Lakeland Grandeur

Wainwrights: Red Pike, High Stile, High Crag

Just back from another crackin' day in the Lake District chilling at The Hayloft, our camp site's very own and pretty decent restaurant, shipping Old Rosie. If you want to get pickled after just one pint, right after some outdoors exercise,  this 7% cider will do the trick nicely.

Drove down to Buttermere a bit later than expected, but we had to pay the local butcher a visit to get some bits and bobs for tonight's BBQ and some breakfast items. Somehow managed not to buy a ridiculous amount of food and off we drove on a single track road towards Buttermere.

Got a bit lucky with the parking and started our walk around 11:15. Down into the village we walked and towards the lake marvelling at the towering hills all around. Grasmoor serenely towered over Crummock Water not needing a spectacular shape to impress. Whilst Fleetwith Pike sat at the other end of Buttermere Lake as if it was a gatekeeper for anyone who wanted to leave the valley.

Buttermere Lake

We took the steep steps up towards Red Pike which still hid behind the lump that is yet another Dodd (There are quite a few hills with "Dodd" in their name. People must have run out of ideas, this one simply called "Dodd".)

Up through the forest

Eventually, we cleared the forest and zigzagged up through open hill side on a rocky path until it met Sourmilk Gill and led up along it. This must be the coolest name for a stream anywhere in this country!

We had a wee break at Bleaberry Tarn which sits like quite a few others right in the middle of a rocky amphitheatre. This time we were marvelling at the impressive Chapel Crags and our objective number 1 for the day: Red Pike.

 Chapel Crags and Red Pike on the right. 

Having recovered a bit from the steep ascent so far, we tackled the final push up Red Pike on a very steep red scree slope. T his surely must be the most difficult war of climbing this fell. 

Views from the top were absolutely stunning with Grasmoor and Mellbreak to the East and Ennerdale to the South along with countless peaks of which we could only name very few. 

 Grasmoor's massive bulk to the right Mellbreak on the left. 

We didn't longer long, it was sunny but also quite breezy up here.
Next up was the highest peak of the day: High Stile. We walked along the ridgeline with the path sometimes only being half a metre away from certain death, whilst climbing ever higher.
Before we knew it we were at the 807m top. Time for a lunch break. Found a spot somewhat sheltered from the wind, enjoying the  amazing views.

Up next was High Crag. Down and up the rocky path we went, whilst the massive round shape of Great Gable dominated the horizon. 

Great Gable sitting majestically at the end of Ennerdale. Wow!

After a knee crunching descent we went up and over Seat before reaching the saddle between Seat and the now impressive rocky lump of Haystacks.

Haystacks

Haystacks must certainly be one of the big ticket items. Still, I left the decision to carry  on to Rich. Funny enough I really was indifferent. We've had had a cracker of a day so far and it was already 15:45. I'd just as happily sit outside with an ice cream cone than carry on over Haystacks.
He was quite knackered and opted for the way home, to which I happily obliged.

He knew how much I liked ticking off hill tops, but for once I wasn't sad about it. My feet were sore again (Don't walk without socks in knackered trail running shoes like I had the day before.) and sure I could've carried on, but there's no harm in leaving a great hill for another time, when you can really appreciate it.

With tired limbs we made our way down to the lake shore and walked along it back to the village.

Lake Buttermere. 

Arrived just two minutes to five, just about in time to get an ice cream from the cafe. Result.

What a cracker of a day we've had! Although covered in a layer of red dust mixed with dried sweat,  you could tell that even Rich was sporting something resembling a tan. He normally just burns, peels and then turns pasty white again. I was on my way to chocolate brownie by now, without even trying.

Drove back to Keswick to get some last bits for the barbie, filled up the car and ended up downing aforementioned Old Rosie.

Brilliant day!

15k Walk to the Ice Cream Parlour

Wainwrights: Latrigg, Lonscale Fell

Boll.. s!!! I just wrote a nice blog post for about 30 mins and lost it all... It's gone. All that work. Well, here we go again.

Had a good night's sleep not even needing earplugs as the high winds had mostly gone.
Rich had cooked a ginormous pot of tasty chilli and we had watched some Amazon Prime afterwards,  slouching on our new low camping chairs in the porch with the iPad propped up on our new low table.  Perfect!

Had some chocolate and banana pancakes in the morning before we finally moved to Castlerigg Campsite. Now that the back hols were over we had almost free choice of space. 

Pitched and left around 11am for today's walk opting for a loop straight from the campsite, heading for our chosen ice cream parlour in town via a hill or two. 

Again I was in tank top and shorts so far up North whilst Bristol was getting rain and thunderstorms.

Down the road we walked, crossed the river and enjoyed a nice wooded section as we skirted Latrigg's South slope to the West. 

We joined the Cumbria Way for a short section and then headed pretty much straight up to Latrigg's top through a support steep wood and then open hill side. 

Views from the top were absolutely jaw dropping and I had been keen to show Rich one of the numerous viewpoints like this you find around Keswick. That's why I like the area so much. A grand view is never far.

Down we went to the car park, which was only 300m down a great slope.  Most people had come this way today. It was busy but not too crazy.

I normally don't like touristy and popular places like this, but if that means I can get a decent coffee than I quickly shut up. And no, the cafe on Snowdon does not count!!!

Indeed,  there was a coffee van at the car park just when we thought how much money an ice cream van would make here on a day like this. 

We settled for coffees and had a lunch break in the sun. Awesome!

Eventually, we got up again around 2pm to do some more walking. After all we had a date at the ice cream parlour in town, right?

The mighty hunks of Skiddaw and Little Man were looming to the left, the sombre Blencathra range rising to the right. Most people chose either of the two for their next target. We chose Lonscale Fell,  the unassuming fell right in between its famous neighbours. 

Headed East towards Blencathra first,  then went once more very steeply uphill along a fence. What a slog it was. 

We were the only ones far and wide,  hiding and puffing whilst the only other mammals nearby were sheep, which eyed us like no other human being ever walks up here.

Eventually,  we got to the broad ridge at the top with core opening up over the back of Skiddaw and Blencathra which to me always feels like I'm looking at a well kept secret. Some hidden scenery that hardly anyone knows of. 

We walked to the East to of the ridge for a quick breather,  then to the actual top of Lonscale Fell. 

I assumed that there was going to be a good path down to the West to connect the Skiddaw and Blencathra ranges. It just made sense and although not on any of our maps, it was right there. 

We headed down it and eventually joined the broad gravel path that was coming down from Skiddaw. 

After some alone time on Lonscale we joined the more popular route again and walked all the way down into Keswick on the Cumbria Way. 

4:45pm we reached the first houses. Not knowing when our usual ice cream hang out was about to close we stopped at the first one that we passed by and were treated to some amazing Italian gelato!!!

Ciders in the... shade followed,  we'd had enough sun for the day. The food at the Square Orange,  a European style bistro which serves amazing pizzas and even more amazing cocktails. Strawberry Mojito.

We're quite pickled and pretty knackered now. Only a 25min uphill drag before showy and bed. A real Lakeland epic is waiting for us tomorrow!

Walking Warm-up

Wainwrights: Sale Fell, Ling Fell

First day of walking for us today. The night had been very stormy and I was glad for my earplugs, otherwise it would've been a rather sleepless one for me.

Gave Castlerigg Campsite a ring in the morning, but a lot of guests had already extended their stay and realistically we wouldn't know if there was a free space for us before 11:30 or so. 

Decided to stay another night at Dalebottom then and try the next day as many would likely leave at the end of the bank hols.

So instead of packing and moving we cooked breakfast on Rich's ancient gas hob. Did so in the back of the car as it was still very windy. Even then we struggled to keep the flame going at first. 

Venison bangers and scrambled egg with bacon lardons. Proper brekkie that is.

Drove up to the top of Bassenthwaite Lake, then turned left on a minor road and soon parked up outside a church 11-ish.

This part of the Lakes is quite different to where the more famous hills reside. Here it's all low grassy hills, wild flowers and the occasional bit of wood.
Still we enjoyed grand views over to the Skiddaw Range and Grisedale Pike as well as green fields to the West and even the Scottish coast of Galloway.

Up we went on a perfect grassy path skirting Sale Fell's flank at first then heading straight for the top. As we gained height the strong easterly wind hit us, so much so that we could do a proper Moonwalker at the top!

Just a bit of wind up here

Fought our way over the few bumps that make up the top and descended on the South West flank, stopping halfway down for a quick break out of the worst of the wind. It had been a good decision not to aim for any of the higher big ticket items today, despite the blue skies and warming sun.
Indeed, I was walking in shorts and tank top, which I have never been able to do in Britain when the wind was blowing 30-40mph!

Walked steeply down to a wooded section of a minor road then up the other side for objective number 2: Ling Fell.
Again we skirted the slope, gaining height very slowly, but we were out of the worst of the wind.
Brief steep push to the top then down very steeply but aiming straight for the road.
Another short break for lunch with game salami and nuts, then a walk back  to the car on a minor road.

On Ling Fell

It was only 2pm, but we wanted to stop at The Pheasant Inn right by the A66 which had looked like a very nice country pub when we had passed by earlier.

Had a couple of refreshing driver friendly beverages and booked us in for dinner Wednesday night. What a lovely pub! Really liked what we saw on the menu and nice not too posh atmosphere despite the Jags and Maseratis parked outside.

Just sitting here chilling now after a lovely warm-up walk. Somehow I think we should've done one of the grand horseshoe rounds, but with a wind like this it wouldn't have been much fun despite the otherwise pristine conditions.

Going to pop into the Co-op on our way home to buy some booze for tonight and then it's back to the camp site to cook up a nice chilli... probably in the back of the car again,  ha ha.

Back in Keswick!

Well, well I'm on the road again. Been a busy first six months of my 40th year so far with Argentina, Thailand, South Devon and South Wales already ticked off.

Still, with adventures half across the globe, I was still looking forward to going back to the Lake District... very much looking forward to it indeed. And so was Rich.

We had had a great time when going up for half a week of hiking two years back. I had spent another week based in Keswick on my own between then and now and decided that it's a great place from which to explore the Lakes from.

So now I'm here with Rich after a 5.5hr drive up from Bristol. Despite a 7:30am start we still got into a bit of bank holiday traffic. But as the weather improved the further up North we got (Normally it's the other way around.), the more our mood improved as well.

Drove  into the outskirts of Keswick in glorious sunshine having just passed Blencathra, me enthusiastically pointing out Sharp Edge to Rich, who was slightly indifferent as he was driving and, fair enough, he had to concentrate on the road. To me it was like seeing old friends again. Skiddaw, Great Mell Fell, Catbells... I was beaming and keen on introducing Rich to all of them.

Rolled onto Castlerigg Campsite just outside Keswick only to find it full. It had been a risk just turning up, but they didn't take bookings anyway. Told us to come back next morning, as they had a number of guests planning on leaving Sunday.

Phoned around a bit, tried the sister site down the road and got lucky at Dale Down campsite, a 5min drive down the road. Lovely campsite with great views all around and a strong wind going! Checked in for one night and battled with the tent, but got it fairly quickly pitched, because we knew what we were doing, ha.
Just threw the basics inside and helped our neighbours pitch theirs as they were struggling and obviously not very experienced.

Headed into town hopping into a bus halfway down, arriving in a bustling bank holiday Keswick around 3pm. Had some Italian ice cream, checked some pub food menus and settled into one pub's beer garden out back with a couple of pints finally able to chill and get into a holiday mood. 

View of Blencathra from the road to the campsite

Made plans for the next three days. That is: I made the plans based on a couple of weather forecasts and told Rich, what we were going to do, ha ha.

Had another quick mooch around, bought some steak mince for our chilli tomorrow night from a market stall and settled into The Pack Horse pub for early dinner around 5pm.
Turned out we timed it just right, as it got quite busy soon after.
Pub grub was half decent and we left pretty stuffed to get the bus back to the camp site.

Looks like this bug had something to say about the plan

Beer and food. Richie happy.

Climbing Aconcagua Part 1 - Voy a Argentina!

I've been back a month now, but my trip to Argentina in January will be with me for a long time! Was about time to finally give Aconcagua a shot! When I climbed Kilimanjaro three years prior, I would've gone straight to Argentina, but it took me three years to get the money and the time off work sorted.

Needless to say I was super excited about going on another expedition with Jagged Globe and this time a much more serious one, but also going to the home of steaks and Malbec, two of my favourite things in life!!! So without further ado.... my Aconcagua trip report:

Part 1: Bristol - London - Madrid - Santiago - Mendoza - Andes!!!

Sat Jan 6th - Jan 7th

The journey to Argentina was going to be a long one, with plenty of stops in between, but with a 13 hour flight in the middle, which I was not looking forward to at all!

Packing had been a challenge. For Kili we'd been told that everything had to go into the Jagged Globe kit bag so I thought for Aconcagua it would be the same. My pack list had been long and spread out in the spare bedroom I doubted I could get everything in. With a bit of intelligent packing (socks into water bottles etc.) I really managed to cram is all in! Big boots found a home in my 40L backpack cabin luggage as did my climbing helmet and big down jacket. I was very pleased with myself!

First there was chaos...

...then there was order.

Rich dropped me off at the bus station to catch the 10:30am to Heathrow T5. Found I had lost one part of the hip belt clip on my backpack. The first panic quickly vanished as I realised that my big backpack for the high camps had the same clips so I could simply swap them. I would not wear both packs at the same time. Phew!

Sipped on a coffee at the airport and chilled for an hour before meeting most of the team. Leader Rob seemed relaxed and cool. Good to see Chris and Rupinder again who I had both met on the pre-trip weekend in Sheffield October last year. The rest of the group was very nice and chatty. It was here, where I found out, that I didn't have to squeeze everything into the Jagged Globe kit bag. In fact, only one other person had actually gone through that ordeal. Everybody else had simply bigger packs. My future room and tent mate Lisa had to wear her big double mountain boots, warm jacket and ski trousers as they otherwise simply hadn't fit into any of her bags.

Check-in took forever even though we didn't have to wait to get to the counter. Apparently, most of us couldn't get tickets all the way to Mendoza, but had to get new tickets in Madrid. Our luggage would be going all the way to Mendoza though.

Did just that in Madrid, which was deserted at that late hour. The 13hr flight to Santiago de Chile took forever! After only three hours I was shifting in my seat, not being able to find a position where my lower back wasn't aching. Hardly slept at all. I stood up every now and then, but even during the night, I felt I was always in the way of people passing by for the loo or whatever.

Arrived in Santiago the next morning to a hazy blue sky and warm 21C. Time to zip off my trousers and make them into shorts. I'm so clever.
Hopped over the Andes on the last flight to arrive in Mendoza around noon. It was warm! And sunny.  I felt for Lisa in her summit day outfit.
We were all glad our journey was pretty much over. The mini bus to the hotel in the city centre didn't take much longer than half an hour maybe. Check in of such a large group however took ages. At least an hour. And we were not the only ones.

Eventually, me and Lisa had our room access cards, sort of unpacked, had a shower and headed down to the hotel restaurant for a late lunch. We were super hungry. The food on the plane had been good, but had left me starving.
The kitchen was a bit overwhelmed by a dozen hungry guests. Most ordered pizza, I tried in my best halting Spanish to figure out which of the DIY salad ingredients were actually available. It took a while and let's say I didn't get much variety, but hey. It was food.

Quick brief in the lobby at 4pm about the rest of the day and tomorrow, then walked out to find the big supermarket nearby. It was warm and nice and I instantly liked Mendoza. It felt like holiday with the tree lined roads and walking around in shorts and tank top.
Got some bottled water and snacks at the supermarket but paying by card required to show my passport, which I hadn't brought... errr. Bummer. Back to the hotel empty-handed.
6pm we met our chief guide Javier in the lobby, another - more successful supermarket run afterwards - and another meet in the lobby at 8pm to head out for dinner. Had a couple of beers at the hotel bar happily chatting to my fellow climbers. What a diverse and generally chilled group.

Javier took us to a fancy looking steak restaurant, but it seemed normal to walk in in flip flops and shorts. We were the only ones until like 21:30 when the Argentinians started to come in. We learned that this is indeed quite normal behaviour.
My first Argentinian steak was marvelous!!! Not medium rare as I ordered, but I didn't care. It melted in the mouth and washing it down with local Malbec was simply awesome. Happy days!

Malbec anyone?

Breakfast buffet the next morning was really nice. Spicy sausages, potatoes and egg and something we thought might have been coca tea bags. Didn't taste very nice though.
The planned 9am meet to sign our Aconcagua National Park permits resulted in a 90-minute wait until it was finally sorted.
Javier took us to a trusted money exchange, some did some last minute emergency shopping and 12:15 we left for Penitentes on another mini bus. Bye bye Mendoza. See you in three weeks.

The scenery got more and more dramatic the further we drove. Two hours in, we stopped for lunch at a roadside restaurant. I had hoped for an experience like this ever since I saw a program where John Torode travelled Argentina and stopped at those for some amazing grilled meat.
We all ordered the mixed grill. White bread with chimichurri was followed by empanadas and a huge plate of grilled beef, pork and sausages with more huge plates of chips and salad all to share. I happened to sit near our two vegetarians who worked their way through a humongous Spanish omelette. So I only shared the meat plate with two other people. Ha!!!! Earned my first kudos for eating like a lard.

Another hour and even more dramatic landscape later we arrived at our winter sport hotel - Penitentes. It was a bit of a deserted place now in summer, but inside it was bustling with climbers. We unloaded the bus and immediately started repacking in the porch. Big backpack would go to basecamp the next day with big boots, warm down jackets, googles etc inside. Kit bag would go to the next camp. Smaller backpack was going to be day pack. It took some faffing but eventually we got there. Checked in, shower and a short walk around the deserted place playing around with my new GoPro Hero6 and getting used to the gimbal.

Had another brief out on the porch about altitude and it's effects on the human body and some general rules on how to stay ahead of it. Basically drink four litres every day plus teas, juice, soups etc. and eat as much as you like. From now on we were sipping, sipping, sipping. Water bottles became our constant companions. Just as the hand sanitiser. You would hardly see anyone without carrying at least one of those around.

View from our hotel room

Dinner was a three course meal, but I was still stuffed from lunch, so I only had the main. Steak of course! And it was another one to die for with the best mushroom sauce ever! I was simply in heaven here. Getting such amazing food in a very basic 2-star hotel was still a surprise to us.

You don’t need to dream when you know you can fly

That's a line from Chris Rea's hit "Julia" and as I look back on another decade of my life, this is exactly what comes to my mind. On the day I turned 30 - almost 10 years ago - I concluded that it was time for a change. I was leading a perfectly decent life, but I wasn't happy. I wasn't who I wanted to be. I had a good job, I had great friends etc. But something was missing. I decided to stop dreaming and start doing.

Now, as I'm about to turn 40, I'm looking back on a decade full of adventures, challenges, changes and dreams come true. Friends occasionally ask me how I do all this cool stuff and are generally quite amazed (whilst my family probably shake their heads thinking "What's she come up with now?").

How you can do it, too

It really is quite easy and comes down to two simple principles:

1. No regrets. "I wish I had done this earlier." You can't change the past. So stop regretting. Do it now! 
2. It's all about priorities. "I can't do X, because of Y." normally means "Y" is more important to you. "I can't become a good musician, because I rather watch telly than practice countless hours every week." It really is as simple as that in 90% of the cases. 

Stop dreaming, start doing. My last 10 years in a nutshell

So there I was, just turned 30. I bought a guitar the very next day and decided to become a musician. I had stood in front of the stage on countless gigs, watching friends and heroes killing it up there. I wanted to do that, too. So that's what I did! I practised and practised, joined a friend's band half a year later and played my first gig 6 months later.
I overcame some initial (understandable) scepticism a few of my established musician friends had and proved that dedication is all you need. I played countless gigs in front of up to 500 people, had quite a few guest appearances in other bands and recorded an album with my band... in a studio... a proper CD and all... how cool is that?

Lovin' it!

I had had some guitar and keyboard lessons in my teens, but didn't really stick to it. If only I had! How good would I have been at 30 then? Damn you principle 1. Okay, no regrets. Don't look back, look forward. I couldn't change it anyway, right? The rest was simply principle 2 :).

Same applies to my other big change and adventure. I moved to England in 2013! Something I should have done long ago (see principle 1), but I think I just didn't want it enough until that very moment (see principle 2). I'd just had enough of Berlin and had spend 1-2 holidays each year on the British Isles for years. I'd had a love for everything British since my late teens.
So I applied for jobs, eventually got one in Bristol, packed my bags and went. I never looked back. Do I miss my friends and family? Yes, of course. But I've been here for four years now and not once regretted my decision.

But it didn't stop there. I found my love for the great outdoors and went on weeks long solo long distance hikes. Just me and my tent. I wild camped on top of a mountain, rock climbed on Sardinia, climbed Scottish mountains in winter, walked two weeks with Rich on the Kungsleden through Swedish wilderness and stood on top of the highest mountain of Africa (and I am about to try a summit of the highest one in South America).

Winter mountaineering in Glen Coe

On top of Kilimanjaro. One of the best trips I've ever done.

Solo long distance hiking in North Wales

Rock climbing on Sardinia

Wild camping in Sweden

I even became a tour guide for a friend's company. Another dream come true. Two weeks each year I'm guiding groups of up to 16 people through South Devon, Dartmoor or North Wales. Possibly adding a week or two in the future looking at the Lakes, Cornwall or Scotland.

I became a Krav Maga practitioner (doing Martial Arts was a long dream of mine). I went to Singapore all alone to train under former Muay Thai and Boxing world champions three times a day for two weeks.

At my Krav Maga club

Awesome time in Singapore, being trained by two former world champions

I ran half a dozen 10K cross country races and a Tough Mudder (all of them last year) and will run my first half marathon in May 2018.

Bath Skyline 10K Cross Country. Brits love this kind of running. Me too!

In Enterprise Architecture, I found a career path I'm actually really enthusiastic about, just when I was fed up with fixing IT problems all day long. I've gained my first few professional qualifications and really enjoy learning new stuff all the time.

I've done so many other cool things like caving or mountain bike tours, too many to list them all here.

What's Next?

To be honest... I don't know. I'll spend my 40th birthday in base camp on Aconcagua at 4200m, hoping to summit a week later if weather allows.
I'll stick to Martial Arts and will get better until I'm a badass, haha. I'll keep guiding tours as time allows, aiming to do the more mountainuous ones from the catalogue in the future.

Other than that, I'll make it up as I go. The only thing I'm certain about: I won't be sitting at home much.

But the best thing is: In Rich I have a partner I can share a lot of the coming adventures with!

ONTO THE NEXT 10 YEARS!

Weekend Training Camp Brecon Beacons

Last weekend I finished phase 1 of my Aconcagua training regime! Four weeks done and I was able to make up for all missed Krav sessions. I'm feeling good and I just started phase 2.

What better way to finish this first stage off with a walking weekend in the Brecon Beacons? Rich was away so I could up the ante a bit. I was determined to go, no matter what the weather was going to throw at me.

So the plan was:
Run another 10k trail race Saturday morning, quick shower at home then drive 2 hrs to Garreg Lwyd, park up and walk as far as I could in the remaining daylight. Pitch the tent and chill.
Walk the remainder of the 13k there-and-back route Sunday morning, then drive over to near Heol Senni for a circular of Fan Nedd, Fan Gyhirych and Fan Fraith. Another 13k. All with a heavy pack with tent and everything.

Saturday, Nov 11
Weather looked abysmal for Saturday and much improved for Sunday. So I really just had to sit it out. Ran my 10K trail race which was just another lovely wee event organised by Aspire Running. It was terribly muddy, but at least dry from above.

Quick shower and lunch at home, then headed to Mountain Road car park right in the Brecon Beacons, a further 30mins up from Swansea.

Garreg Lwyd Weather Forecast for Saturday

Arrived 2pm. So far it was overcast, but no water from above. Just a steady but slight wind which made it feel a bit colder than the 8C it was. Lugged my 16.5kg backpack up to the first hilltop Garreg Lwyd, then down to a broad saddle and up again to Fan Fraith.

In good spirits at the car park

Looking back down to the car park

Garreg Lwyd up ahead in the mist

Love Welsh mountain walking

The mood was good. Couldn't see much, but when I did, my eyes fell on endless amazing Welsh mountain scenery. Have to come back in better weather!!

Down to another very broad saddle and up to the rocky shoulder of Garreg Las. It was now 4pm and I had about 30-45mins of daylight left. Walked up a bit, but it got ever more rocky so I dropped down again to find a nice dry-ish and flat spot to pitch the tent. Just as I found one, rain finally started to fall.

The big hunk of rock and grass in the back is Garreg Las, with the top at the left and my camp spot at the very right.

Getting cosy for the long night

Settled in, munched my pot noodle and had about 4 hours to kill. Read a bit, did some studying and more lectures of my Spanish audio course.

Sunday, Nov 12
Wind had picked up over night with rain shower after rain shower washing over me. I slept fairly well, got up around 7, had tea and soup for brekkie and enjoyed the wild view outside whilst the rain took a break.

Good morning Wales! View from the tent.

Packed my stuff inside as a light rain had set in and just as I peeled myself out of the tent a proper shower washed over me including some nice strong wind. Joy! Full waterproofs and gloves it was.
Set off at 8am for remainder of the path to Garreg Las, battled rain, wind and hail straight into my face at temperatures of 3C.

Eventually reached the top and had a very brief glimpse of my surroundings. Wow! Breathtaking. The ridge ahead looked stunning, the green flat land to the North beautiful.

Katja 1, Welsh weather 0

A brief glimpse of the ridge ahead

Five seconds of a view

With clothes getting wetter and wetter and the persistent strong wind, I didn't linger long and turned around to walk back to the car park the same way I had come.

I got pretty battered by the weather. Time and again showers with rain and hail washed over me. The worst bit was walking down to the car park. Wind speed must have been around 30-40mph, wipping hail into my face. I actually had to stop and turn my back to it a few times.

By the time I reached the car I was frozen to the bone and dripping wet. Don't get me wrong, I have pretty good top of the line waterproof kit, but even this can only withstand a certain level of battering.
I got out of my wet clothes as quickly as I could, slipped into dry long merino baselayers and sat in the car with the engine running for about half an hour sipping hot tea from my flask until I finally warmed up.

With my only pair of waterproof gloves completely drenched, there was no way I was going up another hill today in wind and rain at 3C. So I called it a day and headed home around mid day. Surely, I had bright blue skies and sunshine all the way from Port Talbot to Bristol. Arg. But often enough (almost always I tend to say), the weather in the mountains is very different.

This was the second time I had shied away from Fan Nedd due to bad weather and both times it had been the right call. It will still be there for another few thousand years, so I have all the time in the world.

Great little adventure this was and again I didn't stick to plan A. Somehow I rarely ever do. You have to make decisions on the spot and this is part of what I love about hillwalking and even more so when walking off the beaten track.
Packing the tent and wild camping overnight somewhere along the path, with no idea where when you set off may seem daunting, doing this mid-November with limited daylight hours maybe even more so. But this is ultimate freedom. No one is telling me what to do and where to go, I don't have to be somewhere at a certain time.
I knew the weather was going to be challenging and I didn't care. I did enjoy my short trip and I would definitely go again. Much better than sitting at home watching telly.