Birthday Neil

Neil had his birthday! And he likes hiking. So that is what we had planned. With the intention of dining out afterwards. And he came up with the idea of walking a generous loop around Cwm Eigiau. Sounded good!

The evening before we had been for dinner at Susan and Dean’s place. That had been lovely! But we got home quite late. It hit midnight before we had managed to get to bed. So I could congratulate him as soon as his birthday officially started! 

The next morning we were up quite early for our hike. We were a bit groggy! We’re too old to cope well with late nights. But I presented him with a birthday cake, part of which we then packed for our hike. We had breakfast and got our bags ready, and were off. 

5 candles for 55 years

There was plenty of parking space. And it was cloudy but lovely. I like the place. It is at the end of a tiny road with several gates on. It feels very remote. 

Cwm Eigiau

I had brought a lot of water as we would spend a lot of time on the ridge. Neil was a bit worried about the share weight of my backpack, and volunteered to carry one flask for me. That was kind! I wondered if that would mean I could finally keep up with him. 

We headed into the valley, and had a little look at one of the small slate quarries there. I hadn't been to this one before! And it looked like indeed; this time I could actually keep up with Neil. That is unusual. He is a bit of a Duracell bunny. I am hardly terribly unfit, but he tends to run ahead like a gazelle.

Small quarry

Beyond the quarry we headed up the ridge, where we had a cake break. Then we continued our way to the summit of Pen Llithrig y Wrach. The views were lovely! And from there we did the down-and-back-up to Pen yr Helgi Du. By then we were hungry again, and sat down for lunch. We could see a few climbers in the cleft! 

Pen Llithrig y Wrach

Next up was Carnedd Llewelyn. And from there we soon left the path. We intended to bushwhack in between reservoirs below us (Dulyn and Melynllyn). Level with these we could pick the path back up.

Summit selfie

The off-piste bit was gorgeous! I should go there more often. And take more pictures. We sat on a rock for more lunch. We had made sure to not eat everything the first time around.

We got down without difficulties. It’s a rather birthday-ish path; we had used it to for Kate's 40th and my 50th! On my birthday, the weather was so rubbish we didn't get far. Today we didn't have that problem. But we were almost there now. Just a trudge back to the car.

When we got back to mine we first had a shower and a hot drink. And I gave him my present. Then we trudged to the pizza van by the cheese shop. We didn't linger; not because we were so hungry, but because we were scared we otherwise would fall asleep! We were both very tired. We blamed it on the late night the day before. And Neil’s cat howling us awake at 6 am. And Neil blamed some on the extra weight from the flask.

The pizza man got wind of it being Neil’s birthday and gave him a very good brownie for free. That was kind. We had it all at a picnic table right by the pizza van.

We agreed it had been a good birthday! He is lucky with a spring date. Much better chance of nice hiking weather. Let's hope that this is the first of a lot of adventurous together in his 56th year!