rounder's match in 1990) and a nastily damaged right knee (sickeningly sliced open by a tin can in 1966) I was an early adopter of walking poles.
For me, walking with poles isn't about reducing the number of elephants on my knees - to do that I would need the wrists and arms of a weightlifter and just transfer the problem of dodgy joints to my arms instead. I use poles relatively infrequently; on rough ground and steep ascents and descents.
On the rough ground they are used solely as lateral support. That way the muscles around my ankles, knees and hips aren't constantly bracing to resist the possible jolt and twist. I walk more naturally and 'loosen up' and the poles just correct any lateral slips. On steep up and down hilly bits I do use the poles for either extra impetus or additional braking.
For the rest of the time, my poles are usually stowed in my quick access holders on my pack. This means that I am generally carrying the things! Over the years I have invested in lighter and lighter poles, but even my Leki 'Titanium' poles are anything but lightweight.
When I was on my way to Braemar on the 2007 Chally (on my LEJOG) I caught up with a tall slender chap, who turned out to be Colin Ibbotson. I had to walk like fury to catch up with him but I was intrigued by his silhouette. Well not his silhouette but that of his walking poles. They were incredibly slender. I had to have a go with them to see how resilient they were. They were made of carbon fibre, you see. After trying them and being amazed at their lightness I was determined to track down a pair for myself.
Colin very kindly pointed me in the direction of Titanium Goat - as they were just starting production of a two piece adjustable pole rather than the fixed length single pole that Colin was using. After two very unsuccessful attempts at trying to buy a pair from the company (they were never in stock!) I gave up.
And then - I happened to read Roman's blog to find a review comparing his old Goat Poles with his new Gossamer Gear Lightrek 4 poles. Roman is a bit of a god, actually!
And so now a new pair of poles at the astonishingly light weight of 194 grams are winging their way over the Atlantic for me. I suppose it was a bit of a comfort purchase. And very happy it has made me too.
It had to be done. I needed to get out more.
And it is done.
With Lord Elpus, Martin & Sue, Mick & Gayle, Mike Knipe and a whole load of other excellent TGO Challengers out in the Peak District this weekend at the Challenge Reunion, shame got the better of me and I beetled around my local walk - the Hemingford Round.
I have to say, this took considerable mental fortitude as I had only just cut the grass for the first time this year AND done my exercises this morning as well! Shock horror!
With Lord Elpus currently banging out twenty miles a week and now clambering over the Peak District twice in two weeks, I am concerned. It's hard enough most years; keeping up with his athleticism as he bounds across the Highlands. This year there is a whole heap of work to be done if I stand a prayer of keeping within eyeshot of his lithe frame skipping over the distant horizon.
According to Darren there are just 54 days before the TGO Challenge. I desperately need to get out more. Urgently!
And so I have elected to join Robin on a jaunt in North Wales in a fortnight's time to try out the new rucksack. Interestingly he has just bought the slightly larger version of my Osprey Exos 46 which has an additional 12 litres of roominess.
I reckon the rucksacks will pass with flying colours and I will fail miserably, stuck at the bottom of a hill in a wet bog, crying in an exhausted heap.
"Al, you have got to get out more"
We were at the local District Council planning meeting in a draughty village hall. The plans Ian, Matthew & I were objecting to were just ghastly and so we had decided to make sure they were rejected for the fourth and final time and go to the meeting on a Monday night. If the bastard who wanted to knock down half his house and squeeze two nasty little houses onto his plot in our pretty little village thought that he could get away with it, then he had another think coming.
Tonight I was watching Mac and Happer tussle with the natives on the west coast of Scotland (shot in part in Arisaig, a Challenge start-point) on the telly - 'Local Hero' - and I only just caught it in time - Phew! It all came down to Ben Knox, who lived in a ramshackle shack on the beach that he owned to impart his wisdom and stop the awful development.
Back in our real little world, it just happened that our case was about eighth on the list that evening and so we sat through a medley of good and bad planning issues. We were given a mighty tome of the planning applications to view to pass the time before we could present our own three minutes of passion, given so eloquently by Matthew. But each case was absolutely fascinating.
Just as Mac and Gordon Urquhart jousted and tussled with the planning, price and development of the refinery in the stunning scenery of the west coast of Scotland, so we were witnessing the same dramas for real, in what appeared to be a converted squash court with appalling acoustics.
Real life dramas with real life neighbours and planning consultants each having their three minutes to plead their cases. And then it was down to a show of hands by the councillors.
"This is fascinating stuff" I thought I said under my breath.
"Al, you have to get out more" said Ian.
Standing at the base of an ancient Scots Pine you struggle to imagine what this magnificent specimen has experienced in its life. Like an old warrior it's limbs show the battle scars of ferocious storms and lightning strikes and yet now, it starts a slow decline, back into the earth that has nurtured its very existence.
All around there are younger equally handsome trees but quite rightly, your eyes are drawn to this magnificent beast.
In time to come our Great Grandchildren could be standing a few steps to the right, admiring another gnarled old pine that in our time had been one of the handsome younger contenders.
In the past few months the TGO Challenge community has lost two of its own wonderful specimens; Tony and Bob. They were magnificent characters: Everyone who met them was made to feel special and came away marvelling in the life of these characters.
To find out that they have been cut down is a shock. The forest is all the poorer for the loss of these titans. They will never be forgotten. However in time, the forest will grow back, back to full strength.
