On Saturday 30th May Sandra went to do a course on wooden joints at the Centre for Alternative Technology just outside of Machynlleth and James, Jacob and I went up Cadair Idris. We’d camped out the night before and while the boys were in the new(ish) Vango tent, Sandra and I were in our old tent. You know it’s time to get a new tent when you start to worry what other campers might think when they see yours. It now looks like we got it at a cart boot for a fiver. It’s done okay but it’s not one of those old classic tents: just old and knackered.
Sandra went off to her course and the boys and I started the ascent with Jacob being in charge of the camera. He took some excellent pics.
There were a lot of steps at the start and plenty of waterfalls. It’s quite a hard walk, mainly because you get all the uphill bit pretty much in one go and then all the downhill in one go. No gently sloping paths, just up, flat, down.
We recently bought a LifeStraw bottle (http://www.lifestraw.org.uk/LifeStraw.html) and we used that to drink from the streams and likes. Seems quite good, we haven’t keeled over yet. The scenery was fantastic. Mountain lakes, huge cliffs and great views.
James had a paddle in Llyn Cau and then we had elevenses. Didn’t see any fish but the water was very blue and looked lovely. Then we started the ascent proper, got to the first peak, Craig Cwm Amarch, where a chap told us he’d lost his coat when it blew over the edge.
We stopped at the cwm between the two peaks for lunch, it wasn’t too windy and the sun was shining. After we’d eaten we were ready for the next peak, but looking back we could see the top of the first peak we’d been sat on with a huge cliff just feet away. You can just see the pile of stones sticking out at the top on the picture below.
At the top, Penygadair, we took a few pictures. Didn’t get that close to the trig point as it was very crowded, had a look in the old shelter and then started back down. Most people headed straight down but we took a detour to the third peak Mynydd Moel.
Our legs were aching as we came down that rough path with loose stones. Jacob seemed to power on, James did a fantastic job as his legs were aching, as were mine. We saw plenty of knackered looking folk on the way down. At the bottom we headed for the cafe and met up with Sandra who was happy with her course. Cracking day all round.
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