FOEL FRAS SUMMIT.

FOEL FRAS SUMMIT.

Friday 26 August 2011

#41.Jersey.St. Helier to St. Aubin and back.20-8-11.

Another good weather forecast saw us setting out nice and early,again it was a glorious day and very hot so we put our sun cream on before we left the hotel.The tide was going out enabling us to walk on the beach for most of the way.Elizabeth castle.


A quick detour into Coronation Park..........

.........for a visit to St. Matthew's Church,AKA "The Glass Church",which was shut for refurbishment's!

Back to the beach to continue our walk.

There were a few large jelly fish stranded on the beach so we had to keep our eyes peeled.

Passing La Haule slipway there was a beach volleyball competition taking place.


St. Aubin below.



After a visit to the market and a stop for tea and cake we started to walk back.When we got by the Gun slipway we decided to have a lie down to sun bathe and to swim in the sea,which was lovely.

Several hours later we set off back to the hotel to get showered and changed to go out.This easy walk was 7 miles long,again with no ascent.



MILEAGE         308
ASCENT          69,350
TOPS               76.

#40.Jersey.Gorey to St. Helier 18-8-11.

Having walked the north coast year's ago and most of the west coast i wanted to walk the east and south coast on this trip.There was a fete on in Gorey so me and Julie took the 10 o'clock bus to Gorey and had a walk around the fete first before setting off for St. Helier.It was a beautiful morning and very warm as we walked down Gorey pier.

The castle looking majestic on it's lofty perch.


We left the fete at 11 o'clock and set off for St. Helier.We applied sun cream straight away and i walked with my top off and as soon as we reached the beach we took our walking shoes off as well.It was lovely walking at the waters edge,the sea lapping at our feet.


After stopping for an ice cream the beach started to get pebbley so we put our shoes back on and walked on top of the sea wall.Below is Fort Henry on the Royal Jersey Golf Course.



After the last French invasion in 1781 which happened on this coast Britain built a lot of Round Tower's.These tower's are bigger and predate Martello Tower's,and there are a lot along this stretch of coast,and are all privately owned.


Leaving the Royal Bay of Grouville we rounded La Rocque Point and into St. Clement's Bay.

Below looking out to Icho tower which lies a quarter of a mile out.

Rounding La Nez Point we could now see St. Helier in the distance,but it was a long walk along the beach at La Greve d'Azette.

Luckily now it had clouded over but was still very hot,walking bare foot over the sand was awkward because of the lug worm casts.

Finally we reached Harve Des Pas outdoor swimming pool where we both quickly got into our swimming costumes and plunged into the cooling water's.


Although we both enjoyed this walk it was really uncomfortable as there was no breeze,it was 80 degrees and with us being caked in sun cream we were sweaty and sticky,the swim was heaven.The distance of this walk was 7.5 miles with no ascent !


MILEAGE      301
ASCENT       69,350
TOPS            76.

Wednesday 3 August 2011

#39.Y GARN,via the "sheep path" and Foel-goch.2-8-11.

Today's walk saw me return quickly to the Glyderau with Glyno to take in Y Garn via the little walked "sheep path",Foel-goch and returning via a path neither of us had walked.I have noticed 2 stile's at Bwlch y Brecan that lead in the direction of the A5 in the past but don't know anybody who has walked them,and a while back Glyno was talking to the Ogwen Cottage warden who described the path so we decided to try to find it and use it as our route back to the car park.
    The weather forecast was for a cloudy start with rain shower's but to improve by dinner time,so ideally we would have liked to have started out late but we both needed to be back home handy so an early start was arranged.We started walking at 8.45am and looking up to the mountain top's it didn't look to bad,although the skies were grey most of the top's were clear.Below is Foel-goch and the new footbridge at the outflow of Llyn Idwal.

Unfortunately the condition's soon got worse and the mist covered the mountain top's and it started to rain,the Devil's Kitchen looking menacing.

As we rounded the lake via the west bank the rain got heavier so the wet coat's were donned.The rain made the rock's very slippery so great care was needed.We soon made the bottom of the large cleft and we broke away from the main path to locate the sheep path.

I cut across looking for the path to soon which left us with a tricky scramble up to it,it would have been easy in dry condition's but with the rock's being wet it was quite difficult.Here's Glyno finishing it.

After this little scramble it was a straight forward walk up the track.


Looking down to Llyn Idwal.

The scramble was soon over and we gained the main path up from Llyn y Cwn to the top of Y Garn.

It was cold and wet at the summit so we didn't hang around and we set off for Foel-goch.It is over 1 mile away but we walked it in 20 minute's again not lingering at the summit as the mist stopped us having any view,quickly down to Bwlch y Brecan via the slippery,steep scree path to locate the second stile (nearest Mynydd Perfedd).Stepping over it we were surprised to see that there was a very well walked path leading to Y Galan,and happily the weather started to improve as well.We were sheltered from the wind as we descended lower,the rain stopped and the sun came out,happy day's.The view's all around were brilliant,and improving all the time as the weather improved.



Once we found the "shepherd's path" we set off on the return journey.The next few photo's are taken from this path on our return.




We stopped for lunch below Y Llymllwyd,the view to Tryfan and the Ogwen Valley was amazing.We could now see the scout hut,Y Hafod,that i stayed at on a forum meet up.

This path stay's very nearly at the same contour for over 1.5 miles heading for the wall in the distance.

On reaching said wall a stream run's down from Llyn Cywion,here we had 2 option's,the first to follow the wall back to Cwm Idwal or the second to follow the stream down to Y Hafod,we choose the later as i wanted to show Glyno the tank trap's in the valley.This was a wise choice as the faint path that stay's close to the stream revealled some lovely little waterfall's on the descent.


Last view of the Ogwen Valley before we got to low.

Nearing Y Hafod.

Friendly ponies.

The tank trap's and a distant Foel-goch.

Today's great walk was 6.5 miles long with 2,800 feet of ascent.


MILEAGE     283.5
ASCENT      69,350
TOPS           76.