WALES - MAY 2018

DAY 1: TRYFAN VIA NORTH RIDGE...(ISH!!)- 3008ft
5 HOURS, 45 MINUTES SCRAMBLING

So finally we managed to get ourselves booked into a hotel with Mr & Mrs S and had a date to climb Tryfan, after trying to get a date organised for the past 2 years! The first time we tried it was the Snowdonia half Marathon and the following year we could get the dates off together. We travelled up in one car being Mr S's and set off at the very early time of 6:30. Mrs F slept for half the way and woke up somewhere in the Midlands, in fact  the journey was a really smooth one that we got to Wales by 11am. As we were still heading towards our hotel, we were in discussion about weather we should make use of the day since we arrived in good enough time with plenty of daylight left and really good climbing conditions. We also checked the weather and it was forecast to be a better day today than the next day, which is when we initially planned to climb Tyrfan.

So all in agreement that today would be a good day to do it, we headed straight to a nearby facility lay by where they had toilets for us to get changed and where Mrs F could do the usual taping of her knees. Mrs S felt the whole thing was rather disorganised as they had to go and buy sandwiches for their lunch, but that's what made it partly so good! 😃 Mr F had made our rolls that morning and we bough an ice block to keep them cool in the warm car, so we had everything we needed food wise. Mrs F however had not had breakfast so downed a protein drink that was intended for tomorrows day and a chocolate croissant...not quite enough for a day f hardcore climbing, but better than nothing and good enough. We then went just a couple of miles down the road and puled into a lay by right at the foot of Tryfan, where from there, it was a brutal straight up climb towards the ridge. Most of the bigger mountains in Wales are all quite close to the main roads, so there isn't a long walk out to get to the mountains we want to climb like in the Lake District. It's also not as pretty and more rugged in Wales too.

From the car it was a slow but gradual plod up the stony steps until we eventually needed to spend most of time on all fours - and backside - to make our way up! It was a really good scramble pretty much the whole way. We planned to go via the North Ridge and we didn't venture too far from it. However we skirted around to the right as we were too far over left and somehow managed to miss the famous Cannon Stone, which Mrs F was very much looking forward to getting a picture on. We did see something that looked a bit like the Cannon Stone, but didn't seem big enough to be the one. However, here is a photo of what it is as we didn't get one ourselves...

Our First Glimpse Of Tryfan From The Car

Mrs S With Our Newest Edition To The Family...Chuggles 😊

The Start Of The Initial Plod Going Up

Looking Ahead

Making Very Good Progress

What The Cannon Stone Looks Like

So eventually we made our way up and unto more challenging parts of the climb where we had to analyse how were we going to get up. We tried various places to climb up and when we couldn't see a possible safe way up, we tried other places to get up. Most of time we needed to work as a team to get each other up, mainly the girls with one of boys going ahead and giving a helping hand to pull and the other staying behind to give a helping push! The boys also gave each other helping hands so an all round good team work to ensure we were all happy and safe...

Big Scrambles Up Ahead...Very Exciting!

A Very Happy Mr F

A Very Happy Mrs F!

Big Rocks To Scramble

Mr F First Selfie Of The Trip

Looking Down At Mr & Mrs S Making Their Way Up

Seeing How Far We Had Come From The Road

Happy Mrs S!

Mr F Charging On Ahead...

...Can You Spot Him???

The Boys Stopping For A Quick Satmap Check

...And Again...Maybe She Needs To Review Her Technique!

Mrs F Got A Bit Stuck Straddling The Rock To Get Over...

Eventually we made it to some level ground where we were stood looking face onto a sheer upright rock face leading onto the ridge itself with climbing coming down...on rope with helmets! There was a young couple who were also making their way up who were also stood looking to see how 'do-able' that way was without rope. After a short deliberation, we decided to go via the North-East Ridge, skirting just around the bottom slightly until we came to a gully. We looked at he gully and again, took a short deliberation (very short!) and decided to carry on via a more trodden route up onto the famous Adam & Eve summit stones. However, we were still to come across our most challenging scramble yet as this way was a straight up rock face with damp moss that required a good strong foothold with both feet and firm grips from both hands and all fingernails!! By this time, Mrs F's wrists were hurting from all the bending and pulling up on rocks...

Looking Face On At The Sheer Climb Up Onto The Ridge

We Go On Ahead To Make Out A Feasible Route 

Beginning To Skirt Around 

Looking Ahead At The Rocks And Drop Below Them

Mrs F Selfie 😊

The Alternative Route

The Potential Route Via The Gully

A Big Drop Just Below The Gully

Mr S Making His Way Over Towards The Gully

Ready To Make The Final Awkward Climb Up 

Up We Go...Somehow!!

Looking Back...

Mr F Looking Ahead At The Route

The Safer Option...Sort Of!

A Helping Hand Is Needed!!

The Final Push Fr The Summit!

We made it up safely onto more rugged, bigger rocks and the challenge now was the make our way over the boulder field to the summit. We waited for everyone to make it up after Mr F kept going on ahead on his own (being told off by Mrs F!) and then picked the best route to get to Adam and Eve, which was a challenge in itself! Normally when we get the summit of a mountain there is a flatter ground with a summit cairn or some kind of trig point. But the summit of Tryfan was just a boulder field of big rocks. Adam & Eve are famous because of the jump that a lot of people do from one to the other. If you look at pictures online, you'll see quite a few of people captured making the mighty jump. Mr F was quite keen...until he saw the stones for himself! It was far too dangerous to even contemplate. It was quite awkward to get onto either stone in the first place, the surfaces were uneven and not to mention the 3,000 ft drop directly below!! We were all more than OK to give the brave leap of faith a miss! Instead, we had our photo taken by a kind local who regularly makes his way unto Tryfan and had a much needed lunch. Mrs F and Mrs S had a packet of McCoy crisps and both said it was by far the best packet of crisps we'd ever eaten! 😃

A Rock Climber Near Us

Would You Adam & Eve It...We Made It!!!

The Boys Proudly On The Summit

As we sat and demolished our lunch, we realised we were in a bit of a wind stream, so quickly finished our lunch and carefully set off through the boulder filed to make the journey of descent. The route down was fairly straight forward but challenging in some areas, especially the initial climb off of the summit, then again further down through some scree. We had our eyes on a tarn down below that we were aiming towards, but not with the intent to actually go there, more of a reference point. We did initially intend to carry on going past the tarn and up onto Bristly Ridge, which apparently is more challenging than Tryfan, but as we didn't set out later than planned, we ran out of safe daylight. The local man who took our photo was already down onto the path that lead to the tarn, which was somewhat impressive! We made a right turn coming down via the right hand side of Tryfan via a grass/boggy area, that eventually made it's way onto and over some rocks. We could see the car in the distance and was quite handy as the route we were on will take us directly back to the car. Mr F had a nasty fall onto a small rock that was sticking out from the ground where he fell and dig into his side...he was OK but it really did hurt him 😢 The road where the car was parked on (the A5) seemed to disappear as we were getting nearer to it, but we made it onto even land and had a very short stroll to the car just 3 minutes from where we came off...

Our Great Group Photo Taken By The Local Man

The Start Of The Way Down Off The Summit

Somewhat Challenging In Some Areas...

Looking Over Towards Bristly Ridge

Looking Back At Our Way Off The Summit

Heading Down Via The Scree

The Boys Doing Their Usual Analysis Of The Days Route

The Girls Having a Great Time

The Road Appearing Just Below

Not Everyone Was Looking...Try Again..

...There We Go, Much Better!

Looking Back At Our Way Down...And Near Where Mr F Fell

We're Down!!!

Short Walk Of Victory Back To The Car

We headed straight for the hotel where we checked in and went to our rooms for a much needed bath and chill out before heading down for dinner. Mrs S wasn't overly pleased with the fact that our room was much bigger than theirs, so after complaining, they were moved to another room...that still wasn't quite as big as ours, as ours was a family room, but better than the one they were initially fobbed off with! 😃 It was really handy that the restaurant was literally outside of the hotel, so basically didn't have to travel anywhere for evening food...bliss! The restaurant was called Y Stablau and was really quite nice...and packed! There was football on the tele (West Ham!) and it was a popular place for people to come and eat, so we eat outside which wasn't too bad as it was a nice enough evening. We didn't stay out too late as we were all very much ready for bed after our very unexpectedly eventful day.

Our Very Spacious Hotel Room

DAY 2: Y GARN-3107ft
5 AND HALF HOURS TREKKING

So....after feeling slightly smug at us having the nicer room, we came unstuck with the fact that our room was right next to a church that had a fully functioning clock tower that chimed on the hour, every hour throughout the night!! You can imagine how this went down with a very unimpressed Mrs F!! Mr F had read that it's quite common for people to feel OK the same day after climbing Tryfan, however the next day you really realise how much toil you put your body through! During the night, Mrs F was hurting just having to turn over! The other problem was, we had just treated ourselves to a nice new comfy mattress and the one in our room was much softer, so not as comfy. The maid also attempted to get in our room at 9:15 after knocking briefly and waiting all 2 seconds before coming in!! Good job we were already dressed but could have just as easily have still been asleep at that time...not impressed! Mrs S pointed out that she noticed there were no 'Do Not Disturb' signs for the doors.

So since we had an extra day to play with having climbed Tryfan the day before, we decided to go and climb Y Garn, which was the mountain that Mr S proposed to Mrs S 💙 This was the first time they'd been back since, so was a nice occasion for them and nice for us because it was our first time. We did bring porridge pots and other breakfast bits which we intended on eating that morning with Tryfan planned, as we may not have been able to get breakfast early enough in a cafe. Since breakfast at the hotel was £10 each we decided not to opt for that! It was nice not to have a military operation of getting up and out, we took our time getting ourselves organised and Mrs S kindly made us more rolls and we had enough lunch bits to make up our lunch for the day. We headed out to a cafe that looked a lot like a hostel cafe, which served the most epic breakfasts. Mrs F and Mr S went large on the cooked breakfast (although it defeated Mr S!) whilst Mr F went small with a humble bacon roll and Mrs S was on a strict diet so opted for a somewhat healthier option of scrambled eggs and bacon.

Mrs F's Epic Breakfast!

After using the outside drinking tap (apparently) we headed back over towards Tryfan where Y Garn was literally next to. We parked up in the same toilet car park where we changed the day before, had just paid to park when a nice young man offered us his parking ticket...I think that's called sods law! So we set off from the car park up through an enclosed in pathway by tall rock faces either side of us that lead onto stepping stones that took us upwards onto the valley. We were then greeted by more steep stepping stones, that were a monotonous zig zag steep upwards climb for quite a while. Mr S ensured us that the stepping stones would soon come to an end and the route will be an easier one. He was right, the stepping stones did eventually come to an end, however...he was wrong about the route becoming easier! The steps fading into an extremely steep gravel path that went up for quite some time!! Mrs S said it was about here that she threw a massive hissy fit about having to climb this mountain the day Mr S proposed...we could completely understand why!! It was a calf killer, but with regular stops to breath and stretch, we could see by looking back that we were making good progress in good time. We met a couple of ladies (slightly elderly) who were on their way down because they said it was far too windy on top. It was definitely a windy top and challenging to walk in some parts without looking drunk! Mr F kept walking on ahead - again - and was getting told off by Mrs F! We definitely made the right call to climb Tryfan the day before as it wasn't safe weather conditions at all to be climbing it today. We sat in a fashioned wind shelter and Mr F broke out the little bottle of 10 year old whiskey, which he wasn't overly keen on whereas Mrs F and Mr S loved! It went down very nicely with a bit of syrup cake 😋 Mr & Mrs S had a little moment just by the summit where Mr S proposed and we made our way towards Devil's Kitchen, which is a route down off Y Garn.

The Initial Part Through The Enclosed Pathway

Out In The Open And Making Our Way Over Towards The Stepping Stones

Heading For Somewhere Up There!

Mrs F With Her Hat On As It Was Quite Windy

And So They Begin...And Go On...And On...And On...!

Looking Over At Tryfan, Admiring Our Conquered Mountain!

Small Scramble

The Boys Admiring Our Accomplishment On Tryfan The Day Before 

Mr F Having A Brief Chill Out

Stopping For A Photo Moment With The Fantastic Background Scenery

 Looking Down On The Steep Gravel Path...A Killer!

With More To Come Up Ahead

Mr S Having A Moment

We decided to have a little pit stop for some food and drink to reload for the final push to the top...

Looking At The Final Ascent From Our Pit Stop

So Near!!!

We Made It...The Summit Of Y Garn! 😃

Looking Down At Our Achieved Day

The Boys And Their Dad 💙

At first we could follow a rough route which was basically a scramble down. There was a rough cut route which we were following, but then it slowly disappeared and we had to figure out the best way to go. We we in between rock faces with a waterfall running through the middle, which was quite spectacular, so we veered off slightly to sit by the waterfall to sit, have some scooby snacks and reflect on our two days of climbing two 3,000ft mountains in 2 days...impressive! Mrs F was still really full from her mahoosive breakfast so wasn't very hungry at all, but very thirsty from all the bacon and had near;y gone through all her water! Once we had taken a good amount of time to chill out and admire the view of where we were, we picked up what we assumed was the way down and eventually found the path again. We were heading down onto a path that lead around a tarn at bottom of the rocky route down. We agreed that taking the left hand side of the pat around the tarn would be quicker, however the route that we were on naturally lead us over to the right hand side anyway. We passed some rope climbers along the way who had left their rucksacks at the bottom and Mr F being the kind man he is, tried to find the rain covers for them as it started to rain. We were very blessed to not have the rain come when we were still in the thick of Devil's Kitchen...

The Start Of Making Our Way Off The Summit

Another Quick Glance Over At Tryfan

The Boys Looking Back And Reflecting

Snowdon Via Crib Goch In The Distance

Mrs F Liked This Photo Of All The Rugged Rocks 

Making Our Way Down Through Devil's Kitchen

Mrs F Compensating For Not Having Her Cannon Stone Photo!

Our Stop By The Waterfall

Our Waterfall Stop View

Mrs S And Chuggles Bonding 💗

Mr S Pointing To Where We Had Just Come Down

The path around the tarn took us to another rugged path that was heading in a downward direction to flat land where we would eventually pick up the same route we came in on. We worked out where to go and headed over a stile and onto grassy land to start making our way down and back to the car. It was when we were walking through the grassy area that we came across some wild Shetland Ponies, which was really lovey to see. Mr F was heading over to say hello and give them a stroke, but Mrs F strongly advised he didn't as they had a couple of young ones in the group, so could have turned on him. So we carried on walking by, taking photos from a distance. We came to a part of the way down where both the girls really couldn't recall coming this way on the way up. Eventually we made it back to the enclosed in pathway with the tall rock faces that took on into the car park and back to the car. We headed back to the room, agreeing a time to meet for dinner and headed into a rooms for a well earned chill out in our rooms.

The Feral Shetland Ponies

Making It Dow Into A Now Wet Enclosed Pathway And Back To The Car

Whilst we were gone for the day, the maid had been in our room and made the bed and Mrs F couldn't find her socks that she left on the bed. We looked everywhere for them and Mrs F had came to conclusion that the maid had 'misplaced them' We did however find someone else's old vest! Mrs F was forced to head outside for dinner in the rain in sandals (as it was her only pair of socks she bought) Again, she was not impressed with the maid! The place was was again full inside and we managed to grab that last available seats outside that were completely sheltered from the pouring rain. It wasn't too drastic though as it wasn't cold, just wet! Mr F ordered a pasta dish with garlic bread that the rest of us were really envious of and he said it was one of if not the best pasta dish he'd ever eaten! Mr & Mrs S were certain we were being served by a guy from Game Of Thrones and after showing a picture of him online, we have to admit it could have been his twin brother! At the end of the night, the girls went to their rooms to make hot drinks from our room service drinks tray and Mrs F found her socks!! Mrs S had also been looking for her head band all weekend and found it in her coat...so we both found missing things when we went back to make drinks! Mrs F had already put on a pair of Mr F's socks to wear her boots ready to head back down in the pouring rain when she spotted the socks tucked behind the foot stall by the door on her way out with the drinks! Drinks consumed, we headed back inside for a much needed sleep ready to be up and head back to London the next morning...

The next morning we were cheerfully awakened not only by the church clock, but by the man talking through the megaphone literally over the road from the hotel!! There was an triathlon event on that day and the starting point was across the road form our room! Mr F went to complain at the reception desk for all the things we had encountered during our stay; being put right by a chiming clock, being woke up by the event that wasn't mentioned upon arrival and the sweaty vest that was left in our room by a previous guest. We did have a follow up email apologising and a refund of 50% of the price of one of our nights, which we were pleased with. We had our makeshift breakfasts that we bought with us (Mrs F fashioning a spoon out of the lid!) and we were on the road heading back to London after a fantastic 2 days of climbing 2 mountains both over 3,000ft. The next day after arriving back in London, Mrs F discovered that the mosquitoes in Wales are pretty savage as they had a good munch on her shoulder and arm!

  As we only have 17 Wainwrights left which we hope to ambitiously complete in June this year, we have already ticked off 2 of the 15 3,000ft Welsh mountains....our next adventure and conquest is starting to take shape!! 😁

 

VERDICT OF WALES - May 2018

Mr F: Tryfan has been a mountain I have wanted to climb for so long now...it did not disappoint. If scrambling is your thing then this is the place to go. Unlike the lakes there is no long walk in you can park at the base of most of the Welsh 3000's which is great. Route finding is not the easiest in places but this just adds to the fun. Tryfan is exposed in places but their are alternative routes if it makes you feel uncomfortable at any point.
Was not feeling brave enough for the "leap of faith" between Adam and Eve but is a great reason to go back.
Y Garn was a great walk if steep in places and the return via Devils Kitchen was very enjoyable.
We have 10 more 3000's left to do and the plan is to complete these in March.....but then what???  

Mrs F: It was great to finally conquer the mountain we'd been wanting to for 2 years!! It was nice not to have to walk far from the car just to get to the start of the climb and equally at the end of our climb, as we normally do when in the Lake District. The mountain ranges are more rugged and raw and not as pretty as the Lake District, but just as appreciative on the eye. Tryfan is for sure one of the best mountains for scrambles we've ever done and really enjoyed every moment. It was hard work and the next morning proved it with aching bodies!! It was great teamwork that was definitely needed in a lot of the more challenging parts of the climb. It was a good call for sure to do it on the day we arrived, although not planned it was the better day to climb it out of the two. I must admit I was slightly nervous about climbing this one as we'd seen videos of people needing to climb sheer rock faces with an almighty drop! I wasn't overly intending to make the leap of faith between Adam & Eve, but had every intention to have a photo on the Cannon Stone, so was gutted we missed it...gives us a reason to go back! ;-) It would have been nice to do the full round trip off Tryfan and onto Bristly Ridge, but we do intend to spend more times in Wales once we've finally completed our 214 Wainwright mission, so will no doubt be back 😃

As I said, Wales isn't as pretty as the Lakes, which I must admire I do prefer and certainly has a different feel about it, but with 15 mountains all over 3,000ft it's a good place to be...bring on the challenge!