New Year's Day

 On New Year's Eve, Guy asked me what I was doing for New Year's Day. I had no idea! I had not looked that far ahead. But he was right that it might be an idea to have some clue, so I got the weather forecast out. And I looked at an unexpected plethora of sun icons. That looked like weather I needed to take advantage of! I figured I might do Tryfan. I had only been up once! And with such sunny weather the views would be amazing.

That night it was very windy, and in the morning the wind hadn't sufficiently died down to do a mountain like Tryfan. I would have to reconsider! And the view outside the window wasn't exactly indicative of blazing sunshine, but the forecast had said the sun would mainly be out between 2 PM and sunset. It wasn't anywhere near 2 PM yet. I first did some chores; for instance I had a big pile of dishes from the night before to do. And I decided on Carnedd y Cribau, near Pen y Gwryd. I had never been, it wasn't far away, and it was the sort of terrain you can cross in high winds. So I packed lunch and left. I almost forgot my sunglasses; I stuffed them into my jacket pocket and was off.

I knew there were no official paths in this part of the world, so I was glad to find something even more sophisticated than a sheep track leading in the right direction from where I parked. It vanished and I had to do some bushwhacking in difficult terrain with hummocky grass, but later I found a sheep track which made things easier. And the beautiful weather had not materialised at all, but the views were beautiful. I climbed up to Cefnycerrig, and there I found a spot out of the wind to have lunch. I decided that the weather was not going to improve, and I could put my sunglasses away. But where were they? Nowhere to be found! Oh dear. I quite like the sunglasses. Would they have fallen out of my pocket? Luckily, the case they are in is quite big and white, so it wouldn't be the hardest thing to find back. I considered my options. What to do? It would be difficult to retrace my steps as I had been bushwhacking between very faint paths. But I decided to chance it. I packed my stuff away again and just headed downhill again.

Start of the walk, at Llyn Pen y Gwryd

Dam and sluice

Empty landscape

Pen y Gwryd from a distance

After a while I decided that the most likely thing to have happened was that I actually had lost them inside the car. So probably, my mission was futile. But I really wanted my sunglasses! And I tried to make my way back to same way I had come up.

No glasses case was seen. And then I got to the car. And indeed, there it was, on the driver's seat. It must have slipped out of my pocket when I was still in the car! So that was a relief. But now there was still some afternoon left. No blazing sunshine, though; I wondered if I should have bothered to check the weather forecast a few miles further inland. I really wasn't far from home; some 12 km as the crow flies, but sometimes weather systems get snagged behind a mountain ridge, and that could have been what had happened. But it was okay. It was beautiful where I was!

I decided to just cross the road and head up the path in the other direction. I hadn't been that way very often, and I certainly hadn't kept to the left. I know there was a lake up there: Llyn Cwmffynnon, and I had never actually been! So while the weather only got worse, I staggered up to have a look. The landscape was beautifully empty. And I was wrestling against the wind and the rain when I got to the lake. Not a bad result! But then I decided to turn back. It wasn't the best of weather, and I know I had a big chore to do at home. But my cobwebs had been blown away! Not a perfect start of 2022, but not bad at all!

On the other side of the road

Where is that glorious weather?

Llyn Cwmffynnon, with the Snowdon Horseshoe in the distance