#11.Llantisilio Mountains.29-1-11.

After a tough week in work i was desperate to get out for a walk on saturday providing the weather was ok,and after checking the forecast on friday night the walk was on.The forecast was for a clear night with the temperature dropping to minus 5 and a sunny day.Julie wasn't feeling to well on the saturday but she still wanted to get out of the house so i decided on the Llantisilio Mountain's,a local favourite of our's.We parked by Capel Hebron and headed up the lane past the Sun Inn.

It was a balmy minus 1 on leaving the car and we were well wrapped up to keep the cold out.As we gained height and found some shelter from a small copse of tree's we had to take our coat's off.

On leaving the tree's you get a great view of Moel Morfydd.

Out in the open it was freezing cold,the wind really biting,so the coat's went back on.On the last pull up to the summit of Moel Morfydd Julie was really struggling and we had to have a few stop's for her to recover,but i wasn't complaining as the view's are lovely all around.We eventually reached the summit and we could see the whole range in front of us.

To cold to linger we set off for the old hillfort Moel y Gaer.

A lot of heather on the mountain has been has been cut and collected into bundle's,i wonder what they will use it for?

As Julie was feeling poorly we decided to cut the walk short by taking the green lane that contour's horizontal low down on Moel y Gamelin,seen here,to reach Rhewl.

One last look back up to the peak's we had walked over.

We walked 4.5 mile's with 1700 feet of ascent,a great effort by Julie considering how poorly she was.

MILES           69.5
ASCENT       18,250
TOPS             24.

#10.GREAT ORME.23-1-11.

Day 3 of our stay we decided on the Great Orme as we were to meet our son,his girlfriend and our granddaughter in Llandudno later in the afternoon.We had free ticket's to visit Caernarvon Castle which we used and then dashed down the A5 to park up on the West Shore of Llandudno.The chosen path today was the one behind the Toll House.After a short distance we stopped to easily locate the Dawn Recon 1 geo-cache and then hit the steep path that slant's N.E. up to the wall.Give's you great view's and is well worth the effort.

We followed the wall east to reach the disused quarry near the summit complex.Here people "write" there name in the discarded rock's,hey what's this and no i didn't do it.

We followed the tramline back into town stopping to find the micro geo-cache behind the G.O.T. sign.We met up with Rich,Lynz and Eva and had a sunday dinner in Wetherspoons and had a stroll down the pier.

After saying our farewell we walked back to the west shore.Today's distance was 4.5 mile's with 700 feet of ascent.


MILES           65
ASCENT       16,550
TOPS            22

#9.MOEL EILIO,FOEL GRON,FOEL GOCH.22-1-11.

Day 2 of our 3 day jaunt saw us wake to a very frosty morning with the moon setting below Moel Eilio's Braich.

After breakfast in the hotel we nipped into Llanberis for supplies and set off steeply out of the town on the back lane's.We had a little delay as we watched a skip lorry trying to reverse into a farm yard off this narrow lane,first he caught the wall knocking a few stone's off it so he tried again,this time one of the arm's that pick the skip up caught a large ash tree by the farm entrance,but he was not for stopping and carried on,SNAP,a piece of the tree about 20 feet long broke off and fell to the floor.He had just about got the back end of the lorry around the corner but had to stop to move the section of tree that had snapped off,there was just enough room for us to squeeze past and carry on.We got our first glimpse of Moel Eilio soon after.

And a view of Dinas Osian Hillfort,we had no plan's to visit it but it was such a lovely morning that we decided on a detour to it.

Walking in the sun it was quite warm sheltered on this side of the mountain and slowly the layer's were coming off.We soon reached the cairn on top of the hillfort and started to get some great view's.Moel Eilio.

Elidir Fawr and a frosty Llanberis.

And a mini cloud inversion in the Marchlyn Mawr area.

Leaving the hillfort a few runner's past us but we were the only one's walking this fine morning.Gaining height on the Braich as it was so warm unbelievably we were walking now in our tee-shirt's.

It was a similar day today as yesterday,lovely and sunny in the mountain's but misty and dull elsewhere,Anglesey totally hidden under a blanket of cloud.When we reached the fence and started the last climb up to the summit of Moel Eilio the temperature started to dip and we started to layer up.We got a view of Y Eifl (the rival's) "floating" in the cloud's.

Soon we were at the summit cairn and boy it was freezing,it was a little blowy so on with the coat's,glove's and hat's.Julie made a brew whilst i nipped across to quickly find the geo-cache a short way from the shelter.We couldn't take our eye's off the inversion around Y Eifl.

We didn't linger long as it was freezing cold and set off to Foel Gron.We had some great view's across to the Nantlle Ridge,in the distance the Glyderau and ahead to the summit of Yr Wyddfa and it's satellite hill's.

View toward's the Nantlle.

Tryfan making an appearance.

We soon reached Foel Gron and had a lovely view down into Cwm Dwythwch and it's Llyn.

At the bwlch we found some shelter from the wind so we sat in the sun and had a bite to eat.Looking around we could see quite a lot of walker's now taking advantage of the lovely weather.Above us the cloud's looked nice.

The Ground was solid on the northern slope's but was thawing in the sun on the southern flank's and it was a little slippy as Julie was to find out soon.This photo is looking down to Llyn Cwellyn,Nant Colwyn and down the valley toward's Beddgelert.

Leaving Foel Goch the path drop's steeply down to Bwlch Maesgwm,here it was very slippery and i moved across to find some harder ground and was just about to tell Julie to move across to join me and she slipped,she let out a sort of Michael Jackson squeal,threw the trekking pole's away,pirouetted 180 degree's,fell face down on the muddy grass and slid about 10 metre's down the slope and stopped.My first concern was to ask her if she had hurt herself,she hadn't,but she had a fair amount of mud down one side and i had to get a photo.

I collected the trekking pole's and we set off down Cwm Maesgwm.This is a lovely path back to Llanberis passing lot's of old derelict cottage's in the valley.

We left the path and cut across the field's to follow the Afon Arddu to first visit the  Ceunant Bach Waterfall  and then the Ceunant Fawr Waterfall.

A short walk down into Llanberis under the Snowdon Mountain Railway Bridge,with it's ornate twisted arch, and back to the hotel.

The distance was 8 mile's with 2,600 feet of ascent.

MILES       60.5
ASCENT   15,850
TOPS         21

#8.LLECHOG 21-1-11.

Me and Julie had booked a 3 day break in the Royal Victoria Hotel in Llanberis and the weather forecast was good for all 3 days thankfully,last weekend in Snowdonia saw continuous rain all weekend with 12 inches falling.We left the car in the hotel's car park and made our way up Victoria Terrace to follow the Llanberis path.The road was quite slippery after the overnight frost but once past the Pen y Ceunant tea-room's we were walking where the sun was shining and the frost had thawed.Just below Halfway Station the path goes under the railway line.

A lot of work laying new section's of path was undertaken last year,i imagine it will benefit the runner's in the Snowdon Race greatly this year.From here we got a great view across to R. to L. Moel Eilio,Foel Gron,Foel Goch (which we would walk tomorrow) and Moel Cynghorion.

We soon reached Halfway House (shut for winter) where Julie grabbed a break whilst i quickly located the geo-cache.We hadn't seen a soul all day but scanning the horizon up ahead we could see 4 people carefully making there way through the snow above Llyn Du'r Arddu.

We left the path here to walk up to the railway line which we followed,as no train's were running,as far as Cwm Hetiau and a view of Llechog's cliff face.

The view down to the Llanberis Pass is quite good as well.

A frosty Nant Peris 2,000 feet below.

Julie on the summit,with Elidir Fawr providing the backdrop.

And me with a little bit of mist covering Y Garn and Glyder Fawr.

The weather in the distance was very iffy but in the hill's it was very sunny,this view down to the railway line and Cwm Hetiau show's how nice we had it compared to Anglesey in the distance.

We didn't want to tire ourselves out so we headed back to the Halfway House to pick up the Llanberis Path and made our way back to the hotel.One last photo zooming in on a few walker's making there way up to Snowdon.

Looking back up to the Halfway House below the railway line.

We stopped in the Pen y Ceunant tea room's to eat our butties washed down with a pint of Snowdonia Ale.

A fantastic view across to the tiered slate slope's on Elidir Fawr.

Today's walk was a gentle 6 mile with 2,000 feet of ascent.

MILES          52.5
ASCENT       13,250
TOPS            18

#7.Wilderness Walk.17-1-11

Managed to fit in the same walk we did on saturday 15th  tonight before it went dark.

Running total for 2011.

MILES        46.5
ASCENT    11,250
TOPS          17.

#6.Wilderness Walk.15-1-11

Me and Julie had planned to walk in the mountain's today but the forecast was for heavy rain so we decided to stay local.We have some lovely countryside locally and regularly walk here when we can't get to the mountain's.From Rhosrobin we crossed the Llay New Road and walked across the field until we reached Pandy,we followed the path that run's along side the railway line and then under the bridge to come out by the ski-slope that was never completed.

We then followed the track down to the River Alyn to emerge by the Wilderness Mill Farm.The river was quite high today after all the recent rainfall.

We followed the single track road up hill to arrive back to the Llay New Road which we crossed again to enter Alyn Waters Country Park.We then dropped down to Hack,the animal sanctuary,and past by the ruined Bradley Mill before turning onto the river path.

There were very few people out today due to the drizzle and cold and we had a nice quiet walk along this path.When we got to the long wooden walkway that stretches across the boggy section i was surprised to see that a new bridge has been placed along the old one,about time to as the old one had twisted and sank considerably.It was on this old bridge that Julie gave me the funniest sight i have ever seen in the flood's of 1999.

We left the river and headed up to the visitor centre and popped in to see if there were any new leaflet's.

We left Alyn Waters,went past Gwersyllt Cricket Club and across the Wauns and the short walk back home.
The distance today was 4.5 mile's with a massive 350 feet of ascent.

MILES        41
ASCENT    10,900
TOPS          17