Parkrun on a whim

With a scarcity of races in March, I was feeling an itch. There had been the Borders League in Birkenhead on the 1st. There should have been a 10 miler in the 8th but it wasn’t run this year. The Borders League organised by the Wallasey Athletic Club on the 22th was hanging in the balance, as the local council was reluctant to approve it. And then there would only be the 10 miler on the 29th. 

I decided that, given the weather forecast was lovely, I should bike to Penrhyn Castle, do the Parkrun, and bike back. And I did! I had done something similar last year.

 

 

. 

It was sunny but not warm. Perfect! And I saw many familiar faces, like two Eryri Harriers brothers, who do every race under the sun, including the Borders Leagues. 

The running went fine. I wasn’t feeling very fast, but well, there was little at stake. It wasn’t too crowded for comfort, in spite of the great weather. 

I finished in 22:42. Quite slow! But that’s ok. And then I went home again. I still hope there will be a race on the 22nd. But if not, I just made the cold turkey less bad! 

Hedge halved

There is a beech hedge between my garden and that of the neighbour. It can’t be older than some 40 years, as that is how long these gardens have been associated with these houses. But that hedge is sizeable! Keeping it tidy, which I aim to do every year but clearly don't, it's quite some work. I have to deploy ladders or platforms, and then I still can't reach the top. So that grows out, in a rather disorganised way.

Before: seen from the house

Before: seen from the garden

One day I spoke with the neighbour and he suggested we find someone who is willing to cut it down to approximately half its size. That would still provide privacy, but make maintenance a lot easier. I loved it! So he organised it, and we split the bill.

It happened while I was at work, and when I came back the result was spectacular. I am quite glad we did this! I think I can know trim the whole hedge standing on the ground. That means I really don't have an excuse anymore to not do it every year…

After, seen from the house

After, seen from the garden

Annual Lleiniog field day

Field days in early spring are a bit of a gamble! It can be atrocious weather. But you can also be lucky. We have had both during our annual trip on the beach where the students log glacier and proglacial sediments. I've been doing that since 2018…

This year it looked like we would be lucky (unlike the previous time I had done it, in 2024; in 2025 I had missed it for reasons of timetabling). The forecast was ok and even the tide was on our side. And as usual, I was the first one on the beach. I make sure there are specific sections of the cliff demarcated; these are what the students describe. I can just pick whatever I find interesting! As long as the cliff above it looks stable.

In order to get onto the beach you need to squeeze past the stream

Atmospheric light in the morning

Look at those sediments 

When Lynda and the students arrived at quickly became clear that this was quite a switched-on group. Great! They went about it with little guidance. And before we knew it, we were rounding off, and put the students back on the coach they had come in. They would go to Bangor to do surveying, and the goal to bring the students back to us who had done that in the morning. The coach leaving was our cue to rush to Beaumaris and get some lunch. We managed that in good time!

Lynda explains things under a dramatic sky

Little groups of students by the cliff

Lynda is impressed by the sediments

Fossil corals on the beach

The second group is generally struggling a bit as they have already been battered by whatever the weather throws at them in the morning. It seemed that the surveying has taken place with much less shelter from the wind than we had had! But they were still quite on the ball.

By 4pm we were done and could leave the beach. A successful day, I would say! And we will see the same students again the Monday after, for a session in the lab. This was the first time I will be involved in that! Mike, with whom I have started to collaborate, had been re-organising this part of the module (but he had left the sediment logging on the beach the same). I think he's doing interesting stuff with it. I look forward to see how is next step will pan out! 

Bike path reopened

Work on the bicycle path started yonks ago! And as long as the work was going on, the part of the path leading out of the village was closed. And that meant biking on the main road. Not my favourite! 

First they removed all the gates and replaced them with a cattle tunnel. Then the path was open for a month, but then they started replacing a pedestrian bridge. That work took a long time! 

Now the work on the bridge is still not quite finished. The new bridge is still closed. They are connecting it to the road on the other side of the river. But on this side of the river, the path is now finished! And open! 

No fence anymore! You can just bike on! 

New bridge still closed, but now you can bike past

Will this last? I struggle a bit to imagine they won’t have to close it again when they in the end remove the old bridge. But let’s cross that bridge when we get to it. 

For now it’s lovely to not have to be on the road. For most of that stretch, the speed limit is 40mph, and especially when you are going uphill, that means a big speed difference. And the path is also a lot prettier. 

I will enjoy this for now! And I trust removing an old bridge is a quicker process than building a new one…

Date

The dates Neil and I have been on were generally hikes or explorations of industrial landscapes. Outdoor clothing, packed lunch, that kind of stuff. Sometimes we have been biking or running or doing chores. We’ve not done much in the line of classic dates, with flowers and restaurants and fancy clothes. And I thought it was about time! Given that we had been meeting up since July, and had been officially together since September. And Neil was up for it.

After a day of tackling a tree with a saw I had a shower, put on a dress, and not much later opened the door to a gentleman in a shirt who was carrying a bunch of flowers. And not much later we headed to Bangor to eat in the Italian restaurant by the pier. 

Looking smart!

It was a proper date with all the accoutrements! We both enjoyed it. We should make sure we don’t leave it another eight months before we do it again! 

Garden cleared of tree

I mentioned the neighbour wanted to get the work on removing a tree done before March. And he got his skates on! I had to leave things as they were for a while; busy with work and running activities, but the next Saturday I was on it again. The neighbour had cut down everything he wanted to cut down, so at least I knew that all the wood in the garden was all I would have to deal with. No additions expected!

Still some tree left

Lots of wood in the garden

It was lovely weather and I enjoyed tackling the pile. I started with a hawthorn or blackthorn he had also taken down. And then I did the main tree.

Most of that was quite straightforward. Get rid of the spindly bits, and put the thicker stuff aside to be moved to the garage. But when I got to the bottom of the pile, I reached the really thick trunks, and that was slightly less comfortable. I figured they were too heavy to carry them to the garage one piece, so I had to cut them in two. That does mean you have to saw through a trunk that is lying on the ground. Your saw gets stuck in the ground, and you have to saw while crouching; not things I like very much. But the wood isn't very hard, and it wasn't really a big deal.

I had other engagements in the late afternoon, but I managed to get all the wood out of the garden by that time. It did mean there was quite some of it in the garage, not yet processed. But that would be a chore for another day! I was quite chuffed that the garden was free again. I wasn't sure I would manage it all in one day…

New fridge, out of nowhere

I bought my fridge when I arrived in the country. It was second-hand. It has served me well! A few years ago, I had to change the door from right-hinged to left-hinged,  as the hinges on the right collapsed from sheer old age. I had started to wonder if I should replace it. It probably wasn’t very energy efficient. The little freezer compartment didn’t freeze very well but frosted over all the time. But some googling suggested the most efficient thing to do was just keep it going until it would break. 

Then I talked with the neighbour. He asked if I happened to want a fridge. I sort of did! I verified it was newer than mine. And it was a bit bigger! And had no freezer compartment. That would save energy. And time. 

Together with Neil we brought it in. It fit like a glove. Better than the old one! I had to clean it, but that wasn’t a big job. And then I could bring it into use. 

The cat took the opportunity to explore some new terrain

I am actually quite chuffed with this arrangement. I have a lot more space, and I don't have to worry about unnecessary freezing going on. And because it fits better inside the slot, even looks tidier. The light doesn't work, but I don't mind that very much. Altogether I I am happy how this all came about!

Sorting out running awards

Every year, the Eryri Harriers award prizes for achievements across te whole year. We have the outstanding athlete award, and most improved male, and most spiffing female fell runner, et cetera. You can tell I'm paraphrasing a bit. And when I became the honorary secretary of the club, this became my business. As communication is my job, I have to communicate to last year's winners that they should give their award back, so they can be engraved again with the name of this year's winner.

One of the awards was very easy, as it had been won by Anna, who is still in the committee. She returned it as soon as we had a committee meeting. And I started chasing up the rest. Some of them were easier to get back than others. And by the next committee meeting I expected most of them. One was still in the pipeline. 

I got so many during that meeting that Nia, our chair, thought I shouldn't try to get them home on bicycle. She dropped them off by car at my place. She was quite impressed by my little cat’s good looks.

The next day I started putting post-its on them, with this year winners’ names, for the engraver. And I was confused. There was a shield among them that I didn't expect. It was for the road running champion. I wasn't aware that they had shields! So I put a message on WhatsApp. It was only one shield, so far only with female names on, but maybe only the overall winner was put on? And they had been female in the last two years?

Then an answer came back. No! This was only the shield for the female winner. There was a shield for the male winner as well. Why didn't I know that? What was worse is that I then got an email, from a reliable source, saying that not only the road champions, but also the fell and mountain champions, had shields. Shit! I started frantically contacting last year's winners.

Then another WhatsApp message came in. From another reliable source. Only the road champions had shields; the other shields didn't exist. Again, Shit! Now I had to contact all the winners again, saying "never mind, you never got a shield". Luckily, the one missing shield of the male road championship winner was quickly traced, and its keeper would bring it to the engraver.

On Friday afternoon I had all the shields and other awards that I expected, but then the engraver was closing. I decided to go on Saturday morning. And I found that this engraver is actually closed on Saturday. What? What shop does that? Luckily, I didn't have anything time-tabled on Monday morning, so I could have another go then. But this award malarkey was more faff than I had hoped for.

Awards ready for transport, With (redacted) names of 2025 winners

This is by far the coolest award and it weighs a tonne. This is the outstanding athlete award.

On Monday morning I finally dropped them all off, and as I was driving anyway, I also brought my old fridge to the tip. It was most likely that I wouldn't even have to pick the awards up after engraving, as some committee members are in Caernarfon, where the engraver is located, all the time. So I think for me, the work is now basically done. And I can just concentrate on work (and some running) until the actual presentation night! Bring it on! 

Invited to run for North Wales

Last week I got an email from one of the people who had run the NWRAC meeting. But it wasn't about this meeting! I suppose the title of this post gives it away. He asked if I was willing to represent North Wales in the Llandudno 10 mile. I was super chuffed. Of course I was! I had recently been dreaming to maybe represent something bigger than the club in a championship, but then only in the 50+ category. Or maybe later, when I am in an even older category. But he wanted me to run regardless of my age. I found that a big honour!

I had to buy a new vest for the purpose, but that was easily done. So at the end of this month, on the 29th, I will not be running in my Eryri Harriers top, but in a top that says North Wales. And I will be running against Staffordshire and Cheshire.

 

The last race I ran in which was part of this county championship (yes I know North Wales is not a county, but they call it that) was the Caernarfon 10k. I seem to remember that Staffordshire was very strong then. And looking at the results, I saw that indeed the Staffordshire men were a lot faster than the north Welsh men, but the women were a lot more evenly matched. Unfortunately, I think only the result of the entire team counts. So I will have to be mentally ready to eat their dust. But I will give it my best! 

Flogging the excess panel

I mentioned that when the work on the infrared panels was done, I was left with one of them that seemed utterly superfluous. It’s at the top of the stairs. It’s where all heat of the house naturally pools. And nobody will ever linger there. If you are on top of the stairs, you are either entering or leaving the office or the upstairs bedroom. So that panel was not going to be useful!

Jaco and Marjan have a project at home, and it could do with some sort of heating. I offered them the panel at a mate’s rate. And one day Marjan phoned me to discuss that. 

I was going to work in my car anyway, for reasons of bike repair, so I thought this was an excellent opportunity to lug that thing in. Jaco didn't agree; he thought it was too early in the development of their project. But I thought that was a strange argument. Surely you want to know what the panel is like before the project is finished? So I completely ignored him and lugged at that thing with fixings and all to the office.

I think I made the right call. They could try out the panel anywhere in the house to see how they liked it, and discuss with anyone involved in their project on how to incorporate it. And they decided that it was what they wanted, and they decided to keep it.

Now I'm left with a wall with an unnecessarily high number of holes in it. The panel was clearly put up by someone very clumsy. But given that I am in the process of making my ceilings presentable again, after damage having been done to them, I can just add this wall to the list. And when the wall looks good again, and the panel has found a much better home, everybody will be happy!

No panel; just a damaged wall now (I don't seem to have taken a picture of the panel there)

Scales for the cat

The cat has been on a diet for many weeks now. She looks a lot slimmer! And I can tell that she doesn't enjoy her diet at all. She isn't aggressive about it, but I can tell that would really like more food. And I was wondering if I could already give her a bit more. Would she have lost enough?

The way to find out is weigh her. But my own scales don't really care much about 1 kg more or less, so I can't use these. I decided to buy scales especially for her. They go up to 20 kg.

They have arrived! So it was time to try to get on it. She doesn't like being picked up, so I tried to bribe her onto it with dreamies. The problem is a bit that she can generally get to the dreamies without putting all her four paws on the scales.

After a while I managed to get her on it anyway. And she's only lost 200g! She has to lose four times that! So she is not coming off that diet. Sorry little cat! It will be a hungry spring…

Cat not on it

Finally: bike maintenance

I tend to bring my bike in for maintenance quite often. I do many miles on it! This time I was a bit hesitant, as Neil had said he can actually do everything my bike repair man can. But would he actually want to do it when push came to shove? Or would he prefer to go on a hike? So I discussed it, and we agreed that probably I should just have it done professionally. So I phoned the repair shop.

The first time I did that they didn't answer. The second time, same thing. Oh dear! Was something be amiss? The third time he answered. And he explained that he was temporarily closed, for building reasons. Oh dear. I had already left it a bit late! But he booked it in for when the work was supposed to be finished.

Then I got a text. The work took longer than expected. He would have to postpone the booking. That happened twice. Two more weeks! But then I could finally bring it in.

James, the repair man, explained that the work actually hadn’t even been done. I wasn't sure why he had been closed then, but there must've been a reason for it. He said he was going to close again in August, hoping to get it done then. But at least I could give him my bike, and I was going to get it back with new brake pads, and possibly new cables, and probably a new chain, and all the things that tend to get done when I bring my bike in.

I got it back quicker than I thought. It looked impeccable again! And he hadn't even needed to do too much. I was wondering soon if he might have underestimated how much wrong with it; the gearing was a bit awful when I got back. Maybe the derailer should've been replaced after all? But at least it braked again like a new bike. And I'll probably have to bring it back before he closes in summer, as he didn't think the chain would last that long. And I'm not a bike snob, but the bike needs to be reasonably good to get me to work in an efficient way, and back!

As new!

Spring!

It's meteorological spring! And it has been feeling like spring. I was quite happy running in only my shorts and vest on the first day of March. And you can see it all around as well. Daffodils and snowdrops everywhere! And the plants and the trees are getting leaves. And the days are getting longer.

Spring isn’t actually my favourite season. I quite like bare trees and dramatic skies. But I do enjoy the perks of spring! And I’ll get mentally ready for the gardening season to start again… 

I know we can still get a cold spell, but at the moment, that is difficult to imagine. It feels like winter is over! 

Bridge not tidal anymore - for now

I had to bring my bike to the bicycle repair shop, so I drove. In the olden days, I would have biked in, and hitched a ride back with Susan, but given that she has moved house, I can't do that anymore. With Martin also having moved house and Chris having changed job, I have to rely on myself now! And that was ok, because it was a Tuesday, and then I have track training. I must admit I sometimes find it hard to bike all the way home after a full day of work and then track training, lugging not only my normal work luggage with me up the hill, but also my running gear.

What does all of this have to do with the bridge? Well! The track is on the mainland, so I have to cross a bridge to get there. I assumed the old bridge would still be tidal, but just to be on the safe side drove past it on my way to the new bridge. Lo and behold, I could just cross! The bridge was a two-way thing again! It meant I was a bit early at the track, but that is ok. And the next day, back on my bike, I could go over the road again, and didn't have to go over the footpath.

Two way bridge! 

I did notice in the local media, though, that this was only temporary relief. The week after, the bridge would go back to tidal. I don't think we are out of the woods anytime soon. But what can we do? We'll have to put up with it!

Automatically feeding the cat

When I spend the night at Neil’s, I have to leave some food out for the cat. It doesn't work so well. She eats it as soon as I put it in her bowl, and then she has to either fast or eat rodents until I get back. I can't leave so much that she won't eat it in one go; she is on a diet. It's not an ideal situation.

Neil has timed food bowls for his cat. They have a lid on, with inbuilt timers, and after the number of hours you set it to, the lid is opened. And he even uses them when he is home. If the cat sees that there are still-closed lids, she knows that at some point they will open, and it doesn't require input from Neil. That means that she does not incessantly howl at him. It seems that she does have that habit if he's not using them. And he often is in online meetings!

I have now nicked his idea, and got me a similar food bowl, where you can provide two meals and set the timers. I thought it was likely, but not sure, that she would understand how it worked. Soon after I had put the food in and set the timer, she was sniffing at them. She clearly understood what was in there! And she was pawing at them as well.

When I came back after the first time using them, the lids were open and the food was gone. Success! I will be using this more often. And it can only do two meals, but if I am away longer than that, I prefer that someone comes in and gives her a bit of attention as well. Cats need more than food! But if I'm away for only one night, I don't arrange a catsitter, and I think this device will make such situations easier. And I might as well also use it when I'm home late, for instance because of track training! 

The traditional and novel food bowls

Pub, finally

I suppose you can tell we are middle-aged! Or are we just citizens of our time? I first met Neil in July, and we went for a walk. We've been doing lots of walks since. All very healthy and responsible! I suppose in my 20s, I would instead have done lots of pub visits. And the same for Neil’s 20s.

Have we been entirely pub-free for these eight months? No! We once went for a pub meal before a walk. I think he had a meal that was actually cooked there, but mine was clearly just from the freezer and the microwave. That was a bit disappointing. Neither of us was having alcohol if I remember correctly. Not the sort of pub visit I would have recognised in my 20s. And the same for a drink we had after a walk. We both had one alcohol-free beer!

Have I been entirely turned off pubs and alcohol? No! So I thought it would be nice to go to the pub  together one day. And after the Borders League race, I actually felt like having a beer. So we headed down the hill. At the foot of the Orme there is the King's Head, which advertise itself as Llandudno’s oldest pub. A fine venue for the occasion! 

It was indeed lovely! The pub has a classic interior, with a huge fireplace that we were sitting near, and they had local beer on tap. What's not to like! And I only had one, but I did enjoy relaxing with an actual beer after strenuous exercise earlier that day. Maybe we'll go more often!

Borders League Birkenhead

It was a close call between the Anglesey 10k and the Borders League in Birkenhead. I had decided that I was not going to drive on my own all the way to Birkenhead. I would only go there if there was car sharing involved. And then I got a message that Helen wanted to car share. And then Anna joined too. So that decided that. Birkenhead it would be!

The day before the race, it turned out that Anna had acquired a bug, and dropped out. That was a pity. But I didn't change my plan. If I'm so against showing up in a car with only one person in it, then I shouldn't be the reason for Helen doing that. So we went. 

Luckily, Helen had been there before, because I was losing all sense of direction when we hit the actual town. To my surprise, parking was easy. We decided to get our race numbers first. Yes, race numbers! Normally you don't have these in a Borders League, but it seemed that the organisation wanted to try out the system, in order to maybe implement it fully in the next season. 

When we were on our way we also saw Olivia, who I had last seen at the Nick Beer. She had told me she had joined a running club, and was thinking of doing Borders League races. And this one was totally in her neck of the wood! It was good to see her. I also ate a sandwich, as I didn't think it would be a good idea to run the whole race only on my breakfast.

When we had our numbers we had a little walk through the park to see where the start and the finish were. I had been told that this park had inspired the design of Central Park in New York! I could imagine it had. It was nice. Then we went back to get into our running kit. I left my jumper on; I figured it was too cold to prance around in only a vest and shorts. This was the first time this year I was running in less than a T-shirt and leggings!

The partner of one of the runners, who wasn't running herself, was so kind as to take my jumper at the start, so I would have it again at the finish. And then we went off! There was no chip reader at the start, so even though we had race numbers (with chip), starting at the back was still a disadvantage. I suppose it only makes things easier for the organisation.

I started a bit fast, but caught myself within tens of meters, I didn't want to exhaust myself in the beginning, and I settled into a pace I thought I could maintain.

We are off! 

We started on a very wide path, heading for an exit, but then making a U-turn and heading back in. That means you could see the runners come the other way, and get an idea of what was going on at the front. And shout encouragements at fellow club members. 

Soon after that switchback we turned into a much narrower path. Overtaking there was a bit more of an issue. But we would do three laps of this park, and the field would certainly thin out. 

The weather was nice and I was feeling good and the kilometres ticked away. And when I came past the start for the third time, I knew that there weren't any women within reach in front of me, nor were there behind me that still had a reasonable chance of overtaking me. So in a way, I could relax. But I did try to keep my speed up.

 

Almost at the finish

Even almoster

When I had finished I shouted at a few more Harriers, but between the second last and the last finishing (there weren’t many of us) I went to get my jumper. And a Welsh cake. Nia Meleri had baked them as it was St David’s day! 

After the race we tried a club picture, and several of us then went to race headquarters for a cup of tea. And then we went home again. And the results came in quite quickly! That is the advantage of chip timing.

I was happy with my result! 7.85 km in 33:55. And 24th woman. 

There seems to be a lot of trouble with authorities this season. This race should have been in Wrexham, but the council seems to have torpedoed that. It seems the Harriers also have issues with their usual Borders League location, for reasons of the council. And the next fixture later this month seems to be having similar problems, and the venue for that race has therefore not been announced yet. I hope it’ll be somewhere not too far away! 

Much tree progress

When the neighbour, who wanted more light in his garden, started cutting down a big tree on the boundary between his garden and mine, I thought I would have a lot of work on. The deal is that he drops all bits of tree in my garden, and that I get the firewood. And he has a chainsaw, so he cuts the big bits 2 size. He tends to leave what doesn't need a chainsaw for cutting.

After that first day I removed all the side branches from the wood I wanted to use as firewood, took the cut bits into the garage and stacked them, threw away what I considered too flimsy, and cut the thinner but still usable branches to size as well. And I expected him to create a new load for me pretty soon after.

It turned out he took a break. There was nothing new coming for a while! Until, at the very end of February, he had the spirit again. 

It turned out that this time, he meant business. I was just working on clearing the first batch when he already showed up to create a second. For a while we were both working on it. He cut two wedges out of trunk that stuck out into my garden, until it sagged with a "crack". I wondered if we should somehow get a rope around it and bring it down, but he had a more pragmatic approach. He went back into his own garden, from which he could kick the trunk. That immediately brought it down! Neatly into my berry shrub.

What I found on the Saturday afternoon 

Work for me to do

Then he brought this one down: more work

I helped him cut that trunk in two, but then I had to go and do other things. And the day after I wasn't going to be there. But when I came back I saw that he had also managed to take down the remaining two trunks. He has done it! An amateur with a battery-powered Aldi- bought mini chainsaw, and he got rid of the entire tree. So his work is now done. Mine sure isn't yet! But at the end of it, I'll have a lovely a load of firewood, and a little think back on these days in a year or two, snug by the fire…

Inspired visit to recycling centre

I mentioned before that Neil is a very tidy man, and that that is rubbing off on me. Together we cleaned my car and my kitchen extension. And I’m not messy for the sake of it; I just tend do have more important things to do than tidying and cleaning. And I find it difficult to throw things away. Maybe they could come in handy one day? But I do feel some background rumbles in my head about that several aspects of my house(hold) should be tidier and cleaner. 

Recently, thinking of Neil inspired me to do some long due tidying and cleaning in the living room. But last weekend I took a bigger step. I went to the recycling centre for the first time in years. Some of the things I got rid of were my old bread machine that had served me enough by now, and my old worn out foot pump, and a mirror Rose had left, and loads of old lightbulbs. I forgot to take a picture. 

It’s not Earth-shattering, but it might be one step in a greater shift towards a tidier house. I have also been thinking about things I can get rid of via other means: either the bin, or eBay. Would I manage to raise the general tidiness of my house on the longer timescale? 

Ominous Friday message

It was Friday and a bombshell landed in my inbox. It was a message about Windows 10. I first wondered if it was a phishing attempt, but it really was from our own IT helpdesk. It said that if your computer will still working on Windows 10, it would stop working by Monday. Right! Not sure if that is a good thing to announce on the Friday. They said that if you were one of those atavists, you should let them know so I quickly did.

They responded quickly they asked me where my office was, and they would send someone to fix the problem. I told him I was in Menai Bridge. That tends not to be met with a lot of enthusiasm by services on main campus. I then heard nothing for a while.

When I asked them if anything was going to happen they said that now that they knew I was a Windows 10 user, my computer wouldn't stop working on Monday. I hoped that would be true! But still, someone needed to come and sort it out.

In the meantime I had been wondering how this came falling out of the sky, and I remembered it didn't. There had been communication about this in January. They had booked me in for switch-over, but nobody had showed up. I had assumed that maybe they had done it while I was not in my office, I had forgotten about it. But now the matter was again in the forefront of my mind! 

I know that IT services has suffered in the latest financial restructuring, but I do think that is a false economy. We all depend on our computers, and if you get situations with computers spontaneously stopping working, that could be very disruptive. I hope in this case all turns out well. But I'd rather be sure!

 

Carneddau horseshoe

Neil is doing an epic hike in spring, and wants to get himself ready for it. Some good long hikes are in order. And I had suggested the Carneddau horseshoe. I am in that general area quite a lot, but I hadn't done the full horseshoe in years! And it's a walk you can just do from my front door. He thought it was a good idea.

The forecast was partially cloudy during the day, and rain in the later afternoon. Good enough. 

When we started walking up the ridge towards Carnedd Dafydd it was indeed cloudy, and I feared a bit we would end up with our face in the clouds. To a certain extent, that was true. Sometimes it lifted a little bit and you got some of the amazing views. And it also got quite windy. I know that wouldn't be getting any less until we would come down on the other side!

On Mynydd Du, with Carnedd Dafydd in the cloud in the distance 

Scaling Carnedd Dafydd

We reached the summit of Carnedd Dafydd quite abruptly. And by that point it was time for coffee and a snack. And a leak. I struggled to stay upright when I was heading for a rock to crouch behind. I wasn't sure if this ridge walk would really work in these conditions. But we would give it a go. You can always descend the flank of the hill if you want to bail. 

After coffee we went on, and it was ok. We were fully out of the cloud now, and the views were amazing. There were still some snow remnants. 

Hike selfie

Snow above the Black Ladders

Sunny views

When we got to the wind shelter on Carnedd Gwenllian  we sat down for lunch. It was snug in the shelter, and outside the wind was howling. We were joined by a fell runner. 

After lunch we continued our way. It was still very blowy! I sometimes had to stand still and brace myself so as to not be blown over. But the views were still great! They got a bit gloomier over time when the weather turned. But we could just leg it home now. And we did.

Clouds come in

In the end we had done 21 km and 1150 m of ascent, in some 7 hours. Not bad! And peanuts in comparison to his epic hike, but well, Im sure it helped a bit!