Monday 18 September 2006

Snowdonia...

After a few days work in London, some play was in order, so me and a fry-end decided to go off to Snowdonia's National Park, in north Wales, and climb Snowdon - The highest mountain in England and Wales.

Snowdon and it's connecting mountains - Snowdon is the pointy one in the middle, with Crib Goch and Crib y Ddysgl on the right, Lliwedd on the left

My weekend abode: A luxury tent I like to call it. It's like camping, but with a bit more decadence, but definitely not caravanning, ooh no guv! You'll be suggesting I took my own pillow next... Pfff

GPS tracking CHECK - Rucksack full of clothes, food and water CHECK
Ludicrously tight walkers trousers on CHECK... Ready for the ascent

Hang on a minute, what's this? Do we have a stowaway on board? Yup, one cow torch!

After a while and loosing a lot of body weight in sweat, the views were starting to look impressive.
The tiny white dot on the right by the road is where the path started.
The car was parked a mile down the road, as the main car park was full!
I was not best pleased about the added 1 mile walking mileage here! :'(

Andy following me up one of the many climbs to reach the top of our first stop, Crib Goch

Half way up Grib Goch, the views down the valley towards Anglesea were looking great, and this circling seagull just gives you that sense of 'I wish I could do that'!

On the way up, a guy asked me for advice about how to get to the top... I warned him of the difficulty, but he was going to give it a go regardless and that was when I noticed the dog in his rucksack! How cool?

The top of Crib Goch and it's knife-edge ridge. Two people in front, starting across!
Not for the feint hearted...

Half way across Crib Goch, 1500ft drop to the left, 1000ft drop to the right... Yikes!!!

At very last... The summit... Yippee... 1085m / 3560ft high!!!
Talk about hard work, I was seriously hot and tired. Only a two-hour hike back to the car!

The view inland, towards England from Snowdon's summit

The view out over to the Irish Sea and out towards Ireland

The thin bit of land highlighted in the reflection off the sea is the Llyn Peninsula where I was body Boarding the other week!

OK, so here he is, the cow torch, upon Snowdon's summit

It's thirsty work for humans and cow torches* alike
(* Oh, sorry, flashlights to my American readers!)

I befriended this dogga at the summit, and the owner told me that he had to carry the mutt over half the way, as it's legs couldn't carry it to the top... Awww

The sun was setting on the way back, which gave some great shadows, including this one of my weary self on a path on the descent.. and yes, that is a path... just!


It was tougher going than I remember actually and ascending and descending stairs is now a serious problem for my thighs :[

Today, I'm Most Angry About: Opening a pack of garlic and coriander prawns, for my stir fry, but the plastic cover was that tight, it sprayed me with prawn juice when I pierced it, including getting some right in my eye! Grrr... It stings... Grrr
Grrr-O-Meter Rating: 3.1/10

21 comments:

LindzyPinzy said...

breathtaking I wish I was there!!!!

LindzyPinzy said...

i can't belive that guy brought his dog up in his bag thats so cute! what a beautiful day for this too. looks amazing!

kat said...

Fabulous pictures. I have done a lot of climbing in the Lake District and Scotland, including Ben Nevis and Scafell Pike but I have never got round to doing Snowdon - must make the effort.

Kayla said...

Wow..
That is really amazing!
The views as well as the stamina you had to make it to the summit.
You must have buns and thighs of steel ;-)
haha
(funny fitness video titles here in the US)

The top of Grib Goch looks horrific! Razor sharp edge, no doubt

I'm happy no doggas or cow torches were hurt in the making of these photos :-)

karen said...

ACE pictures. The one over towards Ireland is my fave - the clouds are brilliant. Very neatly lined up. Well done them. I think I feel some sort of cow torch-related photo challenge coming on...

Anonymous said...

I absolutely love the picture of the cow torch!!

By the way, do you actually drive and if you do, how can you afford to do so?? I can't believe how outrageous the prices are!

Anonymous said...

Great post! I love the photos and was thinking things like amazing, lovely, look at that view, the clouds, wow!! Until I came across the pic of the knife edge ridge……Yikes!. Not my thing :)

So good of you to take the cow out….they shouldn’t be kept indoors you know, they get moo(h)dy ;)

Phil said...

Lindzy:
The views were just stunning yes, but the guy with the dog gave up the climb and went back down!

Kat:
Thank you!
I've done Scafell too, but not Ben Nevis! Snowdon is a good one to do and if you wait until 2008, there will be a nice new cafe at the top!

Kayla:
Buns and thighs of steel LOL, no, not really, I just slog it up there! ;)
Crib Goch is very scary, but no doggas or cows were herd *snigger* I mean hurt.

Keesiedee:
The clouds did look rather good that day, yeah!
Ah, yes, now your talking... 'Extreme Cow Torching' Challenge set!!!
Phil is in the lead so far then! :]
XXX

Sarah:
Hehehe, my cow torch rox!
I do drive yes, and I may have made a mistake, but it's not cheap yeah! :[

Dakota:
Aw thank you Dakota!
Crib Goch is a real adrenaline rush!
BOOM BOOM, what a line - TeeHee
An udderly good pun that! :0)

Anonymous said...

I refigured... it came out to be $8.72 per gallon

So when will we speak again?

Kayla said...

Oh DoGGa,
Please don't fall for Beta Blogger!
I have lost a few friends to it..
Either they can't comment on my blog, or I can't comment on theirs.

Anonymous said...

You know there is a perfectly good train that will take you all the way to the top, dont you? Just thought you ought to know.
Beautiful pics, brilliant place. Did you want to amputate your legs when you got down? I remember I felt I needed to when I got down from there.

Phil said...

Sarah:
Not cheap eh!
Erm, we will speak again another night yeah :]

Kayla:
Thanks for the warning Kayla, as I was toying with the idea, but you've just confirmed for me not to... Ta!

Hutters:
The train... Pfff, that's no way to get up a mountain *jealous* :)
The train is out at the mo, as they are building a new cafe up there, so the train is being used to hual junk down the mountain.
I wanted to amputate everything below my waist yes, my left knee was giving me hell. You found it tough too then :]

Anonymous said...

Yes, but when??

Anonymous said...

I didn't know the sun ever shone in North Wales. It never has when I've been there. Permanent low cloud and visibility of about 50 yards. You must have picked the good day!

Anonymous said...

wow!!! that loooks incredibly amazing. Not to mention scary.

Nice photos!

Phil said...

Sarah:
I dunno... Send me mail :]

Jan:
It does soemtimes and with a bit of free planning and luck you can get a corking fwe days in a row! I came back with great tan too! :]

Guggenflurgen:
Hello and welcome!
Teehee, yeah, both beautiful AND scary.
Glad you like the photos :]

Anonymous said...

Dogga, I am not ignoring you but am having a real problem commenting on your blog since I moved to Beta...so hurry up and shift over top Beta!

Phil said...

Angela:
Hehe, you don't have to comment everytime Angela, only if you have somethgn to say.
Beta scares me too much! :]

Anonymous said...

The guy brought his pooch along to the top of the mountain? That's funny :-)

Looks awesome!

Phil said...

Yoda:
I know, what a nutter eh!

Anonymous said...

Great pictures, I wish I was there. I love the outdoors