P
Paul Saunders
Guest
DAY TWO - FRIDAY
I awoke with a sore throat. The morning was beautiful. At one point
there was hardly a cloud in the sky. Someone remarked that it looked
like a great day for a walk. Naturally by the time we got going most of
the sunshine had gone, replaced by a mostly cloudy sky.
We left an hour later than usual, at 10:30am. Nine of us trudged
quickly along the road toward Capel Curig, turning right into the woods
at the school. First point of interest was a fenced wooded area
containing three llamas. Once out of the woods the first crag came into
view, Clogwyn Mawr, the beginning of the rock ridge we'd planned to
follow. It was steeper and rockier than I'd imagined and required some
easy scrambling, but you definitely couldn't walk up it. It could
probably have been bypassed but most were happy to scramble up it.
David shouted down to Judith that it wasn't necessary to climb to the
top and could be bypassed. A few chose to do so, but most reached the
summit. It proved to be an excellent viewpoint, looking straight up the
valley toward the Snowdon Horseshoe. We were blessed with a little sun
at this time, but the dark menacing clouds in the distance were growing
fast.
A quick descent led to another minor rocky peak, then we headed off
across the undulating grassy and rocky ground of Clogwyn Cigfran, past
the boggy Llyn y Coryn, to eventually gain the summit of Crimpiau. The
first splats of showery rain started to fall as we approached Crimpiau,
with various walkers choosing to stop at diffferent times to don
waterproofs. Although the rain was light it didn't look like it was
ease off anytime soon, and it didn't. Most had a snack at the summit of
Crimpiau. I didn't, which proved to be a mistake.
The double cragged Craig Wen looked impressive across the col, which was
a lot deeper than I'd realised. Just after starting our descent, Judith
slipped on a wet rock and cut her hand. Luckily it wasn't too bad and
she applied appropriate first aid. The ascent to Craig Wen resulted in
a sudden loss of energy for me and I immediately felt very fatigued. I
probably should have had a snack on Crimpiau.
There were two main crags on Craig Wen (a Dewey) and although the north
one is marked as the highest on the map, the other has no spot height so
it's not certain which is the higher. The peak baggers amongst us
climbed them both to make sure, and my GPS indicated the north crag to
be 10m higher than the south. Even allowing for the non-Egnos corrected
non-barometrically smoothed reading, any error in the 12 satellite
reading was probably less than the difference, so it seems pretty
certain that the north summit is the highest.
At the north summit my legs were almost turning to jelly so I had to
stop to eat. Martin, David and Roger continued without me, to catch up
the others who'd bypassed the summit completely. I ate a whole packet
of dried fruit to give me some much needed fructose energy. By the time
I restarted the rain was heading in from the west in earnest, and I
wondered if Bill and Fran were underneath that mass of misty cloud I
could see in the distance above Llyn Idwal.
The rest of the party were some two to three hundred metres ahead of me
when I emerged from the Craig Wen crags. I saw David crossing the boggy
col in the distance ahead of me. As I crossed the wide flat boggy col
my right boot filled with water through the holes in the leather. I
really must replace my Brashers. My left foot got soaked too, although
I don't recall when exactly. By this point I couldn't really care less,
my lack of energy was more of a concern.
As I walked up the steep slope of Moel Ddefaid a new problem arose. The
muscles in my thighs became very painful. I'm not sure if it was cramps
or if I was pulling the muscles, but I ended up limping my way up the
hill (with the help of walking poles) to the spot where the others had
chosen to rest. I began to suspect that doing the whole walk was
unlikely to be a possibility for me.
After some more snacking I felt a bit better and thought I could manage
the rest of the ridge at least, since most of the ascent had already
been done, but within 20 metres of restarting the walk my thigh muscles
began to play up once more and I found myself doubtful that I could even
reach the top of the hill. I persisted, and with frequent stops I
managed to reach the Craiglwyn Nuttall.
Walking on flat ground was no problem at all and psychologically I
wanted to continue, but looking at the steep slope rising to the main
summit of the ridge, the Marilyn of Creigiau Gleision south, I realised
that my legs most likely would not cooperate. I could probably have
done it if I chose to endure the pain, but then I started thinking about
why I liked hillwalking in the first place. It's supposed to be fun.
If my legs are painful and it's pouring down with rain, then really,
what's the point? If it had been sunny I may have continued for the
photographs, but instead I opted to opt out and turn back. Judith
agreed and was happy to turn back with me. Biggles and Phil continued
to bag the Marilyn then turned back also, leaving the five "hard men" to
complete the full walk as originally planned.
The descent to the road at Afon Llugwy was fairly easy, across rough
grassland but not too steep. When we reached the barbed wire fence we
chose to follow it to the right to reach the nearby footpath. The rest
of the walk was easy, eventually following the road to Capel Curig and
beyond. We met Charlie and co at the petrol station but there was no
room in the van for us. A few moments later, Phil and Paul drove past
and stopped to give us a lift back to the campsite. For me and Judith
the walk was some 10km or so, ascent unknown as yet.
So even though we didn't complete the whole walk, we still managed a
reasonable distance and bagged a few bumps enroute. The walking was
enjoyable and I got plenty of decent photos. I'll have to go back and
do that again when I'm a bit fitter and the weather is better.
Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk
http://www.wildwales.fsnet.co.uk
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=118749
I awoke with a sore throat. The morning was beautiful. At one point
there was hardly a cloud in the sky. Someone remarked that it looked
like a great day for a walk. Naturally by the time we got going most of
the sunshine had gone, replaced by a mostly cloudy sky.
We left an hour later than usual, at 10:30am. Nine of us trudged
quickly along the road toward Capel Curig, turning right into the woods
at the school. First point of interest was a fenced wooded area
containing three llamas. Once out of the woods the first crag came into
view, Clogwyn Mawr, the beginning of the rock ridge we'd planned to
follow. It was steeper and rockier than I'd imagined and required some
easy scrambling, but you definitely couldn't walk up it. It could
probably have been bypassed but most were happy to scramble up it.
David shouted down to Judith that it wasn't necessary to climb to the
top and could be bypassed. A few chose to do so, but most reached the
summit. It proved to be an excellent viewpoint, looking straight up the
valley toward the Snowdon Horseshoe. We were blessed with a little sun
at this time, but the dark menacing clouds in the distance were growing
fast.
A quick descent led to another minor rocky peak, then we headed off
across the undulating grassy and rocky ground of Clogwyn Cigfran, past
the boggy Llyn y Coryn, to eventually gain the summit of Crimpiau. The
first splats of showery rain started to fall as we approached Crimpiau,
with various walkers choosing to stop at diffferent times to don
waterproofs. Although the rain was light it didn't look like it was
ease off anytime soon, and it didn't. Most had a snack at the summit of
Crimpiau. I didn't, which proved to be a mistake.
The double cragged Craig Wen looked impressive across the col, which was
a lot deeper than I'd realised. Just after starting our descent, Judith
slipped on a wet rock and cut her hand. Luckily it wasn't too bad and
she applied appropriate first aid. The ascent to Craig Wen resulted in
a sudden loss of energy for me and I immediately felt very fatigued. I
probably should have had a snack on Crimpiau.
There were two main crags on Craig Wen (a Dewey) and although the north
one is marked as the highest on the map, the other has no spot height so
it's not certain which is the higher. The peak baggers amongst us
climbed them both to make sure, and my GPS indicated the north crag to
be 10m higher than the south. Even allowing for the non-Egnos corrected
non-barometrically smoothed reading, any error in the 12 satellite
reading was probably less than the difference, so it seems pretty
certain that the north summit is the highest.
At the north summit my legs were almost turning to jelly so I had to
stop to eat. Martin, David and Roger continued without me, to catch up
the others who'd bypassed the summit completely. I ate a whole packet
of dried fruit to give me some much needed fructose energy. By the time
I restarted the rain was heading in from the west in earnest, and I
wondered if Bill and Fran were underneath that mass of misty cloud I
could see in the distance above Llyn Idwal.
The rest of the party were some two to three hundred metres ahead of me
when I emerged from the Craig Wen crags. I saw David crossing the boggy
col in the distance ahead of me. As I crossed the wide flat boggy col
my right boot filled with water through the holes in the leather. I
really must replace my Brashers. My left foot got soaked too, although
I don't recall when exactly. By this point I couldn't really care less,
my lack of energy was more of a concern.
As I walked up the steep slope of Moel Ddefaid a new problem arose. The
muscles in my thighs became very painful. I'm not sure if it was cramps
or if I was pulling the muscles, but I ended up limping my way up the
hill (with the help of walking poles) to the spot where the others had
chosen to rest. I began to suspect that doing the whole walk was
unlikely to be a possibility for me.
After some more snacking I felt a bit better and thought I could manage
the rest of the ridge at least, since most of the ascent had already
been done, but within 20 metres of restarting the walk my thigh muscles
began to play up once more and I found myself doubtful that I could even
reach the top of the hill. I persisted, and with frequent stops I
managed to reach the Craiglwyn Nuttall.
Walking on flat ground was no problem at all and psychologically I
wanted to continue, but looking at the steep slope rising to the main
summit of the ridge, the Marilyn of Creigiau Gleision south, I realised
that my legs most likely would not cooperate. I could probably have
done it if I chose to endure the pain, but then I started thinking about
why I liked hillwalking in the first place. It's supposed to be fun.
If my legs are painful and it's pouring down with rain, then really,
what's the point? If it had been sunny I may have continued for the
photographs, but instead I opted to opt out and turn back. Judith
agreed and was happy to turn back with me. Biggles and Phil continued
to bag the Marilyn then turned back also, leaving the five "hard men" to
complete the full walk as originally planned.
The descent to the road at Afon Llugwy was fairly easy, across rough
grassland but not too steep. When we reached the barbed wire fence we
chose to follow it to the right to reach the nearby footpath. The rest
of the walk was easy, eventually following the road to Capel Curig and
beyond. We met Charlie and co at the petrol station but there was no
room in the van for us. A few moments later, Phil and Paul drove past
and stopped to give us a lift back to the campsite. For me and Judith
the walk was some 10km or so, ascent unknown as yet.
So even though we didn't complete the whole walk, we still managed a
reasonable distance and bagged a few bumps enroute. The walking was
enjoyable and I got plenty of decent photos. I'll have to go back and
do that again when I'm a bit fitter and the weather is better.
Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk
http://www.wildwales.fsnet.co.uk
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=118749