The Orme for biking and geology

It was a bank holiday! So we had the Monday off. You might have guessed it: I decided to spend it with Neil. And we decided to focus on two activities we both like but have a completely different approach to: biking and staring at rocks.

I love my bike commute, but I very rarely use my bicycle for exercise. Road biking is his main sport. I thought we might see if we are vaguely compatible, so I brought my bike in when I visited. And after some coffee and cake we got on our bikes. We would do just a simple loop around the Orme. It's not really far! But it would be far enough to get an idea of whether we might want to do this at longer distances in the future.

Neil lives a bit more than halfway up the Orme, and we decided to go up first. That first bit is quite steep! I couldn't keep up with Neil. And on the downhill, past St Tudno’s church, I obviously couldn't either because whether I'm on a bike or on my feet; downhill I'm not very fast. But the difference wasn't painful. And I was on a relatively heavy commuter bike, while he was on a featherlight carbon bike, and clipped in. 

It was nice to bike this road for a change! I had once driven around, and run around several times. And we had a little break for a sip of water at a point with very good views. 

We biked up by the church as well, as that is less steep than going the way I had driven. It was fine! But we didn’t take any pictures. 

Neil thinks he’s only faster because of his superior kit. I don’t know if that’s true. But we both enjoyed it so we will go and find out. I’d say this won’t have been the last time we do this.

There was still time so we did a little geology trip too. Neil wanted to know more about the Orme, and I love swotting up on things like that, so I had done a little search, and found a field guide. We could fit in one or two locations! And we did. We mostly looked at a sandy freshwater member, but also looked for Brachiopods in a limestone formation. 

We finished it all off with a beer with his neighbour. A good day! I think all of it will be followed up…

The sandy member with a sheep on top

On the way back

First module website launched!

I was just working on my Personal Development Review documentation when I decided to check if the students had been enrolled on the module website of the dissertation module. And they had! And that meant I could open it to the students. So I did! I like to have this site available asap. It’s good to have a repository of information. Some students are already thinking about their project. 

I had to add the staff myself. A pain, but doable. So now it’s open, and it feels like that brought the new academic year a bit closer…

Another hike: Gorseddau, and more

Neil and I are on a roll. We still want more of each other's company, so when the weekend arrived we went for another adventure. And I got inspiration out of the Thursday night run. We had fairly comfortably run through an area that normally is very wet. Maybe we should do a walk somewhere that could also get quite boggy? And I suggested Gorseddau slate quarry. The previous time I had been there with Kate it had become a complete washout. And it wasn't too far. I didn't want to do something as extensive as the Snowdon horseshoe.

Neil was happy with that; he had never been. But he suggested we tag a nearby hill to that: Moel Ddu, as he had not been, and I am starting to have the suspicion he is a bit of a summit bagger. Fine with me!

As it was a bank holiday weekend in summer, we figured that the parking lot at Nantmor, which is a convenient place to start, would be rammed, so we decided to park in Beddgelert, which has a big parking lot by the railway station. That makes the walk a bit longer but so be it. And the plan worked. There was a sea of space at the parking lot, even though we got there by 10am. And we started off on a very beautiful path. I had done that before! And then it vanishes. It indeed did. So it was good we had picked this dry spell for it, because if you end up bushwhacking in North Wales, you are bound to hit boggy bits. And today they weren't very boggy.

How the path starts

Beddgelert in the distance 

We hadn't seen a soul since Beddgelert, but near the quarry we met two ladies. We had a nice chat. And then we proceeded. We had lunch with views over the quarry. We didn’t explore it further.

Gorseddau

After lunch we made our way to Moel Ddu. There was a faint path! And the views were lovely. I was really glad we had decided to tag this extra bit on. And we had a bit of a break at the summit. And then we had to make our way down. We didn’t want to retrace our steps, so we decided to come down on the northern side. If we would follow a wall we would get into a proper footpath. And then the beginning that was fine. There was a faint path along the wall.

Summit view towards the sea

Summit view the other way

You guessed it; at some point it wasn't fine anymore. We ended up in a forest of bracken. And I don't like that to start with; you can't see where you put your feet, so risk over sprain is heightened, and that slows me down. Additionally, bracken hides brambles. These sure did! I had already torn my legs to shreds during the Thursday run, but now I was making it a lot worse. This was a very trying bit. We escaped the hostile vegetation for a little bit while walking on top of a wall. We were so glad when we were out of the bush and on that footpath! And it wouldn't bring it straight back to town; it would lead us a pill for a while and then back down. We decided that we had done enough for the day and as soon as we could, we got onto the farm track, and then on the road. We will do a little bit along the road until we would get to Nantmor, where we would get onto the very touristic path along the Glaslyn river.

Too much bracken

That way we got back to the village quite quickly. And we rewarded ourselves with some ice cream. And then it was time to go home. 

In spite of the very bloody legs it has been a good day! I was very keen to make sure our next adventure would not involve too much bracken. I had had enough now. A bit like at the end of the slate trail with Kate. The worst thing about that was also bracken! In spite of the midges and the exhaustion…

Watching the Tryfan Downhill Dash

I had heard of the Tryfan Downhill Dash. Dave had run it, to the regret of his knee. It is exactly NOT my kind of race. Why would anyone in their right mind race down some 600m in only about one horizontal kilometre? But some people think that’s a nice challenge. 

One of the track runners mentioned it would be on this month. She was considering it. I said I would be happy to cheer her on. 

Then I got a message from Charlotte. She was going to spectate. Would I join? And I said yes! She had done it before. She picked me up, and drove to the parking lot from which you can see the runners descend. There still was space! And there were some Harriers: Mike who organises it, and Fliss who was considering running next year. And some other people. 

After a while, Charlotte saw the first runners. It took me a while to see them too. I had brought binoculars, but they’re not great, and it helps if you know where to look. 

Watching! Expected route (as far as visible from the road) indicated. 

It looked like the runners were not bombing down the slope in sheer contempt for death. Good! There was some falling over going on, but nothing that looked worrying. 

We could see someone in red and someone in blue for a while. And one in black. Two of them! It looked like Red would win. And he did! It turned out to be Michael, the organiser of the Conwy Mountain Fell Race I had marshalled. Blue was close behind. And then there black tops. Then there was a gap. 

Among the next two runners was the first female. I recognised her from the Tuesday series. And I thought I spotted an Eryri Harrier shirt on the hill. Two!

When they came closer I saw it was Brian, representing the 80+ category, and Hazel, in the 60+ category. And these happen to be husband and wife. Pretty cool to do a race like that at such ages! And Brian came last, but last with an all-time record in the 80+ category. I think he was the first person ever to run in that category…

The winner, Michael, about to finish

Presentation 

There were only nine runners in total, and it looked like none of them he got injured. Success! It had been nice to watch, in spite of the midges that had come out. Mike quickly did the presentation, and then we left. I could see me doing this again next year!

TNH in the back garden

I was glad to see that the meeting point for the next Thursday Hill session was Blas Lon Las, the café/farm shop of Moel y Ci farm. That is biking distance! And I didn't mind that that probably meant we wouldn't do as many vertical meters as normal. It's a bit away from the main mountain ridges. That was ok with me. I thought we had been overdoing it a bit this season, with crazy slogs up and down Elidir Fawr and the ridge with Foel Gron on. 

I biked to the start. I made sure I had my bike lights with me. It is that kind of season again! And we started our route on the Pentir Fun Run course. Then we headed along Moel y Ci (the hill itself) to the outskirts of Mynydd Llandegai. And headed for the gorge of Afon Galedffrwd. And then via yr Ocar to the pretty path that is a bog most of the year. Getting there I hit a bramble pretty hard, and ran the rest of the route with bleeding legs. And then we headed back to Moel y Ci, summiting this time. And then around, back to the cafe. 

All of this is basically within my normal stomping ground. Except the normally boggy bit. But that’s ok! It was nice to run it with this lot. 

Early on

A glorious night

From the top of Moel y Ci 

It took us 2:15 hrs! For only 12 km, and 475m uphill. I hadn’t felt quite in the zone the entire run, and maybe I wasn’t the only one, given how long it took us. But it had been nice. I didn’t want to linger, though. I got onto my bike and left. 

I completed another mission on the way home. On Monday, I had left my bag at the entrance of the underground venue we had visited. It wouldn't be a big detour for me to now go and retrieve it, so I did. A bit more trudging through potentially hostile vegetation followed, but my mission was successful, and it didn't delay me all too much. But now it was time to get home, get showered, and get to bed!

Another underground trip with the UCET ladies

I forgot to blog about this! And that means that this post comes a bit out of sequence. This took place on the Monday before the wild camping.

There was another evening trip on with the ladies, and it wasn't far from me! It was a venue I had visited several times before, including with the Yorkies, but I really enjoyed the company of the ladies, so I was keen to join, even though I knew I would probably not see anything new. The venue is not very extensive.

I just walked to the meeting place. And from there we walked to the entrance. Because the venue was not very extensive, I didn't think I needed to bring much. I just had a water bottle in my pocket. I decided to leave my bag, which I had used for bringing my helmet and warmer clothes, as I would need these underground but not on the walk there, by the entrance, as stomping around underground tends to be nicer without lugging luggage around. 

We went in. It is quite a walk to get to where the artefacts and features are. Occasionally we stopped for pictures. And several of the ladies had never been here before. It was lovely be able to introduce this place to them. And I wasn't leading this trip; a lady called Karen was, but it is nice if you know that there are good things there, and you can share that with friends.

Adit

Pretty geology 

More tunnel

Artefacts!

L

Ladder in flooded winze 

Group pic by Sharon

I had expected we would come out the way we had come in, hence that I had left my bag. But then the idea was floated to come out the other way. There are disadvantages associated that, but we decided to just accept them. It is nice to see different things on the way in and out. In this way we had a considerable surface walk back to the cars, but that is ok.

There was talk of going for a swift half. And we did! And that meant I peeled off; if I wanted to get out of my soaking and muddy footwear and become presentable for a pub visit, I needed to go home to change. The other ladies changed by their cars. And we did have a nice swift half in the village pub. Several of the ladies still had quite a drive home, so we did not stay long.

I don't know when or where the next trip with the ladies will be. I hope I will be able to make it. I am enjoying this crew!

Wild camping date: day 2

The first thing Neil and I did when we woke up in our wild camping spot was check whether the midges were still out. They were! So we decided to just pack up the tent and start walking. As soon as the midges would have gone, either because they figured it was time to retreat for the day or because we would have reached a place with so much wind they couldn't maintain themselves there, we would sit down for breakfast.

This happened only about 600 m away. The landscape had changed a bit since the day before. We were soon in a cloud, and the views were a bit diminished. But the landscape nearby, unobscured by the fog, was very beautiful, and we enjoyed our breakfast. And then we continued our way.

Breakfast. Pic by Neil

We had decided we would just walk towards the head of the valley, and then up onto the ridge. This would bring us to Foel Fras. From there we could just follow the ridge back down to Abergwyngregyn. 

Initially there was a quite clear path, but this is not very well-trodden terrain, and it faded considerably. For quite some distance higher up, we were basically bushwhacking. In the fog, which at some point due to rain. And the wind picked up when we gained elevation. And my speed dropped when the path got worse. Neil was more gung-ho; he is not as prone to sprains as I am. At some point he stepped into a hole. That scared me! But he was OK. And he told me he was going to be more careful, and then immediately stepped into the next hole. But he was still OK. Just OK with very wet socks and shoes now. 

Making our way to Foel Fras in the mist

We got to the summit of Foel Fras without further problems. Now it would be downhill all the way! And slowly the wind dropped. And the rain stopped. And a bit below Drum, where we had another coffee break in a wind shelter, we stepped out of the cloud. That was nice! We got views again. 

Stepping out of the cloud

We walked back to the car in a very civilised manner. Calm weather, clear paths. And as we were parked by a cafe, we popped in for a drink and a slice of Bara Brith. 

I think it was a successful trip! I am convinced we will do it again. And it wasn’t perfect; I could have done without the midges and the flapping of the tent, and I have been on Foel Fras (and Drum) with better views. But that’s life. I look forward to seeing where we will end up next time! 

Wild camping date: day 1

This is a post about a date that involves wild camping, not a wild date that involves camping. Neil had really specifically been looking for someone to do outdoorsy things with, and one of the best things you can do outdoors is sleeping. So I figured that would be something that would be on the cards quite soon. It turned out he didn't even have a sleeping bag! His ‘before’ life did not involve any outdoorsiness. I figured I needed to introduce him to wild camping ASAP. I was convinced he would absolutely love it!

I came up with two suggestions of where to go. He picked the valley above Aber Falls. I had slept there once before. 

We would set off in the early afternoon. That would give us plenty of time to walk into the valley, find a good spot, and pitch the tent, all before dinner time. I packed my stuff, and some extra stuff for Neil. And we met outside Abergwyngregyn. Neil had successfully predicted that the road to the path to the waterfall, and the parking lot, would be absolutely rammed. 

Before we started walking we divvied up the luggage. And then we set off. It was true that the road was rammed, and I was glad we had parked where we had. It was not particularly comfortable to walk on that single lane road with way too much traffic trying to get somewhere, and then on the very busy path with lots of families, but we knew it wouldn't last. Fairly soon we got to the junction where our path split off from the busy one. From there on, we would only see one family coming the other way. Otherwise, we had the hill to ourselves!

On the path by the waterfall. Pic by Neil

The views quickly get very beautiful. And it gets even more beautiful the more uphill you go. And we soon started to see suitable spots for camping. So after about 5 km we put the bags down and went on a recce. We picked a flat bit next to the river, with a view of a beautiful waterfall. And there we pitched up!

Start of the valley above the waterfall

Our home for the night

The nearby waterfall

The first thing I tend to do after that is sorted to go for a wash, and I stuck with my routine. Neil followed suit. And then we just admired the views for a bit while sipping from a mini bottle of whiskey I had brought. But then it was time to start cooking. I brought out my stove and set to work. I had brought pasta, with courgette, tomato, pesto, additional pine nuts, and cheese. Neil was impressed! He hadn't had high expectations of camping fodder. And I don't bring things like fresh courgettes and tomatoes or longer hikes, but if you only go for one night, you can.

Cooking. Pic by Neil

We both enjoyed dinner! And had a cup of tea afterwards. And then we went for a little evening stroll. Partly because that's nice, and partly because the midges had started to come out. 

That valley is just stunning. And full of waterfalls. It was a lovely evening walk.

During the evening walk

When we got back, the midges were still out, so we quickly brushed our teeth and retreated for the night. 

It wasn't a fully successful night! The wind had picked up, which probably meant that there were no midges outside anymore, but it was too late to enjoy that, and it did cause some flapping of the tent. That's annoying. I had hoped we wouldn't have much of that, given that we were in the big tent. My little tent is quite infamous for not being very good in wind, but I had had higher expectations of this one. And Neil’s camping mattress turned out to be a bit leaky, so he ended up practically on the floor. So not a perfect end to our first wild camp. But I still thought it had been a successful day altogether. We would wake up in a gorgeous valley! But more on that in a separate post. 

Extensions: first few months

It had been June when I accepted the new responsibility of dealing with extension requests. And it is a quiet time. The only students who have assessment you are the MSC students. They hand in the report they write on their project in early September. So that is the only thing I can get extension requests for. 

I had underestimated how many I would get, and how early. I'm not quite sure how many students we have doing a project in total, so I don't know what the percentage of students is that so far has asked for an extension, but it is a considerable number! So that was a good way of getting into the swing of things.

With his responsibility I also got a flowchart. Sometimes, these requests are very easy to deal with. The flowchart just tells you that what the student has asked for is something they are entitled to, and then I just hit "approved" and send them a little message wishing them the best. You could also get a student who asks for an extension on the basis of something that does not count as a legitimate reason, such as a laptop breaking down. The University is quite specific that that is not valid. You are expected to back up your work, and you always have access to university computers. I didn't get such requests yet, but I imagine they are quite quick to manage.

Sometimes there is a bit more work involved. Students who say that their project requires lab work, but some equipment is broken, but they don't provide details, for instance. Then I have to work out who would know about that equipment (the supervisor or some person responsible for the equipment in question), and contact them to check if the story is true. 

You can also get complicated cases, where students for instance ask for an extension on the basis of one reason that is legitimate, and the one that is not. Then you have to ask them to separate these things. Sometimes they ask for a long extension, but that would then mean they are at risk of not having their work marked on time to graduate with their peers. That requires discussions with the Senior Tutor, and with the student themselves. They may very well not have considered that complication!

It is good to get to know the system a bit, and get some routine in judging the requests. In the new semester, you would have all the students having assessments. You can easily check the request centre, and find 100 cases there. You can't rely on a flowchart then; you have to do it off by heart! I'm glad I could practice in a time when you might encounter between 0 and 5. I don't think I've had to deal with more than that in one day yet. And quite a lot of days have none at all. But this is the calm before the storm! I'll be busy before the students submit, because then they ask for extensions, and afterwards, because then the academic integrity cases come rolling in…

Using some holiday on the garden

I always struggle to use my holidays. People who don't work in academia tend to think that you have months off in summer, but even though the students end quite early, you of course first have to mark all their work, sit through all the exam board meetings, sort out the supplementary assessments in summer for students who didn't quite pass the year, fill out all the quality assurance paperwork, actually do the things you promise in your quality assurance paperwork, provide topics for the third and fourth year dissertation modules create timetable requests for the new year, and all these other things. And then you have to prepare all the module websites for the new year. And prepare all your teaching. It's easy to just run from one academic year into the next without stopping!

An additional complication is, of course, the cat. It is always a bit of a headache situation to leave her. If I would have substantial holidays abroad booked, I would basically be forcing myself to take time off. But that often doesn't happen.

This year is no exception. But at least I was taking some days off. I was going on quite a lot of jollies! The Snowdon horseshoe, H floor of Cwmorthin… you can have a great time without leaving North Wales. 

Holiday is not just for jollies, though! It's also for getting all these chores done you otherwise have no time for. And this Spring and summer, my garden has been wild and neglected. But it was nice to be able to sometimes just decide to log a day of annual leave and stay home. And venture into the garden with some gardening implements and get some stuff done.

One of my early targets was the plum tree. It had been looking a bit unhealthy. I had just heard (I may have inadvertently been listening to GQT) that summer is a good time to prune stone fruit trees. Get rid of the dead-looking bits. So I got my saw out. I don’t know if it’s on its last legs. But now it at least looks kind of healthy. 

I did much more, of course, but you can hardly take before-and-after pictures of all weeds you pull. I’m well aware the garden needs bucketloads of more work, but I’m enjoying the progress! 

Before 1

Before 2

After

More Penmaenmawr quarries

For our third date, Neil and I went exploring the abandoned parts of the Penmaenmawr ‘granite’ quarries. We had only done the westernmost bits of it. And I was keen to see the east as well. That also looked like it would be a bit less overgrown with gorse and other prickly vegetation. So when we had decided to go to see talks in Penmaenmawr on a Saturday morning, I thought it'd be good have another look there afterwards. We would be at the perfect location to start something like that.

We ended up busy with the axes until well in the afternoon. And it was a very hot day. We almost packed it in! But we in the end decided to have a little look. And we set off. Without much difficulty we found the path that gives you access to where we wanted to go. Soon we reached the first abandoned mind building. And pretty much immediately, also modern parts of the quarry. But there was no work going on, and it didn't seem like the quarry minded very much that people would explore there. There was the occasional token "keep out" sign. And right behind the big modern piles of aggregate, old mine buildings loomed. 

A looming mine structure 

We wondered how we would get to these buildings. From below, they were basically an imposing wall we couldn't scale. So we tried an old incline. That was full of brambles, gorse and roses, so not very comfortable! But we made it up. And from there we saw the strangest incline I had ever seen. It seems to be made of concrete. Since when were inclines still a thing in the age of concrete? We went to have a closer look.

The strange incline from a distance 

Close-up

We hoped to be able to get to the next level as well, and it turned out we could easily climb up the edges of the incline. From above, the incline looked totally Victorian, made of the local stone. Strange! Maybe the concrete had been retrofitted for extra strength or something. But Victorian inclines are normally solid, and this one stood on legs.

Looking up the incline 

And looking down

We had a scamper to the top, and had another coffee break there. There was such a lovely breeze there that prevented us from getting overheated at all. That was lovely! And then we checked out some more drum houses and the likes. And we saw that there was another level above us, but it was getting late, and we figured we had to go back to our respective cats.

Two drum houses

We took a much more gradual incline down than we had clambered up, and from there we took a bit of a detour that also kept us out of the thorny plants. It was a comfortable walk.

Altogether we hadn't spent an awful lot of time there, but I am sure we have seen most of what is to see there. After all these years I have finally explored there! And now I also know what the ways are to getting there. If I want to come back I know how it's done. Success! 

Neolithic axes day

Neil might have been talking about stone axes since the first date. So when I got an update email from Heneb, the body that the Gwynedd Archaeological Trust was absorbed into, that mentioned a day dedicated to stone axes, I made sure to mention that to him. Unsurprisingly, he was enthusiastic, so we decided to go. It was a day to mark the end of the Landscape of Neolithic Axes project, in which I had done a day of volunteering. I was keen to see where it had got them too! 

We met up in Penmaenmawr. We wanted to see the talks, which were held in the local community hall. It was already quite busy when we got there! I wasn't surprised, but Neil was. We got ourselves a cup of coffee and a biscuit and then it started.

Jane starting the day

I really liked the talks. The first one, by Jane who had been leading the day of volunteering I had done, basically gave an overview of the project. They had found some interesting stuff!

The second talk was by a Sheffield PhD student called Alison who had basically been analising the finds of the project. One of the things she had done was measure up all the flakes created during axe making. She had also asked an experimental archaeologist to do some axe making, and she had measured his flakes as well. She had concluded the smaller flakes just don't get preserved. They might just travel down the slope and leave the site.

The third talk was by a lady who had officially retired from the National Scottish Museums, and who was a self-confessed axe nerd. She talked a lot about jadeitite axes, where they were from, how they were made, what they were for, where they had ended up, and things like that. These were veritable objects of beauty. And that seemed to have been important; none had any signs of wear and tear. 

I thought all of them were very interesting! And Jane said that there was an exhibition in the local museum, and that behind the museum the experimental archaeologist would do workshops. So we went! First to the workshops. And where that was taking place we found John, the archaeologist I have met many times in the context of such public events. Including the day of volunteering at an excavation. He said that in order to join the workshops you need to have signed up, but that it was quite possible that there would be no-shows. If that was the case, we could join! And there were no-shows. So in spite of us not having had lunch yet we seized that opportunity and sat down with James, the axe expert, of Ancient Craft. 

The idea was that John and a companion had gone to the site where it was clear Neolithic people had been sourcing the stones they would work into tools, and carried a whole lot of them down. With James's help we would try to each turn one of them into an axe. Gloves and goggles were provided.

He first demonstrated how it is done, and then set us to work. It was fun! And none of us are particularly good at it, but that didn’t matter. I was quite happy how I was working on the narrow end, but my stone had a thick end as well, and I really struggled to do anything constructive with that. James saw me struggle and volunteered to take the difficult end off. So he did.

Towards the end he went around everyone, and if they weren't happy with what they had produced he would improve on it. In the end everyone could go home with a satisfying axe! 

By then we were starving, and we found a place in the shade to have lunch. And then we had a look at the museum. The museum didn't really show us anything we hadn't seen in either the talks or the workshop, but it was good to see, anyway. There was also a room dedicated to an apparently very famous local train crash in 1950. I didn't know about that at all. 

This day had worked out a lot better than expected. The talks were fab, and we had accidentally managed to get into a knapping workshop. What’s not like?

No plastic treaty

There are a few countries whose economy relies a bit too much on plastic production, and therefore the whole world will have to live with more plastic pollution than necessary. This is the sort of thing that makes me despair sometimes. It is so obviously a universally good thing to tackle plastic pollution. Plastic is a pain. It has infested the whole world including our bodies, it disfigures our landscapes, it poisons people who feel the need to burn it, and it piles up in enormous quantities that are difficult to tackle with any of the ways we have of dealing with it. We need a plastics treaty. We don't have a plastic treaty. We don't even have a road towards further negotiations towards a plastics treaty. 

We would also be a lot closer to reducing greenhouse emissions if it wasn't for a few nations who benefit financially from just keeping burning with abandon. We will be closer to a global minimum of all sorts of tax if it wasn't for a few tax havens who don't like that, and some companies who don't either. There is so much power in money, so if money is made from something destructive, it's so hard to get rid of that destructive force.

I think we'll be going to hell in a handcart all the way until we are there. I'll see how close we get in my lifetime! I am very likely to see some really freaky climate events before I pop my clogs. And a lot, an awful lot of plastic pollution…

Cwmorthin: deeper than ever

Cwmorthin has close to 30 levels. Most are inaccessible. The top 10 or so levels can’t be accessed because of collapses, and the lowest ten or so are flooded. The Goldilocks bit is in between. But the mine is connected internally with Gloddfa Ganol, an active quarry, and they had been ramping up the draining. You can’t drain their quarry without also draining Cwmorthin. So there now was a level accessible that normally wasn't. I was keen to see it. And Miles was willing to show me.

I thought it wasn't going to be very cold, and not crawly at all, so I was just wearing outdoor trousers with some old waterproof trousers over the top. That also meant going to the loo would be a lot easier than in a caving suit and a furry suit. 

Miles drove us up to the Manager’s Office and there we kitted up. For him this pretty much just meant putting on wellies. I was putting on my full SRT gear as I don't really like carrying it around in a bag.

We went in. I hadn't been for a long time! Since January, to be precise. And I noticed that my harness was threatening to slide down. I figured that that is the disadvantage of not wearing a furry suit. Your circumference is suddenly a lot less. So at the bottom of the stairs I just put on my shoulder strap and that helped. 

We went down the incline and headed inbye, on one of the main through routes. At some point Miles remarked this would have to be re-routed at some point in the future, as a chamber below was slowly collapsing, and will threaten the integrity of that route. That is going to be a big thing!

Before we headed into the new level, Miles suggested we have a little tea break. We were not far from the Deep Sleep. That sounded snug to me! So we went there and had a cup of tea, and the cake I had brought. There was also a tourist trip around that came in to have a look. The place looked a bit different, as it normally has a flooded chamber next to it. That chamber obviously wasn't flooded now. 

At some point we started to descend where we previously wouldn't have been able to. New terrain! For me, at least. It didn't start spectacular. There was still a thin layer of clay on everything, but otherwise it didn't look spectacular. But we walked around and we soon came to a chamber with a staircase in. That was spectacular! Miles said we had previously seen that from above, when the top of the staircase had stuck out of the water, with Lydia, but I didn't mention the staircase in my blog post. But never mind, it was glorious now. There was also a continuation of that staircase even further down, but that was in really bad condition.

One of thee we first views in the new level

The amazing staircase

Remnants of the staircase further down. Notice the new water level

We moved on. It was nice to walk somewhere that was normally so inaccessible. I was hoping to see some original graffiti; there would have been no opportunity for passing tourists to accidentally rub it off, or purposefully add more scribblings to it. But I saw none, possibly because of the thin layer of clay on everything.

After a while we came to a level struggling to stay in existence. The walls and ceilings seemed to be caving in profusely. This was not a place to linger! We carefully squeezed underneath a beam that just about managed to stay in position, and then came into a chamber with a lot of rubble. A bit beyond that there would be a zipline. This had been intended to be negotiated from the other side, so we would have to go uphill. That is hard work! Miles went first. I tried to follow. I was facing backwards so I wasn't quite sure when I got there. At some point I was struggling a bit, but I heard Miles ask if he could help me. I said yes and he pulled me in. I was almost there, but I think these last inches might have been difficult without help.

The level is starting to show signs of weakness 

Miles on the zipline

We got off the zipline and continued. First up an unstable scree slope, and then to a rope up a slab. Now we were back at a level that had been accessible before. We started making our way back to civilisation. That did evolve a rather trying traverse that I didn't recognise. But a bit further on, we clambered out of a chamber in a way that I did remember. And when we popped out of that chamber into the level, Miles asked me if I knew where I was. And I knew roughly. I wouldn't have been able to tell you if we should go left or right though.

Miles starting his way up the slab

The trying traverse

We went left, and I recognised some more features. And not an awfully long time later we were back in the more conventional parts of the mind. And from there we just trundled back to the entrance. 

It has been a great day out! It was lovely to see new terrain. And it was nice to catch up with Miles. And we got some adventures as well; it had been a while since I had done a trip that involved ziplines and trying traverses and things like that. Success all around!

Back to the Manager’s’s office 

I said to Miles that I hoped we would manage to meet again before the year goes out. You can't take that for granted with Miles. The previous time I had seen him had been in January. And I also told him that if they keep pumping, and drain yet another level, I hope he would let me know, and we would be able to explore that as well. We'll see!

Finally: y Lliwedd

I've lived in North Wales for 11 years and I had never done the full Snowdon horseshoe. Or yr Wyddfa horseshoe, I should probably call it. That's not right! I really wanted to do it one day. But it's a bit of a hike on your own. But then I had someone to do that with, and it was summer so I had time. So it happened!

I suppose it is time my date should get a name. It is Neil. He came to pick me up from home, and together we went to Nant Peris to get the bus (the same bus as I had got with Vahid) to Pen y Pass. It was supposed to be a good day for it. Dry and mostly sunny, but not too hot. The day before it had been scorching.

We both rocked up in shorts and with a lot of water in our backpacks. I had about 6 litres with me! The disadvantage of doing a mountain ridge walk is that you don't come across any water along the way. But the start of the walk was actually quite cloudy.

When we started on the Pyg Track it was quite busy. But we got to the junction with the path to Crib Goch it became a lot quieter. We also rose out of the clouds. There was the occasional person that overtook us. And we came across a little group that we overtook.

When the clouds started to lift, still on Pyg Track

This group was worth mentioning. It was led by a mountain guide, and not just any of them; it was Rusty from Snowdonia Walking and Climbing. We had a little chat as he recognised me from the trip I had done with his company, although it had actually been led by one of his other guides. But there had been an incident on our trip with one of the participants, who had slipped, arrested his fall with his arms, and then had ended up with an arm that looked, but did not feel, like he had cramp. I brought that up. Rusty could tell me he had actually torn a tendon off his bone. He had needed surgery, and had been out of action for about a year. Oh dear! I had occasionally thought about this chap, and had wondered what actually happened to his arm, and whether it had hinder him after the trip. Unfortunately, I now knew that the answer to the second question was yes. 

By this time we were scrambling up towards the ridge. And on my request we had a cake break. Fine now my breakfast was a while ago. And the views were good. The ridge is always beautiful! And towards the south we could only see clouds, from above. Towards the north we could see the valley.

Clouds to the south, view to the north

When we got beyond Crib Goch we got a view on the ridge on the other side: Bwlch Ciliau, and y Lliwedd. The former was the site of a waterfall of clouds, but the latter was clear. We were still in blazing sunshine, and I was getting slightly uncomfortable. But we continued.

Impressive clouds cascading over Bwlch Ciliau

When there was a junction where you could either follow the ridge or skirt a bit below it, I suggested we skirt it, as I had done the ridge with Vahid. But that might not have been a good choice. The path became vague and seemed to vanish. Maybe we just lost it. But we were traversing a rather steep slope with quite a lot of scree. That's a bit uncomfortable! And I was getting hungry again. And when we found a nice piece of grass we had lunch. The views were even better now! 

After lunch we reached the ridge quite soon. And that was where it got busy again. And busier when we joined the Llanberis Path. And busier when the Miners’ track joined. And busier by the summit. We skipped the selfie queue and headed for the Watkin Path. And that descended into the cloud quite quickly. 

Busy on the summit 

It was lovely to get some cool! And the path starts steep and loose but that’s ok. We didn’t get much of the potential views but so be it. And at some point the pass becomes a lot less steep. It became a really gentle walk! And that way we came to the junction where the Watkin Path heads down the slope, while the path over y Lliwedd heads straight ahead. I was entering new terrain!

Y Lliwedd turns out to be not very scrambly, but it had pretty impressive cliffs. It was a nice path! We came over the two peaks still in the clouds. And we encountered something that looked like flying ants day gone horribly wrong. Carpets of dead and dying winged ants! I’d never seen anything like it. It was a bit sad.

On y Lliwedd

Ant massacre

Lower down we came out of the cloud, and sat down for second lunch. The view over Llyn Llydaw was amazing! And the sun wasn’t too hot. 

The clouds lifting

Llyn Llydaw 

We comfortably trundled down to the Miners’ Path, and then back to the car park. It had been a lovely hike! In good company. And I still had water at the end of it. All good! One ridge ticked off my to do list. I could imagine doing it again, but then coming down Watkin. I’ll have to look into how to sort that with buses. But for now this will stand as our biggest adventure yet! 

The lake from close up