And again

Cader Idris with N&B

After 20+ years I finally got Mrs sbrt to come up a mountain with me. Not just up any mountain but up Cader Idris and to one of my favourite places Llyn Cau.

Round the rugged Rhinogydd

Y Llethr and Diffwys

A weeks camping at Bennar Beach near Barmouth, means a run in the Rhinogydd. It has to be done, as does a trip to Cader Idris but more of that another time.

Starting from Tal-y-Bont I followed a route from Great Mountain Days In Snowdonia. A Cicerone guidebook by Terry Marsh.

The track past Moelfre

Crib-y-Rhiw

Rhinog Fach and Fawr  from Y Llethr

How not to take a selfie

Highest point of the Rhynogydd and probably the worst excuse for a summit cairn in Wales

Crib y Rhiw & Diffwys

A pwll (pool)

I think this monster is a Dragonfly larvae 

Can you dib it?

 Carneddau Mini MM 13.4.14

This year Dark & White Challenge Events are running a Three race Mini Mountain Marathon series. These three events follow their 4 hour 'Wild country' format, that Ray and I enjoyed so much, last year.

 The first round started off in the often overlooked but Beautiful Carneddau mountains.

 Dark & White sum up the challenge nicely-

*  "The aim of these events is to navigate your way between a series of checkpoints and collect as many points as you can in the specified time period. Armed with your map (and your brain!) it is up to you to decide the optimum route based on your fitness/ability. Each checkpoint has a score, and generally the ones which are further away and more difficult to get to are worth more points. SPORTident timing is used."

Or in our case. Four hours of mucking about in the Welsh hills, trying not to get lost.

The Start.
Not lost yet.

Highlights and Randoms

Harvey Maps

Carneddau ponys

Hitting the atack point on Foel-fras and hand-railing to control 15. In the clag : )

Not finding control 14 and having to bail out. In the clag : (

Spicy bean/lentle soup, tea and cake

Yes you can


* Quote pinched from Dark and White Challenge events Website. See here For full details of their Cracking events. 

Cader, Gadair, Gader or Cadair?

Ras y Gader/ Cader Idris Mountain Race

18/5/13

Whatever you call it, this is a Classic, Welsh, mountain race. Not the most scenic route, up the iconic Cader Idris but the rest of the ingredients, made it a great day out.

Starting off with a circling Red kite, greeting me at the border of Meirionnydd. Ok I will cut the poetic bollox, the kite was completely indifferent to me but hey, it was a treat to see it all the same.

The rest of the ingredients, in no particular order;

Batala Bermo  Brazillian, Samba, Reggae, drumming band from Barmouth. Doing there thing at the start line.

Catching up with Lightning. Always a pleasure

Great support  and atmosphere provided by the good people and businesses of Dolgellau.

Catching up with Johnny B and Andy. Fantastic result Johnny. I am not worthy.

A spot prize of a Welsh Dragon Buff. Woo hoo. Not sure If being an Englishman, I am allowed to wear this.

Bara brith (Welsh Fruit-bread) and a cuppa.

Seeing the fast guys and girls, blasting back downhill.

Up!

Up!

Up

And more up

1st Lady Lauren Jeska, Flying

Still smiling

Photos of #34 by Alastair Tye and Graham Spencer

Many thanks to all who made it happen.
See you next year

Hebog fail

Moel Hebog(hill of the hawk) taken on a clearer day

It looked simple on the map. From the cottage, up to Craig Isallt, follow the rights of way to access  land below Hebog, then up to the top to admire the views.

 It was not to be. Down in the valley tussocks, snow drifts, marshy ground and fenced off rights of way made progress slow.

100m from the top I turned round. I had set myself  a cut off time to make sure I got back before dark and gone 5 min past it. Cloud had rolled in and it was snowing. That will teach me to start out so late in the day.

Back down again, across the tussocks, drifts and marshland. Feet up and a cuppa tea in front of the wood burner. The Hill of the Hawk would have to wait for another day.

The view

findus frozen hill ponys

Reasons to be cheerful (S.A.D.) part 3

W+D-d\Tq
   MNa         =  The 21th January, blue Monday or the most depressing day of the year. Yeah! Sez who?

For the second year running we were in Wales, for the S.A.D.est day of the year. This time time the venue was Cwm Pennant. One of, if not the most beautiful valleys in Wales. So beautiful that Eifion Wyn wrote the poem Cwm Pennant.

On top of that it was SNOWING.

The softer side of  Moel Hebog

Fawr, Photo taken from Bach

The weekly shopping Cwm Pennant style

Only another 1/2 a mile to go

Happy or sad, dark or white, yin or yang you choose.

Mladic by God  speed you black emperor( a bit dark)  vs  Paul Oakenfold's Starry eyed suprise (happy choon)

What were you expecting Ian Dury or New Order?  Cool tunes but a bit too obvious. 

                                       

                                                          

Pedol pushing

Pedol Peris/Peris Horseshoe Mountain Race 2012

The Welsh Fell Runners Association class this beast of a race as an AL or A Long. They were right it took me 'A Long' time to get round, a very long time. Almost six hours. G Bland can relax again, his record time of 3:02 is safe for another year. I am not sure how much longer than six hours it took, I forgot to stop my watch, again (again pronounced as F. Gump would say it ' agaaaayn').

Race classification, times, distance, ascent and descent are only part of the story. Anyone who runs, or spends time in the hills can tell you that. What facts and figures can't do is tell what a fantastic race the Peris is. It has got all you could want from a fell race. Stunning route, slick organisation, friendly atmosphere and most importantly a commemorative mug.

Willem all the way from the Nederlands

Thanks to the guy with a Welsh Dragon Buff, for sharing his local knowledge and  for not laughing at my pronunciation of Cynghorion

Bloody tourists

Not racing but a special guest appearance by Sarah Ridgway of Run Snowdonia. More photos on Sarah's blog.

Dropping off Glyder Fawr

That face says it all

Ian and Stefan of Pennine Fell Runners You can check out Ian's account on the pennine Blog.
Thanks for dragging me round lads. Your company was much appreciated.

 

No more photos. Dummy well and truly spat somewhere between Y Lliwedd and Yr Wyddfa. Teddy got hurled from the pram coming off Moel Cynghorion.

A very big thank you to Mike Blake and all who made the race happen. Special mention to the marshalls    that were up in the clag and whoever made the carrot and coriander soup.

More photos Here and a few more from stalwart Alastair Tye