A Weekend in Llanberis
What with coronavirus, a heart attack and the subsequent recovery, I hadn’t been up to North Wales for a paddle for ages. I used to go fairly regularly for the Colwyn Bay races with the North Wales Surf Ski Paddlers and the Llyn Padarn Time Trials with the Dyffryn Conwy Paddlers.
The latter of these is a winter thing so the first of the season was taking place at the weekend. I’m still not up to racing properly but thought that it would be nice to see everyone and just do the paddle at my own pace anyway. That was the plan for Sunday. As luck would have it Stephen posted up to say that he fancied a paddle on Saturday at Colwyn Bay as well, so I decided to make a weekend of it. It might end up being just like the old days!
Colwyn Bay
So, I left home on Saturday morning in the camper for a nice drive through the hills of North Wales. I arrived early at Colwyn Bay where a fairly calm sea with just a light NW breeze greeted me. The others soon arrived. There was just me, Stephen, Mark and Helen. After catching up and a bit of a chat we were on the water. Mark and Helen were in a double ski and Stephen and myself were in our single skis.
Conditions were good. There was a tiny bit of wind blown swell so a small wave to deal with as we paddled into the wind and out to the Rhosneigr Buoy. The return to the beach was downwind so quite a bit faster with just the occassional short runner to catch. The waves were just small windblown ones so had very little power but there was just enough to get a bit of a ride now and then.
After a quick breather on the beach we repeated the trip.
We then headed back to get changed before going to the cafe for lunch. Quite a bit had changed since I was last here with a new watersports shop (mainly SUP) and a bike shop having opened in the building.
After a bit of chat we went our separate ways. I was off to Llanberis.
Llanberis
The traffic was pretty bad so I arrived at Llanberis a little later than planned. I was going to go for a walk in the hills but as time was short I decided that a lower level walk around Llyn Padarn would be the better option. It was now a lovely day so perfect for a walk. The lake waters were glistening and Snowdon watched over us.
I was spending the night in the van so decided that an Indian Take Away would be something of a treat. I think I may have ordered a little too mcuh food though!
A Run Around the Lake
After a comfortable night in the van I was up and raring to go so headed off for a run. I was going to run around Llyn Peris but I don’t think you can get all the way around at lake level thanks to the power station. Instead I headed steeply uphill around Vivian Quarry and then followed the white trail markers that took me high above Llyn Padarn in an anti-clockwise direction. It wasn’t fast running thanks to the rocky trails and steep gradients but it was lovely through the woods and fairly easy going.
I dropped down to the lakeside at the western edge of the lake and then ran along the flat, easy path on the south side of the lake back to the van.
After a second breakfast I moved the camper into the car park and people soon started arriving for the Llyn Padarn Time Trial. Once again there was lots of catching up to do with people that I hadn’t seen for years, and a few new faces too. There was quite a good turn out as well so we all headed to the far end of the lake ready to start.
Llyn Padarn Time Trial
I was going to be quite a bit slower than I used to be (my previous PB on the course was 27:40). I predicted a time closer to 32 minutes and went with 34 minutes which would allow me to take it easy. This meant I was one of the first off, alongside Jeff who had also had some health issues recently.
Once going I seemed to be doing OK. I wasn’t trying too hard but I was pulling away from Jeff and felt good. Conditions were perfect. Calm waters, just a light breeze and fairly cool. I made my way along the course and around the turn point. I could now see the others behind me chasing hard. I caught and passed the loan paddle boarder and kept up a steady but not too challenging pace all the way. No one managed to catch me thanks to the fact that I had over-estimated my finishing time by quite a bit. In the end I came in just below the 30 minute mark at 29:39. That was only two minutes slower than my PB so not as bad as I had thought.
Everyone seemed to be posting fast times though so I think the conditions were ideal. Everyone was of course happy with their PB’s and the ‘race’ had gone well. After a short paddle back to the jetty chatting to John as I went it was time to get changed and then head to the cafe for coffee and cake.
That was the end of a successful weekend of paddling, walking and running in North Wales. I may well have to do it again next month.
