A Jaunt up Cadair Idris
With mountain adventures on the horizon I thought I’d better get some training in and try out various bits of gear. Before that though, Saturday morning started off with a quick surf ski paddle to Aberdovey and back. Nothing too exciting there just an excuse to try out my new surf ski. I had to get it out to put it on the roofrack so I thought I’d just as well take it to the beach on the way to the roofrack!
With that done I chilled at home for a while and then set off towards North Wales. The plan was to go to the Llyn Padarn Kayak Time Trial on Sunday morning, but I thought I’d stop off en route at Cadair Idris and climb a mountain. It was a good day for it as well. Cool and crisp with the usual autumnal dampness.
A Quick Trip up Cadair
I parked up at the bottom of the Minfford path, got kitted up and started on my way.
It’s obviously been a while since I walked up Cadair as there was a new tearoom at the bottom of the path. I avoided the temptation of a coffee and cake after having only walk a hundred yards or so though.
I was only taking it easy as there was no rush but soon found myself overtaking people on the steep steps alongside the waterfalls despite my slow pace. I did get caught by one guy who had a little chat as we went along but I then let him go off ahead. At Llyn Cau I headed off to the left following the Minfford path. As I gained height I could see Llyn Cau below me and the guy who had passed me earlier skirting around it’s far shores, heading for the gulley that take a shortcut up towards the summit.
I soon settled into my usual pace as I headed up into the clouds, overtaking people as I went. The more groups of people there were, the faster I seemed to go – It’s just so difficult to go slowly! As I came to the top of the gulley I could see the guy I’d chatted to earlier a little way ahead of me on the steep slope towards the summit. He wasn’t that far ahead of me so I decided it was time to catch him up. I was soon with him and we had a bit of a chat as we clambered over the rocks and trudged through snow towards the summit trig point.
As we got there another guy moving fast caught us and said hello. As he did, we both realised that we knew each other. It was Ioan who I used to do circuits with, so we said a better hello and he explained that he had been pushing hard to catch us over the final few hundred metres having followed the other guy up the gulley. When he found out that my onward plan from the summit was the same as his he said he’d join me but wanted to go into the shelter first. He needed to change out of his sweaty clothes into some dry ones, have a sandwich and a coffee. He did share his coffee with me so I didn’t mind waiting.
We soon headed off together through the clouds towards the summit of Mynydd Moel and then took the steep descent back down to the car park.
Ioan had fairly recently climbed Acongagua so we had plenty to chat about as well as reminiscing about old times and common friends. We geeked out a bit on technical gear and computers too and generally put the world to rights. We did help out a group heading up as well. They were all desperately thirsty and had run out of water. We gave them ours along with some advice on the direction and routes to take and left them to it.
Back at the cars we went our separate ways. Mine took me further north through the snow capped peaks of Snowdonia to Llanberis where I parked up for the night. I headed into town for a big plate of liver, bacon and onions at Pete’s Eats and then settled down for the night.
A good day out in the hills.
4 Responses
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[…] my busy weekend with a surf ski paddle, a jaunt up Cadair Idris, a night in the camper and a kayak Time Trial my legs were feeling a little sore. A perfect […]
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[…] did manage to get out for a couple of walks last week though. The first was up Cadair Idris on a fairly nice day. The next was in the Arans where there was quite a bit of snow. All was going […]
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It was nice catching up with you Alan, you’re as fit as I remember you from the days of circuit training. If you’re ever in the mountains again give me a shout.
I will do…. I need to get some training in so I’m sure I’ll be out in the hills again soon. I had a good day yesterday in the Arans – much more snow up there: https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2019/11/amazing-arans/
I’m not sure when I’ll be out next though as Christmas seems to be creeping up on us and the weekends seem pretty hectic already.
I really should start going to circuits again as well. 🙂
Al.