lazyotter

This afternoon I took my hill running up a couple of notches and ran up Cadair Berwyn (827m), Cadair Bronwen (780m) and Moel Sych (827m).

Starting from the foot of the Pistyll Rhaedr waterfall I headed back down the road some way to start on the north facing grassy track that ascends steadly up toward Llyn Lluncaws on the east side of the valley. This was a gentle way to start the run off, ascending some 310m altitude in about 1.5 miles up to level of the lake. But there it gets worse! The ascent then continues on the west side of the lake climbing another 200m up to the col in about 1/3 of a mile! It was very tough running up here, so I partly ran/walked/scrambled. Once on the wide col I continued on the very boggy surface up and over the rocks to the trig point of Cadair Berwyn (827m). The wind from the west was very cold indeed and was bringing the overall temperature down to below zero. It certainly felt cold in my shorts and t-shirt anyway ;). I decided that it would be rude not to continue northwards along the ridge and conquer Cadair Bronwen also. What I didn’t factor for was the sharp descent from Cadair Berwyn and then the climb up to Cadair Bronwen - from 827m down to 720m, then back up to 770m.

I paused for a few minutes at Cadair Bronwen to take in the beautiful panoramic view across the Berwyn moors and to Moel Fferna, before realising that hypothermia was not far away(!) and it was time to get back to the warm. During the descent from 770m down to 720m then the long haul up to the 827m of Cadair Berwyn I could hardly feel my hands for the cold. There was no question of stopping up the steep and boggy climb, as this would only cause my situation to worsen through lost body heat and relentless freezing winds.

Over the top of Cadair Berwyn I continued along the ridge southwards up and over Moel Sych (827m). Then it was time to begin the real descent off the mountain, and I continued south losing some 400m height in minutes! The going was very boggy and my feet were soaked, but at least the sun had come out so I could now feel my hands again. As I was passing the top of the waterfall I took a small diversion to check out the view, before climbing back up to the track and rapidly sprinting down the quarry path to the road. Then it was lucozade and banana time, followed by emptying the water from my shoes.

I’d been out on the mountain for 1 hr 35, covered approx. 8 miles and climbed roughly 710m. Overall I hadn’t found the run to be too physically demanding, although next time I definitely need to take some extra clothing (especially thicker gloves) for high altitudes. Once up there in the freezing cold its true to say that different rules apply. Stopping is simply not an option, or else its likely to be a one way ticket to hypothermia. Still, that just adds to all the fun!

Today I’d intended to try and run up Moel Siabod (872m) in Snowdonia, but having driven all the way there I was denied this challenge by dreadful weather (see below photo). And that’s not fog - it’s rain being driven by high winds. Somewhere in there was a mountain, but common sense prevented me from finding it today.

Somewhat disappointed after this setback, I walked into Joe Brown’s in Capel Curig and bought my first pair of fell shoes :). I chose “inov-8 mud claw 330” as they were light and looked like they had lots of grip.

While driving back from Snowdonia I was itching to try the new shoes out, and so I stopped off at Moel Famau for a consolation run! By this time I was also starving as I’d only had a light breakfast. But he who dares…

Of course it was sod’s law the weather had started clearing by this time and the sun was out, but there was still very strong winds. I did this route in reverse, ascending around the south-east side of the forest, then up a very steep track to the summit. The new inov-8’s were ace! The fell shoes didn’t have as much cushioning as trainers, and so I could really feel the surface under my feet. I was amazed at how much grip there was - the copious rubber grips really performed well on forest track, mud, grass and scree. At the summit the wind was gusting at probably 70 mph and I was bent double just trying to stay on my feet. I descended down the steep south facing trail on very loose scree and onward through the forest. The grip from the inov-8’s was outstanding and provided extra confidence for hurtling down the mountain at high speed.

It has been an eventful weekend of sorts. On Saturday morning I repeated last weeks fell run up Moel Famau, but this time in reverse, meaning it was a hell of a lot harder! The really steep climbing (1100ft) is done in the first 2 miles then the easy 4 mile descent at the end ;). The route I took can be viewed here (although it should be reversed). There was rather an unpleasant headwind which made going up even harder, but despite this I did the whole thing without stopping, oh yes. I was pleased to see some people on the way to the summit. It’s always nice to give them that knowing wink and a cheery “good morning!”, as though I do this sort of thing every day (then get around the next corner and practically have a cardiac arrest as my lungs are bursting through my chest!). I somehow managed a little sprint up the last vertical section, which was followed by a huge wave of euphoria as I reached the trig-point. There then followed a few moments of standing on the tower before the starting my descent. The descent was actually quite good fun for a while as the ridge drops sharply and then continues up and down for a good mile, before hitting the boring vehicle track and roads all the way back to Cilcain.

Also tried adding ginger (about an inch) to a smoothie yesterday which gave it a nice kick. May do that again, as raw ginger is very good for all sorts of things.

Saturday afternoon wasn’t as good as the morning as I managed to effectively render my 1.6TB Buffalo Terastation useless. At the time I was trying to free up space on its system partition by moving /usr to the larger shared array. I obviously moved something I shouldn’t have, as now it won’t boot. That was essentially the rest of the day wasted and resulting in my lounge floor getting covered in bits of terastation and PC components. I believe the problem can be solved by first mounting the RAID1 partition on a linux box, fixing the problem (or wiping the system partition), then flashing the terastation firmware. This issue is still on going, and the safety of over a terabyte of movies and music is hanging in the balance…

Today I looked around some houses in Chester with a friend who is thinking about buying there. Chester is a nice place with plenty of good shops, pubs and restaurants, and the prices seem to have gone up nearly 15% since I looked there two years ago - not so good news for non home owners or first time buyers. Looking for a home is also something on my vague and crumpled to-do list, but for now I’ll stick with rental and the maximum flexibility in case I want to bail out and leave for distant shores or far off lands sometime soon.

Shortly afterward I found myself walking on Moel Famau again and this time found a new alternative route to return to the Llanferres car park. Its actually signposted “Loggerheads” from the summit but is possible to turn off and follow a forest track (for a few miles) round the side of the hill and back to the starting point. It was well past dark when I got back at 6.30, but a nice warm evening and many stars in the sky to look at.

Felt like watching a movie tonight but then realised the terastation is still in bits all over the lounge floor.