WALES - MARCH 2024
So back in 2012, Mr & Mrs S decided we needed to experience a proper mountain in preparation for us going to Everest Base Camp. All the training we were doing was waking a leisurely stroll through Epping Forest to the tea hut, have a hot drink and piece of bread pudding and casually stroll back...yep, that's it! So in January 2012 we climbed Snowdon and boy was is a shock to the system! The cold, the wind, the exertion, it was a real eye opener and just a glimpse of what we'll be experiencing the following month. Mr & Mrs S did say that if it weren't for needing us to be better prepared, they would never had attempted Snowdon in January 😳 We all still remember a huge gust of wind that was so strong it knocked us all to the ground simultaneously!
We returned to Wales in May 2015 to do Snowdon again via Crib Cogh (see 2015, June entry) and then again in May 2018 where we climbed Tryfan and Y Garn. So we had at this point completed 4 of the 15 Welsh 3,000ft challenge, so it was definitely on the list to complete, however we had the small matter of the Wainwrights to complete before then, which we completed the following month in June 2018 (see 2018, August entry) We spent the next couple of years having walking holidays in Yorkshire and heading back to the Lakes to help Mr & Mrs S complete their Wainwrights, which they finally did in March 2023 (see 2024 April entry)
So now we all had the Welsh 3,000ft challenge firmly in our sights and decided that the following year, our annual get together climbing holiday would be Wales to complete our conquest. Mrs S found and booked an old converted church in Capel Curig called St John The Baptist Mission Church, which was a very nice setting but not great. It was really cold when we arrived and took ages for it to heat up and as the heating was only set to come on at set times for a couple of hours at the start and end of the day, we had to buy more kindling and logs for the fire. There was however a boost button which boosted the heating for a couple of hours, which we made full use of! It wasn't overly clean either, the cooker and sink still had food on and behind the radiator in the kitchen was full of dust. The toilet seat in the main bathroom was dirty and inside the oven wasn't cleaned properly, there wasn't enough proper seating in the living room but we moved the lounge sofa around so we could all watch the TV in the evening...and there was a mosquito still in the inside of one of the drawers because the drawer was sticky! 😝 Also, there were Buddhas everywhere, two big ones in the living room, another in the kitchen and a picture above our beds, which Mrs F took down and put it under the bed until we left and put it back again. We felt it very sad that a building that was once a Christian church, that actually still had the lingering smell of incense, now had Buddhas displayed quite blasphemously all around. As Christians, we didn't think it was very inclusive but the added irony of it being a church made it a mockery.
We arrived on the Saturday, but sadly, Mr S had caught a very nasty flu type virus from a guy who was sitting next to him on their flight home from a weekend in Budapest, so he was really ill from the Thursday before and in no fit state to be going anywhere. They decided to give him a couple of days before they came on the Monday, so we had the weekend to climb the Glyders, which Mr & Mrs S had already done, so all the ones we had left were ones we all had to complete.
When we got ourselves unpacked, we headed into Betws-y-Coed but it's such a small village there wasn't anything to go mooching around for, apart from the local Spar which had the most incredible homemade cakes and pastries, so we bought 2 each!! 😋 We headed back to the cottage because our Tesco shopping was due. he last time we came away with Mr & Mrs S we had major issues with Tesco and this time, they were going to be late by 4 hours! We kept getting updates to say delivery time was getting pushed back and back and then we had notification to say it had been delivered, when it hadn't! Mrs F then called Tesco who said it hadn't been delivered but was quite a way away yet, so we decided to head out for dinner in Betsw-y-Coed where we had eaten when we were here last and get back in time for the delivery. It all worked out in then end and turns out there was a nation wide error with ordering systems and Tesco was one of the ones affected and the delivery drivers said a lot of people didn't get their orders...so I guess we were lucky and still got our delivery fee refunded 😉 We chose the downstairs bedroom to give Mr & Mrs S the luxury setting of upstairs since she had found and booked it. However the downstairs bedroom was two single beds pushed together with solid frames! So we had to fashion a gap stuffer with cushions and throws from the upstairs sofas, which was just about ok...plus we had out own ensuite toilet, whereas Mr & Mrs S would have to walk precariously down the spiral staircase for the downstairs toilet in the main bathroom.
The front door and key was the original from 140 years ago, therefore the key would not be able to be replaced as the note on the door warned! Needless to say we left the key in the key safe when we went out rather than take it with us...
 |
| Hall Entrance |
 |
| Our Room (Before Buddha was removed!) |
 |
| Our Ensuite |
 |
| View From The Ensuite |
 |
| Kitchen |
 |
| Main Bathroom |
 |
| Nice big Walk-in Shower |
 |
| Living Room |
 |
| Staircase Going Upstairs & Lounge Sofa |
 |
| Looking Up At The Mezzanine |
 |
| The Upstairs Mezzanine |
 |
| Looking Down to the Big Window |
 |
| Muggles & Buggles Siting on Buddha |
We saw these array of energy drinks in a sweet shop in Betws-y-Coed...
 |
| Rushing River Nearby |
The very impressive selection of cakes and pastries in the Spar...Mr F had sponge cake with jam and coconut (school cake!) and a muesli flapjack and Mrs F had a cherry slice and apple crumble pie 😋
DAY 1: GLYDER FAWR - 3,284FT
GLYDER FACH - 3,261FT
8.1 MILES, 6.5 HOURS, 3,005FT OF ASCENT
We had a really good nights sleep considering we were in two beds pushed together with cushions stuffed in the middle. We planned to do the Glyders today since it was just us and Mr & Mrs S had already done them a few years previously. The weather for the week was looking pretty grim with high chances of rain everyday that we were there and today very much cemented that forecast. We packed our bags and headed off for a carpark near Tryfan and headed for the information centre along the road, which is where we parked when we climbed Tryfan 6 years ago. We headed straight for the steps heading over to the back towards the Glyders and Mr F uses the walking pole to point on the map our planned mountains and route for the day....
 |
| Mr F Route Planning...or Worshipping! |
 |
| Mrs F Fashioning Her Mum's Gaiters |
 |
| Moody Views En Route |
 |
| Mr F Ponting to our Planned Destinations |
 |
| Steps Leading straight Out of the Information Centre |
 |
| Looking Back at *** which Was Literally on the Other Side of The Centre |
As we made our way up the steps we sae a couple of mountain runners coming behind us, so we moved over and let them by and they headed over towards the gushing river. As they crossed, the woman fell in and the man stood and laughed, didn't even help her up...harsh! As we made our way further up towards the Glyders, the weather closed in and the rain started, which was that horrible really fine mountain rain that just soaks you through rather fat rain where you have a chance to dodge it. The issue with this is Wales is very rugged and full of rocks and boulders, which made it a very dangerous hike/climb with them being wet. Every step was incredibly precarious and the focus needed was very intense...
 |
| A Look Towards Where We Were Heading |
 |
| Looking Up In The Lowering Clouds Ahead |
Mr F had been running for quite a few months prior to this holiday, so he was more than fit and very strong in his legs, which he always is anyway, whereas Mrs F hadn't done by far enough walking to get the miles in her legs due to us lambing every weekend since the beginning of January, so our time has been taken up at the farm rather than any walks; needless to say she was feeling the burn in her quads and had to stop briefly to allow her legs to catch up!
 |
| One of Many Stops! |
 |
| Mr F Powering Up Ahead! 💪 |
 |
| "Come on Mrs F!" |
 |
| "OK, I'm coming!" |
 |
| A Quick Look Back as the Cloud Cleared Slightly |
 |
| Looking Very Wet Nearer The Top |
There wasn't many opportunities to take a photo due to it raining and attention was very much needed on what we were doing in order to keep safe. There were times where we had sheer boulder fields to work our way across where on little mis-footing could have had a very different outcome. We had to scramble up some steep rocks to gain both the height and to reach where we needed to be and the route was so tricky due to it being so rocky and so wet. As we reached the top, we saw a dog come running out of the cloud from the path ahead of us and was shortly followed by a young lady (n her own!) who clearly walked this route a few times before as she said the dog knew where he was going and she tried to find the Cantilever Stone but didn't manage to due to visibility being so poor, so she gave up and was heading down. We did wonder how the dog was manage to make it down but we guess he managed to make his way up in the first place. Mr F took us off course slightly to try and find the Cantilever Stone, but we ended up having to navigate ourselves over the very top of a mountain top boulder area which was really quite dangerous, in fact, Mrs F was praying asking for God to keep them both safe, especially Mr F who was prone to falling and actually did have a nasty fall back the previous year on Mr & Mrs S's last day (see 2024, April entry) Mr F realised that it wasn't actually the best decision to go looking for something he wasn't overly sure where it was and was a risky move, however by sheer chance, as we were were headed to Glyder Fawr, we came across it! If it were better weather conditions, we would have absolutely climbed it for a great photo, but a phot in front had to suffice. We'd had lunch in record time due to not wanting to hang around in the wet and cold. We had a very disappointing moment when we got our hot drink flasks out and realised that we only had hot water instead of our usual mountain choice of drink being Ovaltine; we quickly realised that Mrs F put boiling water in the flasks to heat them up and Mr F put them in the bags without making the drinks up, so we had hot water, not boiling, because the lids weren't put on properly ether! Mrs F was up for any kind of hot drink but Mr F, not so much!
 |
| Making Our Way Up a Few Little scrambles |
 |
| Looking Back |
 |
| Some of the Rocks We Had to Navigate Across |
 |
| Glyder Fawr Conquered! |
 |
| Cantilever Stone |
We didn't get to see Castell Y Gwent at all due to the really poor visibility, so no photos of that I'm afraid and the same with Glyder Fach, a photo was pointless but we knew we had done it 😊 The route we took back down was incredibly steep, full of scree and with it being wet, it was really hard work trying to keep upright with how steep it was and with how wet it was. It took forever to make our way to flat ground and it really took a toll on the legs with how much work was needed in making our way down such a steep section...
 |
| Making Our Way Back Down |
 |
| A Look Back At What We Came Down |
As we levelled out near the bottom, Mr F wanted us to take a path to our right that would take us literally straight back into the car park where our car was. But we had the cross to river, so we headed over to see if it was do-able and was seriously considering crossing over and trying to find a safe place to do so, but it was too dangerous to take the risk rather than just connect up to the stepping stones we came up on and walk back along the road. Safety first, we picked the latter...
We still had the river on the other side to cross over but there was a much easier place to do this. Once we were on the stepping stones, we were still really careful with them being wet Mrs F stepped on a rock that was really slippery and landed on her backside! The car was a welcoming sight but we had a little issue - when Tesco finally delivered our shopping, we gave the driver back a couple of dinners due to Mr & Mrs S not being here until Monday, however we didn't consider that we needed to eat that night! So we stopped at the Spar and got a couple of pizzas to go with the chips we had back at the cottage and once we were back in the cold cottage, we stripped ourselves off and put our wet clothes on the airer in front of the fire. Mr F hit the boost button and Mrs F ran a hot bath. The good thing about this cottage which we haven't had in many previous cottages is the hot water doesn't run out...so Mrs F soaked her cold achy legs, whilst watching the football. Bliss!
We were in bed by half 9 due to being so utterly knackered from the mental drain of focusing all day and much to Mrs F's surprise, the adrenaline didn't keep her awake and she slept well, thank God 😇
 |
| Mrs F Soaking Whilst Watching The Footie ⚽ |
DAY 2 - CIRCULAR WALK
5 MILES
We were going to do Pen Yr Ole Wen before Mr & Mrs S turned up, but it turned out to be one of the ones they also needed to do as part of the 3,00 challenge, so instead we decided to go for a local walk, which was actually really quite nice. Mr F had a look at what routes there were straight from the cottage and we done a nice little circular walk looping back to the cottage in time for when hey arrived just before 1pm which was perfect...
The weather was nice today and actually had some views! Turns out we were on a yellow route, according to the board we came across. Mrs F had her brand new boots on, which she found for an absolute bargain on eBay and was truly a gift from God. She has always had Berghaus Trail lights size 5. She also has 1000 miles socks that has an arch support and heel padding in purple...she had been looking for a while due to her boots being over 10 years old and hundreds of miles in them and were no longer waterproof (as the day before had a sad realisation!) then on eBay, a notification had come through for an alert she had set up for a pair of the exact boots she was looking for, only worn once so practically brand new, in the box...and the exact same socks came free with them...WHAT A RESULT!!! She was honestly beside herself at the find and naturally didn't want her brand new boots to get dirty. However some of the walk was along a forest path that was wet and muddy, so she took her time trying to get across without getting her boots dirty!
 |
| Welsh Mountain Sheep |
 |
| Mr F Checking The Route |
 |
| The Board Showing Different Routes |
We came across a coupe of newborn lambs who were laying in a ditch and their mama was standing nearby, but as we got close to them she went over to them...they were soo cute 😍🐑🐑 By the looks of things, they don't ring the tails here like we do with our lambs, instead they shave them so they don't get messy and easier to conceive
 |
| The Lambs Laying in the Ditch |
 |
| Mama Keeping Close Watch on Us! |
 |
| Beautiful Walking Route |
 |
| Mr F Checking The Route |
 |
| More Sheep With a Mountains Backdrop |
On our way back we had a little look in Joe Brown outdoor shop; they had a Rab waterproof jacket that was £520 in the sale for £435...what a bargain!! 😮 We made it back to the cottage about 10 minutes before Mr & Mrs S turned up. Mr F helped them with their bags and we sat around having a good catch up chat and gave Mrs S her birthday pressies (hand moulding kit, a 4 pack of pink gin and tonic and a gin glass gift set) Then we headed upstairs to sit and chat on the comfy sofas, whilst Mr F went for a run (Mrs F was not happy about that!) So we (the girls) decided that Mr F should be on dinner duty that night with pie, mashed new potatoes and veg and it was lush! 😋We had a fairly early night with the first big day the following day; we planned to just do the one to give Mr S a gentle start....although, even though it was just one, it was a BIG one!
DAY 3: ELDIR FAWR (via Y Garn) - 3,031FT
10 MILES, 8.5 HOURS, 3,595FT OF ASCENT
So today, as we weren't heading out really early, Mrs F made pancakes for breakfast and was a nice relaxed morning, not our usual up and out...like the next couple of days were going to be! 🙈 We had lunch made and rucksacks packed and Mr F drove to the same car park we were in for the Glyders. The good thing is, the weather was great and visibility was much than forecasted, which was a blessing and good for Mr S as the last thing he needed was to be climbing a mountains for 1 and to be wet for 2! We had a regular visitor in the front garden which was nice to see in the mornings 😊
 |
| The Grass Must Taste Nicer in the Garden! |
 |
| Lovely Sunny Morning 🌞🌻🌄 |
 |
| Much Clearer Views of Tryfan En Route |
 |
| The Lake Across the Road From the Car Park |
 |
| First Group Photo Ready to Get Going! |
At the bottom of the stepping stones from the information centre, there are standing stones with the name of nearby mountains and holes to look through to view that mountain - Mr F demonstrating beautifully here...
 |
| Completely Different Views Heading up from 2 days Ago! |
 |
| Mr F Pointing to Our Destination |
 |
| Lovely Photo of the Boys 😊 |
 |
| Equally Nice photo of the Girls 🥰 |
 |
| Mr F Likes a Portrait as well as Landscape! |
We made a very leisurely walk up and stopped a few times to allow Mr S to catch his breathe. All things considering he was doing really well and we always say it's not a race, so we can take our time and enjoy the clear views...
 |
| Looking Ahead |
 |
| Tryfan |
 |
| Mr F Copping a Squat Whilst Mr S Delayered |
 |
| Some Girlies Selfies 👭🥰 |
 |
| Mrs S Took This Great Photo 😊 |
As we started to level out at the top of the stepping stones, out of no where was the most stunning and unexpected view of Marchlyn Mawr reservoir (Mrs F Googled what it was!) As we made our way along towards the ridge up to Eldir Fawr, we saw what looked like a rucksack rain cover at the bottom of a cliff edge, but it was a windy day and it wasn't flapping around, so we feared it might still be on a rucksack with someone laying at the bottom. We called it in for mountain rescue, giving our coordinates for the location. On our way back, it was still there so we really hoped it was a rogue rain cover that had flown off and landed there 🙁 The cloud rolled in and became windy, but Mr F was flying the Northern flag with his legs out and claimed not to be cold, but his red legs would suggest otherwise! We came across a wind shelter en route so we made good use of it, having a little pit stop with a food and drink top up before heading off again...
 |
| Marchlyn Mawr reservoir |
 |
| Great photo of the Boys |
 |
| Cloud Rolling in from our Wind Shelter |
 |
| This Time, We Had Ovaltine!! |
 |
| Boys Checking the Route |
 |
| whilst We're Waiting For The boys |
We had to drop height and then gain it gain just after the dip between the two areas of the ridge walk out, which was a bit of a pain on the way back when we done with the upward walking...
 |
| Mr F Pointing to our Destination |
 |
| The Area Near Where We Saw The Rain Cover |
 |
| Our Ridge Walk Out |
 |
| Mr F Leading The Way |
Once Again, the cloud rolled in as we reached the top, which seemed to never end! Each time we made our way up across rocks for what seemed like the top, there was still more to come. In some ways, it's almost best not to be able to see where you're heading for as this can be quite soul destroying when you see just how far it is! There was a welcomed sight of another wind shelter on top where we all dived in and had a well-earned lunch...
 |
| Mr & Mrs S Making Their Way To The Summit |
 |
| Celebratory Photo! |
 |
| Lunch Had, Now We Were Reversing Our Steps Along The Same Path |
 |
| Well Done Mr S!!! 🥳 |
 |
| Well Done Gang! |
As we made our way along the ridge, the cloud cleared and we could see where we had just been and quite glad we couldn't see it on our way up for just how far we had to go! It was great to have the views that we didn't get on our first day and was able to see some mountain horse/ponies which was so lovely to see...
 |
| Mr F Still Celebrating His Victory |
 |
| Mr & Mrs S Making Their Way Down |
 |
| Making Our Way Back To Where We Had Come From |
 |
| Clear Views Around Us |
 |
| The Mountain Horses |
 |
| Another Look Back At Where We'd Just Been |
 |
| Great View Down The Valley |
 |
| A Lone Paraglider |
 |
| Back At The Reservoir |
If there's a steep descent, Mrs F always likes to run down as it's easier on her knees and she just enjoys the fun of it 😁 Also gives her time to sit down and enjoy her surroundings whilst the others catch up. It was around here that Mr S thought he'd left his compass back at the wind shelter, but eventually found it in his pocket and was very happy...things like that are more the sentimental aspect of it being part of many journeys and guides off mountains, but thankfully it was safe 😊
 |
| Mrs F Sitting Waiting For The Others |
 |
| The Others Caught Up & Joined Her |
Now unbeknownst to the girls, the boys decided to take a slight detour on the way back so not to follow the exact same route so it wasn't a straight out & back job. Mrs F started to notice this when we had some bog stepping stones over bog that she didn't recall heading over on the way up, however the boys had hiked on ahead out of sight. As Mrs S made her way over a stile, she completely missed her footing as she came down the other side and fell on her back! At that point Mr F looked back to check we weren't too far behind and saw Mrs S on the floor, so they both hurried back. Thankfully she was all ok, but better to have safety in numbers and stick together, especially as we didn't know the route back had changed...
The route back lead us to an enclosed rock canyon area that was closed off from the other end by the information centre due to risk of falling rocks, which we knew about, but it wasn't closed off from the end we entered it...weirdly! Mr F went on ahead to make sure we could get through before we committed ourselves to it, but all was well. By the time we got back the information centre was closed, along with the toilets which were needed! It was so nice to be back in the car with dry clothes and feet when we were fully expecting to have to fully utilise the radiators and fire, although we still did do this!
Mr & Mrs F jointly made lasagne and chips jointly which is always a favourite and a hearty dinner after a tough day on the mountains...
 |
| Our Canyon Route |
Mrs F had a bath once the boys had showered and then Mrs S jumped in after her. We then started to watch a 4 part film on Netflix called All the Light We Cannot See with Mark Ruffalo, which worked out well to watch over the days we were here and as no one was aiming to stay up late after dinner and they were only an hour long. Although we said we were only doing the one mountain today to ease Mr S in, it turned out to be quite a long hard day, so the next day we planned to have a rest day to give Mr S a sporting chance of getting the rest done, since we had enough days to do the rest.
DAY 4: CONWY
The next morning, no one showed signs of life until after 9am. Mr S made bacon and eggs and made Mrs F bacon and egg on toast, which was the first ever breakfast he had ever made on these trips over the years! 😄 We had a chilled out morning, sitting at the kitchen table and having a good catch up chat about work life and church for quite a while. We decided to go to Conwy for the day and again, the weather was nice, if not a little nippy since we we on the coast but no rain 😊 It was a 40 minute drive from the cottage and we went in Mrs S's car. We found a road to park literally by the little town so it was a short walk right past the old castle ruins. We had a little wander around the local shops and looked at sitting inside somewhere to have lunch, but decided to get something to take away and sit by the water front. We decide to buy lunch from a butchers that had all kinds of wonderful things to eat on the go, like roast beef in gravy baps, scotch rolls, pies, doorstop sandwiches and lots more! We sat on a bench by the water front and enjoyed our food and then headed for the castle ruins to walk along the top that lead all the way along the ruins, which was nice to do 😊
 |
| Some Drilling/Digging Going On |
Once we'd reached the end of the walk, we headed back along the high street to a café for coffee. Mrs F had to have a lesson in the different types on coffee as she is a tea drinker! From there we headed off towards the car, stopping by the bakery to buy some cakes and then onto The Knight Shop, which Mrs F absolutely loved! It was a shop that had all kinds of ornaments and trinkets from different historical periods, including Viking and Medieval, which are two of Mrs Fs favourite periods. They had full suits of armour and swords from famous films; the Conan sword (which was sold) Gryffindor sword and Needle from Game of Thrones. Mrs F really loved a goblet that was like a suit of armour and another one that was a white wolf one...we also had fun with the props too! 😁
 |
| Gryffindor Sword |
 |
| The Ghost Wolf Goblet |
 |
| Needle |
On the way back Mrs F felt overwhelmingly tired to the point of drifting off, so as soon we were back at the cottage, whilst the boys were strategy planning the next day, she took herself off to bed for an hours snooze. However, our bedroom is right next to the bathroom and Mrs S decided she was going to have a bath and with her earphones in to listen to music...and sing! Needless to say Mrs F didn't get any sleep, so decided to get up and make a start on making Enchiladas for dinner. We carried on watching the 4 part film but Mrs F felt utterly drained and struggled to sleep that night due to being over-tired, but felt rested enough the next morning. Although she wasn't overly enthralled about the fact that we had to get up and out no later than 7:30am due to the long day ahead of us and didn't want to be back late! 😐
DAY 5: PEN YR OLE WENT - 3,208FT
CARNEDD DAFYDD - 3,425FT
Y ELEN - 3,156FT
CARNEDD LLEWELYN - 3,490FT
12.32 MILES, 8.5 HOURS, 5,190FT OF ASCENT
So as per planned, we were up early. As we were under the upstairs room, when anyone walked around or opened a wardrobe door, it sounds like the ceiling was going to come through, the floorboards were soooo noisy and it easily woke us up...so as Mrs S is an early bird and was up, so were we. She was however considerate the previous morning to take the kettle into the living room to boil it instead of the kitchen so not to wake us up...but the sound of her walking across her room done that!
Lunches made, bags packed and breakfast consumed, we were out at the time we wanted to be, which was good going. We were once again blessed with really good weather, although it was windy, but we'd take wind over the rain any day!
 |
| The Boys Looking at the Sheep From The Window |
We parked in a layby by Tryfan, as the way off our route wouldn't leave us too far from the car. We headed over the road so Tryfan was gloriously displayed beside where we were heading. As we made our way up the gradual incline, we came across more wild ponies who looked like they were rushing over to us, so we didn't hang around in case they were feeling territorial. We had a small river crossing to navigate over; Mr F & Mrs S crossed further up whilst Mr S and Mrs F crossed lower down, but we all helped each other as always and was across safely 😊
It wasn't too long before we reached some stepping stones after trudging through some bog. The weather couldn't make up its mind either; it was windy but cool, then warm, then raining, so a few stops for attire changes were made...
 |
| View From The Car |
 |
| Great View Across The Valley Floor |
 |
| Tryfan Standing Tall & Proud |
 |
| Mountain Ponies |
 |
| Making Our way up the Stepping Stones |
 |
| River Crossing |
 |
| Gaining Height With Tryfan Getting Further Away |
As we got higher and higher, the view of the valley floor below was stunning; it was just vast and flat with the odd mountain thrown in, really beautiful. We then hit a section where we had to do quite a bit of scrambling. We had to help each other with footholds, push and pull ups as it was quite steep and some areas were still slippery. It was an unexpected but great scramble...
 |
| View of the Valley Floor |
 |
| Our Scramble Coming Up |
 |
| Loving The scramble |
All up without a scratch, we made our way to our first summit Pen Y Ole Wen. It was incredibly windy on top and the wind didn't let up, blowing at 75mph during strong gusts and it really did feel like it on your face, t was really biting your cheeks! The ridge walk out was a fairly level one and good job, as Mrs F was being pushed sideways by quite a few steps with the wind, so Mr F had to hold onto her. There wasn't much time to talk either because we couldn't hear each other, the main focus was standing upright and pushing through a wind storm along the ridge towards Y Elen...
 |
| Our Ridge Walk To Y Elen |
 |
| Lovely Photo of the Boys |
As we made our way along the incredibly windy ridge, we had a little dip in the ridge to walk through which was a bit like windy gap, so had to loss a bit of height to start the incline up to the summit, bit it wasn't too much. It was a scree slope, which Mrs F always enjoys running down 😊 We kept away from the edge where the path was, as it was too dangerous with the wind the way it was, so we curved around to the left slightly so we were at a safe distance from the sheer drop!
 |
| Our Ridge With The Drop In The Middle |
 |
| Coming Off On The Scree Into The Gap |
 |
| Love This Photo! 😄 |
Once we got to the summit, the wind was so bad we just about managed to each have a summit photo before we needed to get a move on to Carnedd Dafydd, even then we only managed the one summit photo due to the wind. Up on top, we stopped in a wind shelter which was such a welcomed break from the battering wind. We had lunch and was very uninspired about rushing with the roaring, whistling wind we could hear all around us. The boys braved getting the map out to check the route, but managed it without it blowing off towards England! We were half way through lunch when an elderly man came out of no where, due to the low cloud and visibility being really poor, then shortly after, a massive group of youngsters in a big group walked past, so think he was part of leading them. There must have been about 30 people just randomly walk past and we imagined they were hoping to use the wind shelter but they must have had to play rock, paper, scissors to decide who of them would get to sit in because there's no way all of would fit!
 |
| Y Elen |
 |
| Just About Managed a Photo in the Wind! |
 |
| Looking Back At The Scree Route |
 |
| Heading Up To Carnedd Dafydd |
 |
| The Boys Risking Their Map! |
 |
| Girls Looking Cold, But Happy 👭 |
We eventually mustered up the courage to gather our things and step out of the shelter and inti the wind. Opportunities to take photos once we left the wind shelter were limited due to the closing cloud and needing to be focused and the wind was still high. Once we carefully made our way down off the ridge, which was quite rugged and in one part, we had a big slab to navigate down without sliding off entirely! Luckily there was a crack through the middle of it which gave us enough foot holding to go down without losing control. Once we were all down safely from the ridge, we had another ridge which brought a whole new challenge...it was like a knife edge with narrow paths along the top and had to get quite close to the edge, which was covered by the cloud so we couldn't see clearly at all, which may have actually been a good thing! Mrs S really doesn't like heights whether she can see the drop or not, but especially if she can't because that adds a sense of nervousness. So she walked right behind Mr F with her hands on his shoulders and looked down at her feet. Mrs F was at this point praying we would all make it across this ridge safely. As we reached the end of it, Mr S pointed out that in order to achieve the entire ride we still had a short way to go or we just dive off and down on the path to our right; we all took the latter option without debate or consideration! The main goal was to just get down and off alive, which praise God we did!
 |
| Making Our Way Down |
 |
| A Short Break in the Cloud |
 |
| On The Bum Job! |
 |
| The Tricky Slab of Rock |
 |
| What We Could See On The Knife Ridge! 🤯 |
 |
| Mrs S Looking a Little Apprehensive! |
Once we were on level safe ground, it was a welcomed sight! We still had a fair way to go and there were sections of the route where the rocks were wrapped in netting to stop them from falling. The route was a standard gravel path with stones thrown in, but it was good to know we were out of danger and well on the way back to the car. Once we were pretty much at ground level and on our way back to the car, Mr F did offer to run back to the car once we were on the main road, but we all stuck together...kind of; the boys were up ahead having a good chat and catch up and the girls were doing the same behind...quite far behind! Once we got to the main road, it was another 10 minutes walk to the car, but its surprising how having a good natter makes the time go by and you don't think to much about how much your feet hurt along the tarmac!
 |
| Mrs F Got Wind Burnt Cheeks! |
We all had a bit of a glow about our faces, although wouldn't exactly call it a healthy one since it was caused by sheer wind battering, but our faces all felt warm and glowed somewhat, almost like a tan! Mrs S had made a chilli con carne the night before so she didn't have to cook it from scratch after a long day in the mountains and it had plenty of time to gather flavour...and flavour it had! 😋
DAY 6: FOEL GRACH - 3,202FT
CARNEDD GWENLLIAN - 3,038FT
FOEL FRAS - 3,090FT
11.78 MILES, 7 HOURS, 3,136FT OF ASCENT
Today is the day...we planned to finish our Welsh 3,000ft Challenge! Mr & Mrs F started this (unbeknownst that we would continue with it!) back in 2012 when we did a training climb to Snowdon with Mr & Mrs S in January 2012 and Mr & Mrs S started even earlier than that...in fact Mr S proposed to Mrs F on Y Garn 💗 Today we had to drive somewhere completely different, gaining quite a of height as we made our way to the car park literally out in the middle of nowhere! There were some steep country roads to made our way up and through too and had the map on to make sure we were heading in the right direction! There was already a car parked up when we got there, which was surprising since it was quite out of the way and a weekday, but I guess others can be on their climbing holidays too! There was quite a chill in the air so we wrapped up in layers, only to stop 10 minutes into the walk for Mr & Mrs S to delayer...standard attired change stop!
 |
| Our Route From The Car |
 |
| Beautiful Views All Around 💗 |
 |
| Mrs F Loving It 😊 |
 |
| Looking Ahead |
 |
| All Caught Up Together |
 |
| Heading For The Ridge |
Our route lead up around to the right, past an old sheep hut which served some of the group an opportune toilet spot! The path from there lead straight towards a tarn that sat at the bottom of the mountain we needed to make our way up onto...
 |
| The Path Leading to the Tarn. |
 |
| The Old Sheep Hut |
 |
| The Tarn |
 |
| Quick Group Photo Before We Pushed On |
The path from the tarn was a standard mountain path, however as we got further up, the path disappeared and we were left with no clear way but to just pic your preferred route up on a steep bank, which everyone really wasn't a fan of! The boys checked the route a couple of times to make sure we weren't heading off in the wrong direction, because there literally was not path, not even a sheep trail...and it was steep, which put a strain on your ankles!
 |
| Mr F Up Ahead To See If The End Was In Sight! |
 |
| A Look At The Knife Ridge We Were On The Day Before! |
 |
| The Slope That Just Kept on Giving! |
Mr F said there would be a nice surprise at the top but wouldn't say what...think it was incentive to keep us going with the slog! And a surprise it was too; a lovely little bothy which we all climbed into to get out of the wind for a bit and have some snacks. It was a really nice little stop and to be completely shielded from he brutality of the wind was not just rare, a never before!
 |
| Pleased To Make It Up The Slope |
 |
| The Bothy |
 |
| The Boys Came With Us Today |
From the bothy we had a straight forward walk with the path quite obvious and the terrain was a nice and easy level grassland, with just the occasional bog we had to work our way around. As we were making our way along, we saw a man running towards us with a dog. As they got nearer, we could see the dog - who was a Labrador - carrying a massive wooden sleeper in its mouth!! Not sure who we were most impressed with, the man (who wasn't carrying a rucksack or water) or the dog!
Once we gained good height, we followed a wall along to our right until we had to dive off and make our way through a boulder field of rocks with deep gaps in between them to the top of Carnedd Gwenllian. The girls got on top of the summit, which wasn't your usual summit cairn, but big rocks put together...it was quite tricky making our way over and back again in the wind and staying low was the best way to approach it for fear of the wind blowing us into a gap!
 |
| The Girls Showing Their 'It's Very Windy' Faces! |
 |
| The Girls Summit Photo |
We then made our way back towards the wall and our final summit of our joint challenge, Foel Fras! We waited untili we were all there and touched the summit cairn together so we could all finish together, which was really nice and special 😊It was a stones throw from the wall so we dived over the stile and had lunch over the other side out of the wind once we had a celebratory group photo...
 |
| Touching The Final Summit Together |
 |
| Welsh 3,000ft Challenge....DONE! 🥳🎉 |
 |
| Lunch Stop Over the Wall |
 |
| Mr F Looking Like Step-Toe! |
 |
| The Boys Getting Out For a Photo 💙 |
The walk back was pretty much retracing our steps. The boys did think about diving off to the left and avoiding the long walk along the side of the mountain just before the sheep hut on the way out, but as this was unknown, we decided to stick with what we know, although out and back is never our favourite. We didn't go back exactly the same way, but we eventually connected up to the path that lead us back to the car. Mrs F had another fall on her bum on the way down to the tarn...Mrs F ran down this but and waited on the wall at the bottom. On the way back, Mr F & Mrs S went ahead for a natter and Mrs F & Mr S were at the back talking about work, life and other things 💙💗
That night, we planned to go and eat out in Betws-y-Coed where we had eaten on Sunday night. We always eat out on the last night of our mountain holidays, just as a nice way to wind the week down, have a cheers with a drink and most importantly, no one has to cook or wash up! Mr F dropped us off so we could get a table whilst he went to find somewhere to park the car and we ended up getting the same table as we did when we were here on Saturday night.
After eating, Mrs F went to get the car (although Mr F wouldn't let her drive everyone home!) whilst the others went to get ginger cake and custard to eat back in the cottage. Mrs F still had her carrot cake which she demolished. We spent a chunk of the evening packing and sorting our things out ready for the long drive home in the morning. Mr & Mrs S wasn't leaving as early as we were because they planned to go to Manchester to see Mr S's daughter and Grandson. They had planned to go to Manchester the day before coming to Wales but with Mr S being poorly they had to change there plans for that visit too and head there on the way back - they weren't meeting until 11am so didn't need to leave very early. Us on the other hand always like to get going for home fairly early so we're home in good time to unpack, put a load of washing on and settled, literally by the time it's 1pm usually!
All in all, it was a challenge that we finally completed and the accomplishment felt amazing...what next?! 🤔
VERDICT OF WALES IN MARCH 2024
Mr F: A week of every kind of weather but a great week as always. Completing the 3000's has been on our agenda for a long time and to do it with our friends makes it all the better. Cannot believe the record to do the lot is 4hrs 20 mins which is truly astonishing. The worst wind i think i have ever been in on the mountains just added to this challenging few days. Wales is very different to the Lakes, Pretty but in a very different way...The best thing is you can park close to the mountains, no long walks in like the Lake district can sometimes be. A fab week. The next challenge is to them all in under 14hrs...one for next Summer.....just dont tell the wife!!!
Mrs F: Well, the Welsh 3,000ft challenge has been something that has been on our minds to do since we we here last in 2018 climbing Tryfan...but we had the small matter of the Wainwrights to complete both for ourselves and then going back a few times to help Mr & Mrs S finish them too. I even bought Mr F a book on the challenge years ago to inspire and encourage this to be our next adventure. With 11 left, it was going to be both hard and easy; hard in the sense that we had 11 mountains to do (we've done more than than in one holiday!) and the fact that there isn't a nice long walk out to the start of the climb like in the Lakes, the mountain is literally right there where you park your car, so it's straight up and at em! But easy in the sense that once the height was gained - albeit a lot of height was gained - it was a good ridge walk out most days. The most challenging aspect was the battle of the wind! It is a bitter-sweet moment when you finally complete something like that you've been aiming for for years, but the sense of achievement can be added to our list of successful mountain climbs, praise be to God 😊 Mrs F did in fact buy a topographic map of all the Snowdonia mountains, the same one as our Wainwright one where you colour the mountain in and list the date you completed it...all in all there are 72 and we've done the top 16 hardest ones...I hope! Only 56 to do now...our next challenge awaits! 😁
