Welsh 3000s training

Neil got it into his head to do the Welsh 3000s; this is some challenge where people walk or run over all the hills that are more than 3000 foot high. The people who walk do it in three days, or within 24 hours. I personally think that doing it in three days is something you can do without having to think too much about it. The real deal, though, is doing it in one go, within 24 hours. And that is what he wants to do. I don't want to join him. I think that after a full day’s worth of walking, my feet would be totally fed up, and the rest would be torture.

It is quite a slog, so he wants to train for it. He had already been training for it in spring, as originally he would do it in spring, but he got an injury, and had to postpone until September. And now he is training again.

We would do the Glyderau range; start on the A5, then climb Tryfan, take the detour to Glyder Fach and then Glyder Fawr, and then just follow the ridge all the way to Penrhyn Quarry, descend it, and walk home. It's a sizeable walk! Only 20km, but with its 1340m ascent and 1500m descent, and bits that are either scrambly, crumbly or bushwhacky, quite trying. 

We got the bus into the valley. We soon got off the road onto a path that would lead to the base of Tryfan. And then the scrambling could begin. 

I had only done this mountain once before. It had been a while ago! And the weather conditions had been quite different. I like a bit of a scramble, so I enjoyed this bit. Not too far from the summit we came across a little guided group; father, daughter and guide. The guide was talking about jumping between Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve are big rocks on top of the mountain, and the tradition is that you jump from one to the other, and only then have you really done the mountain. I am not a particularly big fan of jumping from one thing onto another, so I have never done this. Neither has Neil, who has done the mountain several times. 

Neil on the Cannon Stone

Graded quartz nodules! 

Onwards

Without much further ado we came to the summit, and so did the guided group. Neil still didn't want to do the jump, but he did say he wanted to stand on one of the rocks, so he climbed up. And then he stood there. And then I saw a flicker in his eyes! Would he jump after all? He didn't in the end, but he admitted he had been very close. I didn't even climb onto either of them. The mountain guide showed just how easy it can look. Such a little hop. I still didn't want to do it.

Will he? 

We started to make our way down. The most direct way to the Glyderau is over Bristly Ridge, but neither of us was comfortable doing that without a guide. So we took the long road. And there were streams crossing it! Neil had fresh memories of his birthday, when he had taken me on another ridge walk, and I had brought so much water he had offered to carry some of it for me, and worn himself out. He had been thinking about refills from the beginning.

Once on Glyder Fach we had a nice chat with a solo hiker lady, and then went to the cantilever, to have lunch. We took lots of pictures of hikers on top of it after having eaten our sandwiches. And then we went on.

It was a warm day, but not scarily hot. That was good! There has been weather warnings out all over Europe. We would not escape the heat ourselves. That day, though, it wouldn't quite reach us.

The landscape in that area is amazing. So much bare rock with spectacular formations. But we had further to go, so we kept moving and soon hit more grassy ground. But that wouldn't last; we knew it would give way to the moon-like landscape of the descent to Devil's Kitchen. That is nobody's favourite part of the hike! But it is there. The rock is very crumbly and steep. At the bottom of it, I refilled my water bladder for the last time. And then we went up on the other side, to y Garn.

Crazy Glyderau landscape 

On that summit we bumped into a bunch of men who were doing the Welsh 3000s in three days. This was their second day. They had planned it months ago, and been very lucky with the weather! I did say that the next day they would get a bit boiled, but that didn't discourage them. 

We went on, and decided to have a second lunch on Mynydd Perfedd (intestine mountain; maybe not the most obvious choice for a lunch break). Before we got there I needed an emergency glute stretch. My bum wasn’t feeling it. But the stretch helped. And we made it to our second lunch spot.

Second lunch

From there it was a gentle walk until we would leave the main path and head for the quarry. Along the way, we (again) admired the Atlantic Slabs. We still want to do them in the not too distant future. 

Atlantic Slabs

I wasn't a big fan of the last part; the path is minute, and it is difficult to see where you put your feet. And at some point it almost vanishes. The going is bad; it is unpleasant to the feet, and to lower legs which get attacked by the hostile vegetation. By that point, I was pretty tired and had sore feet, but I was obviously committed. I was glad when we finally hit the path in the quarry, because then the going gets easy. 

Because it was quite late by now, we stopped by the pizza van in the village to have a quick evening meal. All in all, we had done quite a large part of the route Neil will have to do in one go in September. And it had been a beautiful day! I had enjoyed it. It was lovely to be on a hike with Neil, and it was nice to meet all sorts of people along the way. But now I just wanted to put my feet up. So that's pretty much what I did for the remainder of the day…