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Thursday - Caerfai to Newgale
11.1 miles, 1669ft elevation gain

Well, what can I say. Another splendid day walking the Pembrokeshire Coast Path. What a silent night we had. No rain, no storm, no waves. Whitesands had felt like sleeping next to a motorway with the constant noise of the waves so close.

We slept like babies at Caerfai until the gentle twitter of a blackbird woke us up in the early hours. What a way to start the day! We stayed a bit longer in our sleeping bags, then had a meager can of fish for brekkie and set off in bright sunshine towards Newgale.

Had quite a couple of "Wow!!!"-views on the way with more and more amazing cliff formations and different kinds of rock. If you're a geologist you'd love this place.
Had quite a long lunch break with a bit of food and a coffee at Solva before we tackled the second half of our walk.

Newgale sports a very long beach, a pub and a campsite and not much else really. Basking in the sun with a pint of don't-call-it-cider Strongbow right now. Pitching the tent after, cooking just another chili with some fresh ingredients we picked up in Solva (they had free ripe bananas, bet they didn't expect hungry hikers). We might be back for more beers after since the campsite is pretty much right behind it.

Easy Walking in Perfect Weather

Tuesday - Off-day St Davids
Some miles, no elevation gain

Rich's feet were hurting too much to do any walking at all today and to be honest, my knees weren't too unhappy about that. And with a fantastic forecast for Weds and Thurs we decided to have a day off and go to St Davids.

The night at Whitesands campsite had been stormy with heavy showers, so we made good use of some extra hours of exhausted sleep.
Had a coffee and got onto the Celtic Coaster bus for the brief journey into St Davids, the UK's smallest town.

The Tourist Information Office had a John Constable exhibition including his most famous Salisbury Cathedral painting. Very nice way to dodge another shower. I found myself a book about pronouncing Welsh place names, which is a first step at learning Welsh for me. At least I want to be able to pronounce towns, mountains or rivers correctly and ideally know what those names mean.

Did some food shopping, had a pint and a nice lamb cawl at The Bishops and had a look at the cathedral and the impressive ruins of the Bishop's palace.

Back at the tent we cooked a feisty chili with fresh ingredients and necked our bought artisan ciders/beers. Happy days!

Wednesday
9.2 miles, 1040ft elevation

With rested bodies we got up at the usual time, had our butchers sausages for brekkie and left Whitesands just before 9am.
The sun was shining but the icy wind had us all wrapped up for the first couple of hours.
A small dog walked with us for a few kilometres before he turned back to do other doggy stuff.
Views of Ramsey Island and the turmoil of Ramsey Sound were superb and followed by huge and impressive St Brides Bay. Skomer was clearly visible on the horizon and more interesting cliff formations to marvel at.

We walked the last bit to Caerfai after a short tea and cake break at Porth Clais.
The campsite on the cliff by the small bay is by far the best we've had so far. Excellent facilities so we pitched with fantastic views along the coast and had a well earned shower. The first for two days. Ah. Happyness is!!!

Chilling in the sun now after some food. Will head the 15 mins into St Davids later for some pints at the pub.

Just Another Fantastic Coastal Day

Monday - Trefin to Whitesands
13.3 miles, 2500ft elevation gain

Just had a superb walk from Trefin to Whitesands on Monday. The wind was still quite there and at times rather icy, but without any gusts.
We put on sunblock right from the start to cope with sun, sun, sun and enjoyed the brilliant views walking ever South at first.
No rush today in such fine weather. We met a few people on the path, but as we reached the little harbour of Porthgain around 11am all of a sudden there were loads of people with dogs and children enjoying a nice bank holiday day.
We were just on time for the ice cream shop to open and ordered our big portions as the canisters were opened.

Wishing for more solitude we walked the fairly busy bit of the path to Abereiddi with a short detour to Trwyncastell, a watchtower ruin with superb views all around.

After Abereiddi we were mostly alone again, ah. Our leisurely pace had cost us quite some time so we quickened our step with feet getting more weary.
Had a few smaller breaks before views to the South coast and Ramsey Island opened up as we were approaching St Davids Head.

Our destination could now finally be seen - Whitesands. Not being a regular hiker Rich was broken, but managed to wobble the last few metres to the shop/café. My feet were hurting a bit and my knees were getting stiff, so I wasn't too unhappy to end our day here.

A coffee and a cake later we had enough energy to walk the 3 minutes up the road to the campsite. Starting to pitch we realized that none of us had the pegs. Ahhh! We must have forgotten them at the first campsite. While I was starting to make some pegs out of some wooden sticks with my knife, Rich went back to the shop and luckily got a pack. Phew!

Had a canned beef soup for dinner and sat a bit at the beach hoping to catch the sunset which was hidden behind clouds, boo.

Back at the tent we got the cards outs and played for a bit but soon were simply too tired and buried ourselves in our sleeping bags.

British Coastal Walking as It Should Be

Sunday - Newport to Fishguard
12.5 miles,  2300ft elevation gain

We both slept like logs after yesterday's tough day.  Today promised to be equally long in milage and a little less in elevation gain,  but most of all the weather was said to be slightly better. Same strong wind, but the heavy rain only in showers.
We stuffed as much food as possible into our bellies for breakfast and the friendly B&B owner gave us a lift back into Newport.

Surprisigly, we were not hurting too much today so walking was easy enough. Up and down along the coast we went, catching only two showers and some strong winds here and there we dried quickly enough. Even a hail shower couldn't do us much harm. Halfway we stopped for a wee bite and some drinks at the Old Sailor pub.
More gorgeous views of rugged cliffs and clashing waves as we made our way towards Fishguard. The path got ever more muddy and looking like proper walkers we strolled into Fishguard. Our feet were hurting a bit after a long day, but we were more than happy for the unexpected mostly sunny day.
Ordered a taxi, had just enough time to pour down half a pint and of we went to Trefin. Shame we're missing what many say the most beautiful part of the PCP, but there was absolutely no place to stay available this early in the year and wild camping was a bit too uncertain with our 2p tent.

Checked in at the Hampton House B&B and chilled for a bit. Of to the pub down the road in a few minutes. Weather looks awesome for the next few days ahead!!! Might be we got all the bad stuff for the week crammed into one day yesterday. I'll be back with a tan!

Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde

That was what the weather was like for our first two days in Pembrokeshire.

Friday - An Easy Start 

The sun was shining from a clear blue sky in the morning, very much as promised.What a nice start. Left the hotel just before 10am and walked up and down the high street which was a bit busier now. Saw some nice little crafts shops but we were merely window shopping. Instead we picked up some coffees and headed over to St. Dogmaels first. Found the coast path easily and soon got rid of or jackets, walking only in our baselayers from then on.What a glorious day! Views got nicer when we headed uphill over some slightly boggy fields. Visited the impressive ruins of the abbey in St.Dogmaels and having a thirst for some fresh alcoholic beverage, we finally found a hotel with an open bar after passing two very cosy looking but sadly closed country pubs. It was just about mid-day, but for us high time for a pint. Sitting outside in the sun, enjoying our drinks and the view of the broadening Teifi river we finally felt like HOLIDAAAAY!!! Had a bit of a chat with a guy who just stopped by. We watched him first trying to get a phone signal before he talked about living in Cambodia, water skiing and offering us a pint should we make it to The Crown in Oxford. What a random and fun meeting.   Picking up our path again we briefly stopped at the official start of the Pembrokeshire Coast which is marked by a map on a pillar.   Arrived at the campsite as early as 2:30pm despite not rushing it at all. Pitched, had some food and walked a bit ahead on the path taking in some fantastic views in the afternoon sun. Tomorrow the weather is going to turn so we took what we could, haha. "Turn" as in heavy rain and strong winds all day. Yay...

Saturday - The Toughest Weather for the Toughest Bit 

Somehow we thought that it might not be as bad as we feared. The forecast promised heavy rain pretty much all day long and strong winds with gusts of up to 35mph. Well, I can say now: it was bang on what was out there. At first we only had the rain going from a steady drizzle to heavy and back. Not so bad. We were still snug. But reaching the first of countless little climbs we said hello to the wind for today. Holy shit. Horizontal from varying directions but mostly into our face or trying to push us off one of the cliffs. There were indeed quite a few no-slip zones, where a mistake would've been certain death. So we passed extra carefully while getting soaked more and more. With no shelter whatsoever anywhere on the trail we had no choice but to plough on through the lashing rain...   6.5 hours we fought the elements without a pause, before we finally reached Newport, traipsing our feet. Completely drenched we had also managed 3300ft of elevation gain. I'm was wet and thus a bit cold but otherwise only my feet were a bit knackered. Rich however was shot. Fair play to him, he's not a hiker and this day was as challenging as it can get. Well done!!!   Slumping on our chairs at the lively and cosy Golden Lion pub in Newport - the first one we had come across - we gulfed down a coffee and destroyed a bag of crisps in seconds. The plan had been to camp here, but soaked to the bone we badly wanted a B&B instead. We asked at the bar if there were any rooms available cause we really liked the place. Unfortunately,  it was completely booked, but the guy offered us to phone a few places. Wow, how nice!!! Long story short, half an hour later we were booked for the night at the Salutation Inn 3 miles up the road. Result and once more proof of don't-ask-don't-get. Brilliant! !! Ordered a taxi and chatted a bit to a few locals who saw our big rucksacks and were curious of where we had walked today. When we told them, their eyes grew big for respect and maybe even admiration for what we had done. Someone said this was the toughest bit of the path, someone else had done it in good weather and found it very hard. We got loads of virtual pats on our backs. Short taxi ride late we found ourselves at the nice quiet counrty pub that is The Salutation Inn. Had a well deserved hot shower and it was simply awesome to get some fresh dry clothes on. Had a great and filling meal there as well, washing it down with Thatchers on tap. Doesn't get better than that.

Far, Far Away... in Wales

Feels weird and good at the same time to be back on the road again. Only had 8.5 days at work after my Scottish mountaineering trip before it was time to head into the wild again. The Welsh coastal wild this time.
So rucksack packed I hitched a lift with a colleague to work last morning. Felt a bit weird with my big backpack and hiking clothes but no one really seemed to bother.

Bus from work to Newport train station to catch the 2:30pm to Carmarthen including my boyfriend who'd come from Bristol.
The weather had been kind the last few days but was throwing a steady spray rain at us right on time for a nice bank holiday weekend. We didn't mind for now as we sat behind the window for the next 2 hours the coach moving ever westwards along the industry-scarred Welsh South coast.

We killed time by munching some salted sweet popcorn which at first I thought was just wrong, but it actually tasted way too good.

Stepped from the train onto the bus for another hour and a half passing through endless boring, deserted villages with those ugly 70s-built houses. It all seems a blur now of the same village over and over again.

Cardigan was a most welcome destination with fairly pretty houses and a faint touch of Aberystwyth flair. Easily found our hotel, which felt more like a working class local pub with some rooms. Don't get me wrong, we quite liked it.

Had a well needed pint at the bar before we walked across the street to the Cardigan Brasserie for food. Rich had found it looking for somewhere to eat and with excellent reviews on TripAdvisor it was our best shot.

Lovely place with amazing but still affordable food and friendly staff. What a nice start into our holiday!!!

Back at the hotel we didn't feel like switching on the smallest tv in the world so we just chilled on the bed for a bit with our bellies full of yummy food and our minds getting into holiday mood.

Killing time on the train

The smallest telly of the world!

Bye bye Scotland, Hello Wales

Back home in Brizzle,  still with vivid memories of the two weeks in Scotland. I'm off to hike the Pembrokeshire Coast Path from Thursday on.

Scottish Winter Mountaineering - My Conclusion

I've had a great time in Scotland, with awesome people. Again Jagged Globe proved to be a great organizer for such a trip and I'm planning to be back next winter.

I've learned a lot. Good and bad. My boots are too clonky (which I half expected anyway) and will prob be replaced, but the rest of my gear worked out great!!! Will add crampons and ice axe during the year, now that I know what to look for.

I need to adjust my training. Circuits are fun and nice for overall fitness. But short intense bursts of exercise is not what you really need for mountaineering. Back to low intensity cardio with cycling and hiking plus - and here I can use my circuits - strength training.

The only real problem is my bad circulation. My toes go numb so quickly and hard boots don't help. Standing on my two front points in boots and crampons is the same as standing on my toes on a small foothold when climbing. Both issue a cramp straight away. I have to accept that fact although I'm a bit gutted. This means I'm very limited in terms of technical routes.

Hello Pembrokeshire

After a week and a half at home I'm off tomorrow with my boyfriend for a lazy (in my terms) walk around the South West coast of Wales for 8-10 days. Compared to what I normally do it's going to be very relaxed, but it's nice to do something with my partner. Plus, I've always enjoyed walking along the British coasts, especially when on a long distance path where you end up in a different place every day.
We don't know how far we'll get, from day four on we'll make it up as we go. The weather looks like the typical mix of pretty shitty and not so bad. Still, looking forward to a couple of days with no rushing, no pushing, just simple walking, plenty of scenery and lovely small coastal villages.

My First Grade II Climb: Dorsal Arete

Our epic mountaineering day on Wednesday left most of us a bit stiff and tired next morning. But the weather was equally amazing today so no time for hanging around really.

I was teamed up with Bill and had the fantastic Sam as an instructor again. I learned so much from her this week as I was lucky to have her almost every day of the week while the instructor student ration dropped to 1:2 today.

Not a cloud in the sky as we made our way up to Stob Coire nan Lochan again. I had been here with the previous course to climb Broad Gully last Friday, so I knew how exhausting and steep the walk in to the actual route is.

The only pause before the actual climb was to put crampons on. Other than that 1.5 hours of relentlessly walking uphill.

Heading towards Stob Coire nan Lochan again

Dorsal Arete close (The rocky lump on the right)

Dorsal Arete is right next to Broad Gully so I found myself almost at the same place as last week. Cool. In the most welcome shade we climbed the several pitches up. It was more snowy than rocky with a few very narrow very exposed mini-ridges about a footstep wide. Wow. I'm not afraid of heights at all, but this was the top end of my comfort zone, haha.

Climbing like a pro with two axes we reached the plateau finishing on a short half snow half rock chimney. Very cool!

Didn't linger long at the top, but still enjoyed the fab views far and wide. We could even see Schiehallion in the distance. And The Ben completely cloudfree.

Pitch 2 ahead

The Ballachulish Horseshoe (Yesterday's climb)

Aonach Eagach in the middle, the Mamores and The Ben behind

The walk back down was long and exhausting again, but the brilliant afternoon sun made up for it. After those two days it feels like the end of our week already although there is still one more day to go. But with the weather turning, rendering any kind of grade I or II climb very unlikely to be in condition, I might give tomorrow a miss and nurture my aching knees instead.

The Alps? Nepal? No! Scotland!!!

Back from an absolute EPIC full on winter mountaineering day. It just doesn't get any better than this! Our initial plan of doing Ledge Route on The Ben was cancelled due to unstable snow conditions. Plan B however was much to my liking!
We drove the few minutes to Ballachulish to start our round of the Ballachulish Horseshoe which is in winter an exciting grade 1 with a good bit of airy ridge walking and some nice mixed pitches.

Our route

The way up to the actual horseshoe via the ridge on the left

It was sunny, it was warm and we were sweating like pigs as we made our way up out of the village and soon onto a relentless uphill walk until we reached the snow line. With a long day ahead we just didn't want to lose any time and rather get to the cool stuff.

Heading up to some proper climbs

Did a number of pitches on mixed ground which were great and enjoyed the fantastic views over Glencoe, the Mamores and Ben Nevis. All around us white peaks and blue sky. It had an alpine feel to it for sure.

After about four or five pitches we put the ropes away and walked up to a minor summit for a short 10 min break, then down to a col and finally up on a knife edge ridge to Sgorr Dhearg. This final push to the summit almost had the feel of a Nepalese Himalayan peak to it... without the altitude of course.

Loch Leven

A col and then up to Sgorr Dhearg on a knife edge ridge

Looks a bit like Nepal... is Scotland

Views from my munro number 34 were stunning. We could see Rum and Lismore and dozens of white peaks around us.

View from the top towards Glencoe

Lismore and Rum in the distance

Time was pressing so we went down the now broad ridge towards the Ballachulish Hotel, still enjoying the views in this fantastic winter weather. The last bit was a terribly steep heather slope followed by an equally steep but now also boggy fight through a plantation, finishing on a gravel/tarmac road. My knees and feet were very unhappy with that.

After all, today was easily the highlight of my not yet done two weeks here in Scotland. This is impossible to beat I'd say. All of us were pretty knackered slumping into the chairs while we took our boots off. Literally without any major break we had been on our feet for 9 hours straight.
Despite fatigue and aching limbs we all had a big grin on our faces and where excitedly babbling away about our day. EPIC!

Ropes, Belays, Anchors

Today was all about climbing securely attached to a rope. We walked up Buachaille Etive Beag again this time with more snow on its slopes and then split into groups of three with one instructor each.
After a splendid day it was a bit murky again but not as wet as expected. Most of the rain and snow had come down over night.

I enjoyed the walk up to the col although I had been here before. Again we couldn't go to the south top, as the wind and avalanche risk wouldn't let us. And besides... we were here to practice our rope work. So we did and learned a lot about how to belay, how to build anchors and where to put the rope, etc.
Standing in the 35mph gusts was just about manageable, but still quite unpleasant. We were getting a bit cold, but it was good to get a better idea of what climbing in Scotland in winter is like. How cold it gets when you're belaying.

Stob Dubh at the far end of Buachaille Etive Beag

Buachaillie Etive Mor

Looking down Lairig Gartain

All of this is getting us prepped for our first graded routes from Wednesday on. The instructor student ratio will be 1:2 then. So tomorrow we're having a short window of pretty good weather. Off to The Ben we're going to apply all of the new skills to a proper route. Can't wait!!!

New Week, New Course, New Group

Had two very relaxed days on Saturday and Sunday. Went into Fort William for some outdoor shopping and walked away with a new pair of waterproofs and some smaller stuff. Not too bad. Weather was fantastic and I regretted not being on a hill a little bit. But after last week, I really needed the rest.
Did literally nothing on Sunday just hanging around watching Netflix and studying for my ITIL exams.

Morning view from the bridge by the hotel

Sunday night I met my group and course instructors for next week. I'm no longer one of the newbies and it feels good!!! Like back in school when you got to second grade, ha!

Today then we had a bit of a talk in the morning about our ambitions and objectives for this week. It can really get quite bespoke as the instructor student ration will drop to 1:2 from Weds on. Cool.
Thought I'd meet a lot of pros in this course, but people have very different backgrounds and skills so I don't really feel like the least experienced in the group.

In superb conditions we drove to Fort William and took the Aonach Mor Gondola to get onto snow quickly. Did some ice axe arrest practice as well as walking in crampons. It certainly helped that I had just done my intro course and I got complimented on my technique by both instructors, ha!!!

Looking back down to Fort William

The Grey Corries in white

On the top of Aonach an Nid we enjoyed fantastic views over Fort William and the Grey Corries as we did some belay practice before we went down again and back.

Had a fantastic day (without a cramp again, yeah). Bit of a shame we had to do the skills recap day today as the weather will turn over night with a front moving through. I'm still happy and looking forward to the next four days!

First Graded Winter Climb Done!

After my near successful attempt of No. 3 Gully on The Ben last Sunday I had another chance yesterday to tick off a graded climb as we wanted to have a look at Broad Gully on Stob Coire nan Lochan. The weather had turned somewhat over night and instead of Southern slopes it was now Northern slopes that had a considerable risk of avalanches.
We went anyway just to have a look on site and then decide what to do. Started the very steep path up into Coire nan Lochan with our objective visible quite early on.

Glen Coe just always gets me. 

Stob Coire nan Lochan looming ahead

Moving on up

I was still battling with my cold and a bit short of breath but not near as bad as Wednesday. My rest day was a very good idea in retrospective.

We put on crampons as we reached the snowline and walked all the way up into the upper coire. Saw a group or two but no one in Broad Gully.

No one could keep up with Luis

We discussed what to do and decided to try Broad Gully and turn back should it get too dodgy. I would've gone the easier and safer route, but was happy to follow the group and trusted our instructor. 

We took our time, probing the snow pack every now and then and made our slow, but most importantly safe ascent of Broad Gully. It was nowhere near as steep and icy as No. 3 Gully had been on Sunday so I felt very much at ease and enjoyed the climb.

Ever moving upwards

Looking back down

Just completed my first Grade 1 climb

It was quite windy up on the ridge - as expected - and we pondered if we should go up to the summit. I would've LOVED to. Being so close and all. But since I'm fairly slow on the descent this would've meant rushing down afterwards so I was more than happy to keep it for another time.

We met a group of obviously quite inexperienced winter mountaineers and they almost looked at us in awe, saying "You've just come up from THERE?!?!". It made us all feel very proud of what we've achieved.

Had a fairly lazy walk back down which was good for my knees and my feet which don't like those hard heavy boots at all. Even managed another day without a cramp!!!
We had time to enjoy the views here and there and without precipitation and even a wee bit of sun, it had been a fantastic winter day so far.

Massive cornice

Nice view of Glencoe Village

Back at the hotel we got our hire gear sorted and after a recap of the day and the week said goodbye to each other.

I had a great time this week and the introductory course with Jagged Globe was awesome. They take their time to teach you lots of important stuff and don't rush out to climb graded routes straight away. I thought it was just the right pace to give everyone the chance to get accustomed to the winter environment, walking in crampons and using their gear.
Even though I had expected to climb more munros or routes I'm very happy with the outcome. I didn't expect it to take so long to get used to crampons and to get relaxed and comfortable walking in them. I think my awkward wobbling around in them had actually a quite negative effect on my cramp-prone (no pun intended, hahaha) feet earlier this week.

Looking towards the next course next week I was almost dreading it a few days ago. Thinking of cramps in awkward positions somewhere high up in a route. I'm more reassured now that I might manage and will just see what happens.