Walking

[Ian]

I'd second Hugo. Pyg is the most risk free, but Watkin the most exciting (!).  The Met office does extremely reliable Snowdon Mountain forecasts, so you should have no problem with the weather but even the Pyg track is not risk free, and - as with all mountains - decent boots are a must. If you want a much quieter walk, with stunning views, wild ponies and virtually the same height, you could try the Carneddau and do the North Roman Rd - Llewellyn walk. 

[TheMedz]

 >>>thanks for the advice we should be going up the Pyg track route in the next couple of weeks. I am however having trouble tracking down anyone that can supply me with 4 st Bernard's equipped with brandy barrels for the walk.

[hollins]

Here's two to get you on your way!

[Hugo]

Yesterday, we headed down to the Llyn Peninsula to do a circular walk in the Pistyll area.  The weather down there didn't look very good so we were glad to linger a bit longer in Wayne's house and enjoy the refreshments that he kindly provided but as soon as it improved we were off to Pistyll. We parked the vehicle by the the tiny, ancient church at Pistyll which lay on the medieval pilgrims` route to Bardsey Island and  had a look inside  at the  12th Century font and the remains of a medieval wall painting. Parishioners have revived the tradition of celebrating Lammas, and the church is freshly strewn with rushes and sweet smelling wild medicinal herbs three times a year.
After looking around the Church we set off down the coastal path but didn't get far when a very excited Pete told us to stop where we are!   It turned out that he had spotted an Adder in a coiled position but the sound of heavy boots sent it packing into the crevices of the boundary wall of the Church.   As we walked through the fields we had good views of Porth Dinllaen behind us and all along on our right hand side were the signs of abandoned quarries.   It wasn't that long before the top of Yr Eifl came into view and we reached another abandoned quarry and that's where we stopped in a sheltered spot to have our refreshments while enjoying the view ahead of Nant Gwrtheyrn,  It is sometimes referred to as 'the Nant' and is named after the valley where it is located, Nant Gwrtheyrn ("Vortigern's Creek"), which lies in isolation by the sea at the foot of Yr Eifl. The centre is built within the structures of the former quarrying village Porth y Nant, which was abandoned mid-way through World War II after the cessation of quarrying.      We then headed inland and crossed some farmland before taking the route past the farm and over an unusual stile and that took us back down to St Beuno's Church.    On our way back we stopped at Clynnog Fawr to have a look at St Beuno's Church and the well and then returned to Wayne's where we had yet more refreshments.    It was a short but very interesting walk and we have already discussed another walk in the area as soon as possible

[Hugo]

Pistyll Walk

[Hugo]

St Beuno's Church Clynnog Fawr

[hollins]

Mr Hollins did a lovely walk today along the Arans looking down to Bala and Barmouth in the distance.
They started at Cwm Cyarch and followed the ridge for about 8 miles going past the large crag called Craig Cyarch. The highest point is Aran Fawddwy.
Then the ridge descends  to Pandy which is south of Bala lake. There were a few of them so they had a car at each end.
Here are some photos he took which show the lovely views.

Sorry, the photos are not in the right order.

[Hugo]

That looks like a nice walk and he was lucky with the weather too as those views are beautiful.

[Hugo]

Yesterday was a beautiful warm Summer's day when we met at the West Shore for a walk on the Great Orme.   It's my home territory so I'm always keen for a walk up there but this time we were looking for somewhere special.   Keith had been to a cave years ago but couldn't remember the name or location of it but from his description of it I thought that it sounded like one I've been to many times before.
We set off on the Monk's Path (aka Cust's Path) just above the Tollhouse on the Marine Drive.  This route is fenced off for safety's sake but some erosion is certain to take place in the future, let's hope that it's not that dodgy looking pinnacle high above the path.  This path leads to Pen Y Ffordd Goch and back down to the Marine Drive again.   We weren't on the Drive for long, and  then took the steep diagonal Monk's path  leading to the farm wall.   We took our time going up and stopped a lot to just admire the stunning views that were all around.  Making our way down the concrete path to the Marine Drive, we turned right and headed past the lighthouse.  We didn't see any Dolphins but did see a solitary Seal in the water.    By the zigzags we stopped to have our refreshments and afterwards continued along the Drive towards town and stopped by Pigeon's Cave which sounded like the one Keith was looking for.  There's a rough path down to a ledge above the sea the ledge goes underneath an overhang and narrows to 5ft in width with a 30 foot drop to beach level. Here there is a 10ft deep, 5ft diameter mined shaft in the ledge . Near the bottom of this shaft lies another mined shaft excavated by Great Orme Exploration Society in 1986 until it became flooded, after which it was filled in.  An opening there also leads to the beach but there is no means now of getting there.   Keith recognised this straight away and was pleased that he had seen this again although both he and Wayne were a bit nervous about the drop to the beach and only had a quick look at the shaft.  Wayne certainly looks nervous in the photo Keith took of the two of us.   The Pigeon's Cave itself is on the beach and is visible from the ledge.     Years ago a metal ladder was fixed so you could go down the shaft and another ladder from the opening took you down to the beach.  I told my friends the story of when I was taken to the cove by  friends for the first time and it was high tide and we dived into the sea and then swam to the ladders and climbed up them to get back to the ledge.  It was great fun and we kept diving off the ledge  until it was time to go home.    The next Summer I went there by myself and got changed and just dived in but when I swam to the ladders they had gone!     With no way of getting up I had to swim out to sea and look for somewhere I could get back up to the ledge.   That was my very last swim in Pigeon's Cove!
After looking around we headed for Happy Valley and headed for the original part of the old Llandudno village and made our way along Cwlach Street and up to Haulfre Gardens and back to our cars at the West Shore.   I headed home but couldn't resist stopping for an ice cream and a look around that beautifully maintained St Trillo's Chapel

[Hugo]

Great Orme's Walk

[rhuddlan]

It was an excellent walk.Here are some panoramas to show how lovely the weather was. Thanks again Hugo!

[Hugo]

Thanks Rhuddlan and those panorama photos are great and show the lovely views that we enjoyed that day.     I liked that one you sent to me of Wayne and myself on that narrow ledge below the overhang,  Wayne wasn't very comfortable there and it shows in the photo, there is no chance of him going up Crib Goch when we do Snowdon next.     

[TheMedz]

>>>thanks for the advice we should be going up the Pyg track route in the next couple of weeks. I am however having trouble tracking down anyone that can supply me with 4 st Bernard's equipped with brandy barrels for the walk.

Mrs Medz and I finally made it to the top of Snowdon on Sunday. Following your advice we set off early and managed to bag the last place in the Pen Y Pass car park at about 8 am. We  set off up the Pyg track shortly afterwards and got back via the Miners path to the car at about 2:30. I looked at the summit weather forecast before leaving home so knew we weren't going to see a lot for most of walk due to low cloud and that turned out to be the case. We had "feels like" temp of around 2 C and driving rain at the top. The weather made the rocks fairly greasy in parts but we both really enjoyed the day. Another one off the bucket list

[Hugo]

Well done The Medz,  hope that you enjoyed the experience and the views that you were able to see.     The weather on the mountains can be very unpredictable but at least you've done it.     

We'll be able to see how Fester does soon, but the Pyg Track is definitely the best way up for a first visit.

[Ian]

Well done to both of you. Now there's only Ben Nevis to do...  WWW WWW WWW