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Sleepless In Snowdonia For our recent Snowdonia trip Lorna booked us into the Snowdon Bunkhouse largely due to it's excellent location. Sadly it had little else to recommend it. Whilst scoring higher for comfort than the infamous Fawber Farm (visited many years ago, but was so awful it has descended into club folk law - no matter how horrible a time we're having "it can't be worse than Fawber Farm") it left most of us pining for the unmatched luxury of a proper Youth Hostel. That is those of us not fighting for our lives in an attempt on the Welsh 3000s. Here Tim describes this 24hr epic (and we do this for fun...?) Five of us took the opportunity to attempt the Welsh 3000s. This extremely crazy challenge involves climbing all the peaks in Wales over 3000 feet (16 of them), preferably within 24 hours. 
Roughly, the peaks are in three separate ridges. We did these as a pre-breakfast walk, a main walk and an evening/night walk. We had an expert guide in Lorna, who walked sections 1 and 3 with us, preventing us from getting hopelessly lost. The walk is so long that it has to be started at first light. This involved getting up at 3.40am, so we were all tired to start with. Six of us bundled into a car and drove to Pen-y-pass. The first surprise was discovering that the car park was not empty. In fact it was full, with lots of people milling about. What were they all doing? Were they insomniacs or something? It was good to see the sunrise over the mountains. It wasn't a spectacular sunrise, and wasn't the only sunrise we saw (er, it was a long night!) The first stage was doing half the Snowdon Horseshoe, going along the ridge of Crib Goch (which was pretty frightening, best not to look down!), arriving at Snowdon about 7am. I know Snowdon is a popular place, but I was still surprised to see quite so many people there at that time, quite a few of them doing the 3000s like us. We walked back along the railway line a little way, before descending straight down to the bunkhouse (hard on the knees!). We got back at 9am for breakfast, already two hours behind Lorna's schedule! We had already done a pretty hard walk in humid weather. Dave J and Richard decided they had had enough! That left three of us determined to finish it. 
The next stage was the hardest, involving five of the peaks, starting with a hard slog up to Elidir Fawr. I now realise why Tom refers to it as Mount Chunda, something to do with just having had a large breakfast! After this, because we were so keen, we did an extra sub-3000 ft peak, Foel Goch (accidentally). This was followed by Y Garn, the Glyders (Fawr and Fach), then Tryfan. We then doubled back and down to Ogwen car park where Clive, Lorna and Tom were waiting for us with some tea. I have never known noodles taste so good! After a rest, at about 7.30pm, we spent 11/2 hours climbing the first peak of the third stage. This is the longest stage in terms of mileage, but is the easiest, being relatively flat on top. Unfortunately, after a hard day's walking, it didn't seem easy, or flat! It was on this stage that the problems really started. It got dark and misty, and I did not have a torch, which made it slow going. We spent a long time trying to find a dog-leg peak. It was very late and we were very tired, so we decided to stop at mountain hut. 
It made the Snowdon Bunkhouse seem like luxury. It had three narrow wooden benches that were very uncomfortable, but when you're tired you'll sleep anywhere! We had an hour's sleep and felt a lot better (apart from being freezing cold and aching) We finished the last peak just before 4am, thereby completing the challenge about 20 minutes short of 24 hours. Unfortunately we still had about five miles to walk back to the car. It was good to see the second sunrise of the walk, but it did remind us of how long we'd been out. About 7am we finally met Tom and George who had kindly waited in the car park all night. George had even got some beers for us! It's never too early in the day for a beer! Most of the journey back to the bunkhouse was spent sleeping, as was most of Sunday morning. My thanks to George, Tom Clive and Lorna for supporting us in this crazy endeavour. Tim Beagles Whilst we were in Scotland this year we met a charming crowd who all worked for Kodak. Trudi and Lorna invested much time in chatting them up and as a result of this Lorna managed to persuade Gerry from the group to join us for the Welsh 3s. This is his story... 
Early June and an e-mail arrived from Lorna about the Welsh Three Thousands. We'd talked about it at the Hostel in Portree and Lorna just has that way to make it sound fun too. You know, I'd quite like to have a go at this I said and so we traded e-mail addresses. Somehow being on holiday where the tolls of mundane life do not exist, the Welsh Three Thousands did seem like a real possibility. Well staring at the details at my office PC - 30 miles, 12,000 feet of ascent.......in 24 hours. Me do this? No way. I told Lorna so. "Well you could always do sections 1 and 2 as a support team member" I liked the sound of that and I agreed. So it was arranged and the weekend approached. Tom kindly drove all the way over to Watford to collect me and being a little off the usual route, we didn't get to the bunkhouse until 12:30AM to grab a few hours sleep. Less than four hours later, Tim was driving five passengers to Pen Y Pass for the start of section 1. Lorna, Richard and Dave were our support team members who would accompany us for the whole of this section. Tim, Chris and myself were the ones attempting the challenge. As we headed up towards Crib Goch we could see that there were people already on the mountain. It was just beginning to get light and the morning quietness made us whisper as if not to awaken ghostly entities from their slumber. We were in high spirits as we balanced on Crib Goch, the warm red glow from the rising sun casting eerie misshapen shadows in front of us as we clambered along that precarious ridge, adding another mystical dimension. Before long we had reached Snowdon and were on our way back to the bunkhouse to enjoy breakfast with the rest of the group. Time was not on our side however and we were soon on our way to section 2 accompanied by Clive. By 10AM it was warm. Too warm. The air was still with little breeze and, still in high spirits, we joked about sneaking past Clive and getting a taxi to the end point. The climb up Elidir Fawr seemed never ending but eventually the path led to the summit and as we descended we could see the rest of this section: Tryfan, Y Garn, Glyder Fawr, Glyder Fach. It looked deceptively easy and tame. Of course it wasn't. With the heat and growing fatigue I was beginning to find it a bit of a struggle: Tim and Chris will vouch I did complain on the odd occasion. We passed Gareth and Karen and a little later the rest of the group taking it easy by the beautiful lake above The Devils Kitchen. I knew if we stopped and sat down for a while with them I probably wouldn't be able to carry on. So it was onwards. 
Soon Glyder Fawr and Glyder Fach were taken. Their angular slats of rock jutting out of the ground like clumps of broad bladed grass. I was very fatigued and couldn't appreciate the beauty of the landscape around me. I was running low on water, having drunk nearly 2 litres on this section alone. Our saviour came in the form of Steve whom we passed on the way to Tryfan. He cheerfully offered us food and water which was gratefully received. That helped us up the final part of Tryfan. Aided by a short cut navigated by Chris we were off Tryfan and at the car park by Ogwen Youth Hostel. It was wonderful to see Clive, Tom and Lorna there with stoves primed and ready to fulfil our every whim. Well almost. A delicious hot meal of sweet and sour noodles, a quick soak of my aching feet and the three of us plus Lorna were on our final journey up Pen Yr Ole Wen, the start of the third and final section. Did I say I'd only do sections 1 and 2? Yes I did but somehow I knew I had to continue and complete the challenge in spite of my limbs which were saying otherwise. Boy did my feet hurt. Poor Chris and Tim must have had enough of my whinging on section 2 and so I vowed not to whinge any more especially in the presence of a lady. As we progressed further taking more summits the mist started to close in. It was already twilight and I was having to take frequent breaks. As it became darker we found that headtorches were of no use for probing the distance ahead - all we could see was a bright halo of backscattered light. We plodded on, our beams illuminating the few feet in front. Occasionally we would stop and with all lamps off take a look round for the peaks were just discernible with the very small amount of available light. 
Around midnight we needed to find Yr Elen, a peak to the west of the main ridge. Lorna was in her element. With her knowledge of the terrain and first class navigation skills, she skilfully guided us to the peak and back to the main ridge. We headed up Foel Grach and chanced upon a piece of luck. Lorna recognised this particular area by the lie of the land and the rocks around. She remembered that there was a shelter nearby which was not marked on our 1:25000 map. Tim and I were too fatigued to be of any use and so Lorna and Chris started a search to locate the shelter. Within 15 minutes Chris had found it and much to our relief we entered. It was 2:30AM now. We'd been awake for 23 hours and were in need of some sleep. It would have been impossible, indeed dangerous, to continue due to the lack of navigable features: we couldn't even see any of the hills for the sky now was completely black. We made ourselves as comfortable as we could on the low wooden benches, secured the door and slept for the next one and a half hours. 
The silence was pierced by Lorna's Alarm watch: first light already. It felt colder than the previous morning. Our shivering soon stopped as we made for the final 2 summits reaching Foel Fras at 4:45AM. Someone forgot to say that we'd actually completed the challenge but had we done so in the 24 hour time limit? The answer, to our relief, was yes because although we'd started at 4:15AM the time is taken from the first peak to the last. We'd all done it. A hike to Drum, which looked worse than it actually was, and then down to the road where we were met by Tom and George who had spent all the night there waiting for our return. A small drink and we were on our way back to the bunkhouse for some welcome rest. What an adventure we'd had. It was certainly the longest I have ever travelled but it was fun and now makes the challenges one confronts in everyday life just that bit more easy to accomplish. I must express a word of thanks to the support team: Richard, Dave, Clive, Tom and George without whom this would not have been possible. And a big thank you to Lorna for organising the whole event and giving an unknown like myself the opportunity to take the challenge. Many thanks to all. Gerry Laconca (who also took the photos) Danbury Walk. About 20 of us had a lovely walk round Danbury. Just when we were beginning to think that we were lost in the maze of paths on the common, Dave successfully brought us out to the pub in time for a couple of refreshing beers! Robin Bromham also dropped in later to introduce his week-old baby daughter, Maria. Kentwell Hall A lovely sunny day for milling about with all those Tudor serfs and Lords. None of the volunteers slipped out of character even for a moment throughout the entire re-enactment. We learnt loads about Tudor life including dyes and pigments, weaving and farming, and sword-play and archery. A truly splendid day out. Kew Gardens Roz organised a wonderful day out to the gardens at Kew. It was very sunny, we ate far too much at our shared picnic and were very tempted with the idea of a short siesta. We all had great difficulty in fitting in all we wanted to see. Kew was even better than I remember it and I really mustn't leave it so long till I visit again. Cycle Ride to Stock About 10 enthusiastic cyclists gathered on a sunny Wednesday evening. After causing the usual traffic chaos in Chelmsford, Jim led us through pleasant country lanes roughly following the route pioneered by Chris a few years ago. According to Jim's mileometer we covered 221/2 miles at an average of 11mph. (Rather more than the advertised 13 miles, and only 6 miles less than Chelmsford to Castle Hedingham!) News from Mark The following message was received by email from Mark Westcott: To all at CYHA Group, I have jetted off to Skopje in Macedonia (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia - FYROM) where I am now sitting in an internet café. I arrived here yesterday (19th July), coming here via Thessaloniki in Greek Macedonia. In theory I am here to help out with a group (affiliated to a local church) which is running a humanitarian assistance project for refugees in the area. In reality, the refugees have returned so quickly that this particular work may well stop in two weeks. I will find other things to do here. I intend to stay until mid September. Anyone interested in getting in touch please do, as I can access email. I promise to read and reply. Bye, Mark. (mark@amgw.freeserve.co.uk ) |
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