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Published: October 24th 2010
The last Bank Holiday weekend in the UK means another trip off somewhere (3 days in a row … have to make the most of it). This bank holiday was another hiking trip, back to north Wales and Snowdonia. Upfront I experienced possibly the longest most sleep deprived 3 days of my life!
I agreed to drive the mini-bus for the weekend (yep, that’s right 14 other human beings had their life in my hands) so off to Gatwick lunchtime on Friday to pick it up and drive to Hammersmith to pick up the brave souls. We left on time (for once), the traffic was not too bad (for a bank holiday Friday) and all was going well until the lights went out on the motorway! A lovely electrical fault in the bus which saw us waiting at The Hilton (Services) for 3 hours while the AA was ‘busy’. RAC to the rescue (use them instead please they were awesome!) then off again. My 10 shots of coffee, 2 red bulls and excessive sugar got me to Llanrug, but let me tell you negotiating your way through the heart of Snowdonia at 3am in the morning in a 17 seater
mini-bus after 11 hours travel … not so good!
Friday night … 3 hours sleep + 1 hour broken nappage!
Saturday we were supposed to make an assault on the summit of Snowdon … not happening. Off to Anglesey Island and Holyhead to gaze over the sea at Ireland and do a nice little coastal walk with a wee little hill thrown in for good measure. This time of the year the different colour heathers + yellow of the gorse set against rolling green fields, sparkling blue water and smoky purple hills … sigh … visual heaven! A few hours walking then my favourite place (the pub!) before back to the hostel for dinner (not driving that bit) and the pub for more not driving liquids. Always dangerous when its within walking distance.
Saturday night … 5 hours sleep + 1.5 hours broken nappage.
Sunday … Snowdonia. A hell of a lot of phaffing went on before we were on our way, but on the bright side it meant that the only rain showers of the day were over and done with before I even started up the mountain. Glenn & I had done mini-bus shuttles
to have one at the beginning at Rhyd Ddu and one at the end of the Ranger, the loop making the Snowdon Horseshoe. This meant, catch up time, to everyone else who had already done 30 mins up the mountain … sleepy! Caught up and kept going until we hit the ridge line up to the summit. Uh Oh, 60 mph winds whipping up over the summit meant a step retrace and instead of spending 8 hours doing the up and over we probably did 4.5 hours and then settled down at the tea shop for cream tea + pancakes. It was a little sad, but the pancakes rocked.
Sunday night … 6.5 hours sleep + 1 hour broken nappage
Monday was the last day/travel back so we headed off south to Dollgellau for a wee little waterfall walk. That’s when I discovered the mini-bus (packed to the rafters) didn’t actually lock so I had some quiet book, waterfall time by myself. Trip back relatively uneventful until we reached a road division, I got confused by the SatNav and took my bus off on it’s own path! Eventually made it back to Hammersmith, then Gatwick then home in
bed by 1.20am ..
Monday night … not nearly enough … especially with work Tuesday!!
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