Wet camping trip in between droughts

We were starting to take the drought for granted. In the weekend, Neil suggested he take two days off and we go on a little camping adventure. I had already taken the week off as I was desperately trying to use my annual leave of the academic year just gone by. We didn't even check the forecast until we were committed. It was actually quite cloudy! And there was even a chance of rain. We decided to go anyway. It had been a long, long time since our first trip with a tent. 

I wanted to take Neil to Llyn Glas, on the flanks of yr Wyddfa, where I had camped on my own a few years before. It was the most beautiful place I had done that. 

We decided to park in Rhyd Ddu, and walk up a public footpath that crosses the slate quarry there, and then veer off to the right on a gravel track. That goes into the general direction of the Ranger path, but in order to end up in the valley I wanted to go to you have to turn right before you get there. 

We walked up in light rain and drizzle. I was trying to keep my socks dry. I wasn't in my clunkiest boots as I was trying to keep my feet comfortable. The path was gorgeous! I don't think I had done it before. And the most spectacular bit was going through the quarry. In there we also met a bunch of friendly DofE kids, who interviewed us for their project. And we walked through a cattle herd. 

Path under the clouds

I failed to take any pictures that do the quarry justice

When we go to the gravel track, navigation was less easy than normal because visibility was quite rubbish. And we kept following it for a bit too long. We had walked all the way to Llyn Ffynnon y Gwas. So be it! And I suggested we might want to actually camp there, as the higher valley would be in the cloud, by the look of things. But we didn't really see an obvious camping spot. We decided to go to my initial destination after all. 

By then my phone was almost empty. I found out later it had been taking about 100 pictures of the inside of my trouser pocket. So frustrating.

It was less sheltered in the little cwm with Llyn Glas and Llyn Coch than I had hoped. I did show Neil the spot where I had stayed the previous time. He acknowledged it was beautiful, but there was not enough space for a bigger tent. 

In the end we decided to head down the hill again. We were just looking for shelter. And in the end we found a spot on a little river island at the bottom of the slope into the cwm. It was sheltered enough! Obviously, there was plenty of water. By that time I was hungry. We pitched the tent and I sat down to cook spaghetti. Neil put on his long trousers. I didn't expect him to wear these at all, the entire month.

My tent with in the background the ridge with Ranger Path on it

After dinner I had a quick wash. I wanted to put on trousers as well. And dry socks. My attempts at keeping the original pair dry had failed spectacularly! Neil thought it was too cold for a bath. And after my bath we boiled some water for coffee and tea. And we had brought the last two beers of the team prize of the breakwater race. We drank them. 

Our spot had beautiful little carnivorous plants 

It started raining a bit, so we went indoors. We were both actually quite tired. When the rain stopped we went out to brush our teeth, have a last leak and then call it a day.

I slept alright, but I had to go to the loo in the middle of the night. I had been drinking too close to bedtime. Neil never noticed, but he spent other parts of the night awake.  

When we woke up, the weather was pretty much the same. I woke up first, and went out to boil water for coffee and breakfast. After breakfast we packed up. We decided to follow the fence nearby (the only explicit sign of human activity in the far surroundings) back to the gravel road. That showed us some new terrain, and some of it was quite pretty, but also, it wasn't very well travelled, and some bits were a bit trying, with soggy and/or very uneven ground. But we got to the gravel road. 

On our way back

From there it was straightforward to get back to the car. We both were keen to get out of our soaking socks and into our crocs. 

Back on the gravel track, heading for the quarry

Leaving the quarry

It was a bit weird to have such a damp camping trip in the month that probably will turn out to be the driest one in Wales on record. Bad timing! But given that the drought is expected to return, maybe we could do another one this summer? One that is dry? And that has excellent visibility? Stay tuned!