Two themes occupying my time recently-
Holiday in Isle of Mull, and
3 Peaks Challenge.
So I will make an entry here for eachg, and add, edit and illustrate over the next few days.
Two entries
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Category Archives: Travel
Mull tomorrow
15°C, getting cooler & rain is coming down the Northern approaches.
Drive to the Scottish Isle of Mull. That will be one monster drive. It also means no more posts here for over a week.
Next Saturday, we drive back home, then Sunday drive back up North again with the 3~Peaks team to Glen Nevis, Scotland.
…bet I’m too tired to post on the Wednesday after returning.
Camera is all charged up and ready to go. It’s hard to know what photo opportunities will be there- the weather forcast is poor- rain, sun & showers are to be expected for an island facing the Northern approaches from the Atlantic. Prepare to be surprised then.
BTW: one of my pictures is getting awards on the Flickr site: Sturgeon’s field.
Check and re-check
20°C, rain then sun, rather humid.
Bags Packed: just checking the kit, thinking through what might happen and what to carry in response. There is just enough space left for food in the rucksack lid; side pockets lined with emergency stuff, first aid, a light, whistle and torch. Inside , some bin-liners, an extra fleece (which was laughably cheap at £2). I have loaded up with 4 litres of water based on previous climbs where I drank 2 litres each time.
…no more entries here until Sunday I expect.
Finally– you couldn’t make this up:
Fields of Rape
19°C, cloudy. c=57 miles.
Cycling: Not a lot to report- so this entry is just an excuse to load a photograph.
in the shadow of leafless trees
24°C, clear as milk
Hike: Hartington in Derbyshire is a good place for a hike, just a short one today- only about 2 miles. Today is even hotter which explains a certain oddness in the landscape- hot, sheep sheltering in the shadow of leafless trees. Though deep blue skies are overhead, the landscape is bathed in a milky light from thin mist.
First day of Shorts
19°C, sunny after a cold start.
Odd series of derelics along the north banks of the Trent near Burton. That would be interesting to get a bit closer – perhaps with a change of atmosphere.
Audale
16°C, 
!; C=41 miles
!; C=41 miles
Odd the things you see when out in the countryside. See photo below.
Turpentine: this is going to take longer than I thought. The picture (to be posted later) doesn’t look very different -which is inself, no big deal. Today’s session was spent working out the anatomy and pose of the main character. Something worth persisting with to get this right which affects the success of the whole picture for the next week or two.
Don’t look right
8°C, cold NE wind, warm sun and a struggle between them to decide the temperature. C=69 miles
Pain in the neck: it could be a pulled muscle, trouble is it locks solid when I look over the right shoulder so I have ot look well over the left instead.
Isle of The Dead: this Böcklin painting came to mind when I rode past a small fishing lake today. See the photo below. It might be a picture depicting the River Styx with the character Charon in the boat in white, but then maybe it’s not.
Today: Llanbedr
2°C, strong winds, hail & some snow.
Continuing the story from last night as it happens with the drive from Bewys-y-Coed. The sun set and the rain got heavier as I drove towards Harlech. Most of my clothes were wet, the car heater set to 23°C. Eventually I got to the caravana and set up- ma..an it was cold. The rain beat on the caravan and it shook, quivered and creaked all night against the storms arriving down the northerly approaches.
This morning, I woke at sunrise and decided to go home as soon as possible. The rain had eased but the temperature dropped during my sleep. After coffee and cerial, there was time to grab a quick visit to the beech. White foamy waves crashed just behind the dunes, unheard because of the wind blasting everything with sand. No flat beech was visible there.
After setting off south I called in at Barmouth, in the summer months a very busy town that has all the kitch of British seaside resorts. In the winter- it’s worth a stop. There must have been some money here in late victorian times, there are fascinating houses on the hillside. The wind was able to lift the sand higher here, it filled everything, got everywhere. My scalp had a layer of sand, my ears and under my eyelids. That still stings when you look in some directions.
Home to worry about work, and fix the fence that blew down in the gales before it gets dark. Not enough time.
Yesterday: Climb Snowdon
9 to 2°C, wind, sun and hailshowers.
3 Peaks: we climbed Mt. Snowdon yesterday, what an adventure!
After 3 hours driving from home, we met up at Pen-y-pass which was full- that made parking tricky. Anyway, we took the Miner’s track to the summit which was an easy way to start, but once past the last lake (Glaslyn) the terrain got far more tricky. It was steep and heavily obstructed with bolders and other rocks that were very angular (and colourful I may add). The last 300m of altitiude was covered in cloud and reaching the final ridge was an extrodinary experience. Both sides were a sea of light grey cloud that concealed enormous drops- the thought of them takes your breath away- think of that Victorian notion of the “sublime”.
We had to contend with strong winds from the NW but loads of people were also there- from the other 3 main routes no doubt.
The plan was to take some photos at the summit and then climb back down a short way to a sheltered corner to eat our lunchpacks. By the time we got there the cloud had gone down so we continued. Sitting still in cloud eating is a quick way to get cold and below the cloud layer, there was rain. The rain got heavier the further we descended. Somehow, I didn’t mind that, at one point my comment was
“I wonder if I would be enjoying this as much if the weather was good?”- I was not being facetious.
The return route was along the Pyg track. We all agreed that though this was shallower it was far more difficult, there were few runs of smooth path that you could set a pace on. The rain got heavier too.
The whole walk took five hours, too long really so we’ll stick to the Miner’s track both ways even with that very steep descent to Glaslyn.
Later we met up for shopping at Betws-y-Coed for a bit of shopping and a cafe stop. There is a nice bizz in that town, not like other parts of Wales which can seem rather run-down. I got a better rain-coat and a drinking bladder thing for my rucksac. There we all parted, most going home while I went west to my Mum’s caravan near Harlech. That was an adventure in itself, more possibly on that later, for now, there is a photo of rough seas taken from my overnight stay.
Micycle 