Last Sunday Carol was running in a 10K race and I had nothing planned. I have no idea why, but having not been near the hills for AGES and being definitely unfit, unlike my sporty wife, I thought "I know, I will go up to Carnedd Llewelyn - which at 1064m (3492ft) is the 3rd highest in England & Wales, and then go on to Carnedd Dafydd, which I've done twice before, and at 1040m (3413ft) is the 4th highest in England & Wales!
You know, I was just SO excited by the thought of doing the walk by myself, and spontaneously, no planning like normal, just chuck gear in my Rucksack and go for it. The weather was gorgeous and the day was young, I could take as long as I like, take as many photos as I like and come back when I like :-) I did check the Mountain Weather Forecast which showed 0% chance of precipitation but nevertheless I threw my new Musto & Rab jackets in just in case! I made a drinking bottle of sweet orange squash and bought a mineral water, sandwiches, bananas, Twix and wine gums in Tescos :-) The wine gums are instant release carb energy, I guessed I'd be needing a lot of that and twice as tasty as the bananas which I only bought to impress Carol when I told her :-)
Camera wise I decided to take the 70-200 f2.8 which is a BEAST to be reckoned with but is SO sharp! I of course always have my wide angle with me anyway. As I was carrying outdoor kit as well I used the Lightwave Fastpack 40 rucksack rather than my new Lowe Alpine Camera rucksack, and even with all the kit packed, it just felt SO much better than any camera rucksack ever has! I felt prepared and ready for anything. I even had my new iPhone 3GS with earphones so I felt high tech as well!
Anyway, I parked up the van, amazingly there was a space where normally it's packed! I started off up the track and I had a grin from ear to ear and a hear that felt so happy it was going to burst. After less than 500 yards up the track my heart felt like it was going to burst anyway, for totally different reasons, I can't believe how bloody unfit I have become ! I had several wine gums because I knew they would help :-) I also drank a full quarter of the orange squash and I could still see the bloody van ! :-)) Anyway, at this point I thought music might help so plugged in my earphones and started listening to Gabriel Yared, suitably from my "Cold Mountain" soundtrack. After just 5 minutes of my heartbeat being stronger than Jose Gonzales, and Cold Mountain having become decidedly warmer, I felt that listening to iTunes was seriously doing nothing for the ambience and it went away. 6 more wine gums, mostly red.
I said hello sideways ( so that they couldn't see the sweat pouring down my face, definitely NON de rigeur!) to two walkers deep in conversation striding down the mountain. And then I was alone again, but feeling better. I knew I was getting into my anaerobic phase, meaning no oxygen, loads of calorie loss but all that lovely fat of mine still grinning around my belly :-)
And then I reached the lake, and everything changed, physically and mentally. Suddenly I was up here alone, well at least I couldn't see anyone, my heart rate had stabilised, the light was intense, the mountains were quiet and I could see for miles. I got the camera out and just felt incredibly happy. Perhaps it's because usually I do the mountains with partners, friends or family that this time it just felt even more meaningful, that notion of insignificance, of vulnerability, of taking our real place in the vastness of it all. Llyn Ffynnon Llugwy looked black even in the sun, only the first few feet of water being made visible by brown looking stones disappearing into the gloomy depths. Tryfan behind me was looking superb, tall and triangular, a piece of rugged sculpture amongst the smoothness of the bigger hills all around. I heard someone shouting, a really weird shouting. They repeated it several times with quiet gaps of a few seconds but I couldn't see anyone anywhere. And then there was this ghastly smell all around, really pungent, and then another screeching call much closer this time. From nowhere a huge horned black billy goat had appeared about 20 feet away and was stood there staring at me whilst scraping it's front hoof backwards and forwards in the earth! It gave me quite a shock, so I started talking to it, you know, "Wow, you are a nice Billy Goat aren't you, yes lovely Billy goat, what's your name then Billy! :-)))" and so on, hoping he hadn't been tempted by the wine gums sticking provocatively out of the side pockets of the rucksack - I wasn't even sure Billy goats eat wine gums but I stuffed them out of sight just in case. I managed to shoot a picture of him as he started to get close and then he trotted off past me leaving a positively green wake not out of place in "Labyrinth" :-)
I headed for the back wall munching a wine gum every 100ft or so and the started the very, very steep ascent up to the col of Craig yr Ysfa. I used my count to 10 steps and repeat mode to find a rhythm up the face but stopped every 30 or so steps for another wine gum! Finally I exited at the col and the wind was suddenly there, everywhere, blowing over the arete, it was cooling and lovely and I slurped more of my squash before heading up, well scrambling up in some places, to the summit of Penywaun Wen. From here I could see the summit of Carenedd Llewelyn and a nice gentle walk up rolling hillside to the top. The clouds had built up considerably and there was even the hint of chill in the air, only notice after stopping for a few minutes to take photographs. There was a huge carpet of long, bright dried grasses and some lovely structural boulders standing prominently amongst it all so I took just one or two frames, more in exploration than serious intent. I couldn't believe I was still alone up here, it was perfect. I even made a voice recording of my observation at that point. The light was now really superb, with huge patches of sunshine chasing across the landscape, the shadows of clouds playing dodge with them. I could see right down to the Conwy Valley and right across towards the Lleyn. Large blankets of clouds had built up but somehow the sun managed to constantly break through creating a painterly light effect everywhere. I made it to the top, quite elated but now wishing Carol was there to share it with me. I then noticed two gentlemen huddled in the summit Cairn, a 72 year old retired bank manager and his son having lunch and feeding their dogs. By now, they and I were REALLY cold, the wind was up the cloud was down and they even told me they had rain when they started up Pen yr Ole Wen that morning - so much for 0% precipitation! After 4-5 minutes of chat, at least 10 people were on the summit, in different small groups, and others could be seen making their way towards us. Bad news, hate crowds! I stuffed down my chicken sandwich and gulped loads more orange squash and then headed down for the col and Carnedd Dafydd.
The wind was whistling over the ridge at this point, made all the more intense knowing they were blowing up and over the huge, steep and almost always shadowy cliffs of Ysgolion Duon, (the black ladders). I have each time found these cliffs spectacular, but quite disturbing and very eerie. I gingerly edged towards a slippery cliff top and descended a few meters to get a shot of an isolated peak above the void, a huge drop threatening me either side. Unnervingly, Ravens were swooping up and over the crags and then plummeting into the shadowy cwm, their raucous, gritty calls to each other like something out of Lord of the Rings. I was gripped by this place, both creatively and mentally, in fact just getting up from a crouched position on this cliff edge took enormous psyche!
Walking away from this and up the edge towards the summit of Carnedd Dafydd was comparatively a piece of warm gooey cake and the views of the patchwork sunshine over the spurs of Carnedd Llewelyn, with a sunlit Beaumaris on an intensely bright Isle of Anglesey in the same frame, was stunningly beautiful. Down in the black valley (Nant Ddu) a truncated spur of land was catching the afternoon sunlight, and the snake like winding Afon Llafar was bright blue in the darkness, reflecting the blue sky over Ynys Môn. I shot one of my favourite images of the series here. Carnedd Dafydd was warmer than Llewelyn and had a more obvious summit cairn. I met a man and his seven wives there, all going to the School of Ocean Sciences. I had a fun chat in the sun before they disappeared and I headed off down the steep hillside towards the small and shallow lake of Ffynon Lloer, sparkling in the late afternoon sunset but backed by black shadowy walls of Carenedd Fach. As I reached the lake sumptuous, lush green mosses oozed out of the rocks amongst jewel like small streams, feeding down into the lake. I shot a picture here with a shadowy angular Tryfan just seen in the distance. The final path though easy in terrain, alongside waterfalls which in winter must be a wonderland, had become painful in the extreme, as my tired quads no longer absorbed any of the shock as my legs, Wurzel Gummidge-like, slammed against the stones and boulders to stay upright!
One final shot of Tryfan from some amazing rocks in the valley, and a mile or so walk back to the van and my adventure was over, tired, thirsty but elated beyond compare, spiritually and creatively enlivened and a few great shots in the bag so to speak. The valley was comforting and familiar and as always, my VW T5 drive home was icing on the cake :-)
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