Sunday 18 May 2014

Noswaith dda!

Good evening and welcome back to the three men on a walk team (this year it's me, Jacko and Tim) from a bright and sunny Snowdonia National Park. We've based ourselves this year in a delightful little village called Talysarn only a stones throw from Snowdon itself, so rather than doing an end to end trail as we've done the last couple of years, we plan to tackle a decent mountain (or two) each day and return to base each evening for home cooked grub and copious bottles of wine - and not a tent in sight - luxury!!

So, we left Lutterworth at 10 this morning - Jacko and I were a little jaded from our over indulgence at the after show party for When We Are Married - Wycliffe Drama Group's latest production - if you missed it, you missed out. We had a decent run and arrived at Talysarn at about 1320 - not bad. A quick sandwich and brew and we were back in the car for a 3 mile drive to our start point for our first mountain walk - Mynydd Mawr (which I believe translates to 'Large Mountain') a decent first challenge at a snippet short of 700 metres above sea level. The sun was shining and it was warm enough to walk in shorts and a tee shirt although the wind really started to gust as we gained altitude. Mynydd Mawr is a beautifully rugged mountain allowing fantastic panoramic views from its summit of Snowdon to one side and Anglesey and the Menai Straights to the other. The climb was pretty steep and occasionally we were treated to unnerving glimpses of the valley floor below between huge stacks of rugged slate from the narrow ridge - it was wonderful. The descent was fairly uneventful until we reached the farm at the bottom of the valley where Paul 'the dog whisperer' Jackson was set upon by half a dozen very large, very vicious sheepdogs. Images of a swashbuckling Errol Flynn came to mind as he cut and thrust at the snarling hounds with his walking pole. Fortunately Tim and I were 50 yards in front of Jacko when they set upon him and so were able to enjoy the furore from a safe distance. We almost wet ourselves laughing as Jacko swung his pole and shouted obscenities at them, although our smiles faded momentarily when  two of the things decided to run at us instead, but they clearly got bored with us very quickly and decided, much to our suddenly returning joy, to set about an obviously tiring Jacko whose pole swings were clearly losing their ferocity with every lunge. We enjoyed a good 2 minutes of this spectacle before we clearly reached the extremes of the dog's domain and they returned, still snarling, to their farm house. If Jacko had got his way we would have run over the dogs in the car on the way back to Talysarn, but fortunately for the hounds we were distracted by an attractive young lady on a bicycle who cheerfully overtook our car as we drove down the hill away from Mynydd Mawr - 'Cor blimey' Jacko said to Tim as he leaned forward in his seat, 'do you reckon you could get a bit closer?' 'No need' I said, 'I could see it clearly as it came past my window - definitely a 15 gear Raleigh!'

So, we're back in the cottage, we've had home made shepherds pie for dinner washed down with a couple of glasses of red, I'm blogging away and Tim and Jacko have curled up on the sofa to watch 'Pacific'. It doesn't get much better than this!

So the weather forecast looks good for tomorrow, so we've decided to have a bash at Snowdon via the Miner's path for the ascent and the Pyg track on the way down. Happy days. Enjoy the photos from today. 

Russ





















6 comments:

  1. Sounds like you all had a fab day. Miss the camaraderie and stunning views....... Enjoy tomorrows challenge :-)

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  2. Am really jealous - the views are stunning, have a fab time tomorrow and if Jacko does get attacked by any more dogs I'm happy to upload a video for you :) xx

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  3. Perhaps they didn't like his orange hair!! :)
    Stunning scenery.
    Looking forward to the next instalment :)

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  4. Shame you were laughing too hard to get pictures of the dog attack. I need something to cheer me up whilst I'm sat at my desk.

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  5. Lovely pics already :-) I'm with Holy about the dog attach (soz Jacko) Always one for a bit of juicy gossip, I'd like to hear more about the bromance between Jacko and Tim. I wonder what they'll cosy up to watch tonight! And will Russ join them?! Who knows! xx

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  6. I'm agog to hear about any more bicycles you might see! Any chance of a BSA or Triumph sighting?! Great photos.

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