New Year’s Day

Susan had asked if me and Neil were interested in a walk on New Year's Day. This is a bit of a tradition! Last year we actually did it on the 2nd of January, but it was lovely anyway. The year before we had a lovely loop in the Glyderau. This year it wouldn't be that spectacular.

When I got in touch closer to the time to discuss details it turned out that she hadn't asked anybody else, and it might have been a bit late. Both Martin and Sarah, and Tom and Siobhan were doing other things. And Susan was not hundred percent healthy, so she didn't want to make it a big walk. But she did ask our former colleague Sophie, who lives near her. We decided to gather at Susan’s place and walk around Llyn Padarn. 

It was a nice day! And with the five of us we headed into the woods, where we fairly often are on Thursday nights. At lake level we came past the Slate Museum, which is currently closed for refurbishment. A lot going on there! And when we got to the town side of the lake we decided to get a takeaway hot drink in an outdoor shop cum cafe.

Susan and Sophie in the woods

From there we walked the old railway line, eating lunch as we went along. Then we went past Craig yr Undeb, and then along the currently inactive tourist railway track. And then back via Sophie’s house. She lives in an amazing cottage!

By the lake

When we got back I was parched, as it is quite doable to eat a sandwich while you're walking, but drinking from a flask is less handy. So I just downed the content of my flask there and then, and then supplied that with tea kindly provided by Susan and Dean. And Neil got a tour of the whole place; everybody else had seen it but joined anyway. One of the cats showed herself, but she clearly had no intention of coming anywhere near us.

After that we went home again. I was proud that my little car managed to get up the drive without problems! And it had been really nice to see some good friends. The walk was low key, but I do plenty of more high profile walks with Neil these days. This was social! A good way to start the year.