Carneddau with Kates

Kate was going to be in the country again! After quite a while. She had moved to England, and since then we had only seen each other once. But several months ago, we had put our diaries together and looked for a weekend in which she could pop by again. And this had been the one. And fortunately, this time, other Kate was there too. She travels a lot, but this time she would just be around. So we could go for a hike with the three of us!

I had told her that I probably wasn't going to be up for something huge, as I had this race the next day. And when the weekend approached, I had an additional reason for not wanting to do anything major, as I had caught a cold. But I often recover quite quickly from these, so I didn't think it would stop us.

We also had to think logistics. In a weekend in June, there are many places in the area you just can't park unless you get up at the crack of dawn. And that wasn't an option for us; Kate first would have to drive in from quite far away, and I didn't want to cut a night of sleep short with that cold still lingering. So we made a plan; the Kates would be travelling by bus, and I could have done the same, but I hoped to be able to pick up my race number after our hike, and I needed the car for that. So I just loaded my bike into the car, and thought I'd just park reasonably close to where we would meet, and bike the rest. I had faith that would be successful! I could have biked all the way, of course, but that would have involved getting up rather early again.

The last time I had done that had been many, many years ago! I had been considering it a few times, even the week before, but there had always been reason to reconsider. 

I met the Kates at Ogwen Cottage. It was good to see them! We didn't waste time, though, and went up the hill. It is quite a sustained climb! I wasn't sure how I would feel with my lingering cold, but I was okay. And the weather started a bit gloomy, but we did get some sun partway up.

Chasing the clouds

Views over Llyn Ogwen and Llyn Idwal

Pretty flowers

When we go to the ridge everything changed. It was windy and foggy and cold there! We had climbed up sheltered, but that was over now. The weather was coming for us! So we basically stomped on. We had made sure to have a coffee break below the ridge, as the ridge itself wasn't a good place for stopping. There are wind shelters there, of course, and although none of them was empty all of them would have headspace, but we chose to just keep going. We would get another break when we would get off the ridge again.

Peak selfie

It is a bit of a trek from Pen yr Ole Wen to Carnedd Llewelyn. That would be where we would start our descent. Luckily, the mist retreated before we got there. So some of the walk was actually with very nice views!

On the ridge early on

The ridge later on

Shortly after we started descending into Bwlch Eryl Farchog (the pass of the knight’s outlook, I think?) we sat down for lunch. It was a bit late in the day for me to normally have lunch, but although my energy levels are back to normal, my appetite wasn't! So I was okay to eat, but not as voracious I would've been under normal circumstances.

After lunch we continued our way. We had decided to go up on the other side, To Pen yr Helgi Du (the hill of the black hunting dog). Kate thought it was a bit silly to go up that mountain without bringing her black dog, hunting or otherwise, but so be it. It was a nice last ascent.

Down into the Bwlch

Up on the other side

After that we only had the gradual descent back into the valley to do. And then get back to our transport! The Kates just saw their bus drive past in front of them. That means they had time to walk to the next bus stop with me. That was nice! 

I will probably see one Kate again quite soon. We acquire quite some inspiration for upcoming adventures along the way. With the other one it will probably take a longer while, again. But there are interesting developments going on with her in England, and it will be great to go and one day visit her there. And now we had an epic day in the mountains under our belt!