Windy Parys

It was such lovely weather the first days of the week we were going to do the Parys Mountain trip! Unfortunately, the forecast said it wouldn't last. That day we were scheduled to go was going to be the worst of the whole week.

When the day approached the weather forecast got worse, and acquired a weather warning for wind, with gusts over 60 mph. Oh dear! Parys Mountain stands proud of Anglesey, and if it gets gusty, being on top of it makes you feel the full force of the wind. What should we do?

I briefly discussed with Dei. Postpone or shorten? The weather would be the worst in the morning, and would improve during the day. If we would go at lunchtime we would avoid the worst of it. And that was what we decided to do.

I was the first one to get out of the vehicle when we got there, and I immediately felt the brunt of the strong wind. Earlier that day it must've been awful up there. But we all zipped up our jackets and went for went to the viewing platform. Quite many of the students hadn't been there before, and they looked like they thought it was worth it. It is, after all, an amazing place.

We didn't linger as we figured it would be more sheltered in the pit, so that was where we went next. And we admired the view on the fold, and the Central Boss, and the remains of the black smoker. When we were at the Central Boss we did get rained on, but fortunately only briefly. Later the sun even came out!

When we were done with the geology there was a little bit of time left for history, which Dei took care of. And then we went back to the vehicle.

It was a bit touch and go this year, but I think we pulled it off! Let's hope that our next trip will have nicer weather…