Wet Welsh Holidays

Wales was quite wet last week…

As I’d said in my previous post, my sister had booked a cottage for the whole family to get together. We hardly ever manage to get everyone in the same place, not even at Christmas, so this was a great opportunity for all the nephews and nieces to get to know the extended family.

Caroline knew that we wouldn’t probably go if the cottage wasn’t in a climbing destination, so she booked a fantastic place just south of Blaenau Ffestiniog…. shame she couldn’t also book wall-to-wall sunshine.

You’ll have seen from the previous blogs that Sunday and Monday were fine. Tuesday was damp, but we were cooking and preparing for the evening’s entertainment.

After heavy rain over night, Wednesday started off reasonably dry, so we planned to tackle the adventurous nine pitch Avernus on Trwyn y Gorlech out on the Lleyn peninsula. It is supposed to be quick drying, but there was just too much water about so we abandoned that plan… it’ll have to be saved for another day.

We made our way back towards Blaenau Ffestiniog and headed in to the Moelwyns for some micro navigation practice. After four hours of taking bearings, pacing, timing, and deciding Pete’s ancient compass needs to be replaced, we headed back to the mansion for a feast of fish & chips.

Thursday we had planned for a trip into the Devil’s Kitchen. Only the Martins were up for it – this was the first trip into the mountains for the boys and they were keen to slay the dragon who evidently lives up there. Armed with their special swords and shields (purchased the day before in Caernarfon Castle), they braved the streams of dragon pee, the piles of dragon poo, and marched towards the misty dragon breath that capped the hill tops. Luckily (?!) there was so much rain, they didn’t find any dragons.

I practiced my leadership skills and attempted to get them interested in man eating plants, such as sundew and butterwort, but they didn’t seem too bothered. Oh well. It would be odd if boys of 5 and 7 were interested in plants.

A traditional tea and cake finished the day and we headed back to the mansion for a not so sunny BBQ. My parents had joined the group and it was Maddies’ birthday, so we had a bit of a party with jelly and more cakes.

Friday was wet again. We picked some bilberries, did some reading, checked out the Glaslyn Ospreys (cool!), and ate left-overs.

Saturday was still wet. Oh well!

We didn’t get a lot of climbing done during the week, but it was good to be with the family…. although I could now do with another holiday. The final thing to do was pack up, take a family photo and head on home to make something naughty with the bilberries.

Series - Welsh Holidays

1. Gogarth
2. Murder on the SS Titanium
3. Wet Welsh Holidays