Sunday 29 May 2011

Corris Weekend

27 - 30 May - Corris

Twenty four of us have just returned from what was a memorable weekend in Corris.

First day saw the majority undertaking the Mawddach Trail; this being a nine mile walk from Barmouth to Dolgellau.  This took in some beautiful scenery along the estuary.   The weather was good to us and we sat in the sun overlooking the estuary - very nice and relaxing.  Later we had a pub stop before the final leg back into the town. 
On the Sunday we woke to rain and gale force winds not very enticing!!  Never the less sixteen of us set off for the Cadair Idris and a group of six went on a lower level walk organised by Jack.  As the group ascended up Idris the weather got gradually worse with visibility down to about fifty foot and the wind was really strong.  By this time all of the group was really wet due to the mist.  On reaching the summit some of us did cling on to the trig point to stop us being blown away!  We all had lunch in the 5 star summit hut dreading the return journey.  We was supposed to being undertaking the Mindfford Path Circuit but unknown to all Chris and Paul had decided secretly to make it a linear walk, this being where the fun began. We descended by the Fox's Path which quickly deteriorated into a death defying scree slope!!  This gave several members the chance to show all their free style scree running talents.  The champion of all must have been Peter Nightingale who started off with an uncontrollable  slide which then developed into a trot, followed by a full scale run and a death defying leap over a four foot edge.  Luckily at this point Peter decided enough was enough and ending it by landing on his bottom with much nervous laughter and a look of relief on his face that he had survived!  Denise Carter came in close second as she spent more time on her bottom than on her two feet and at one point Jackie did join her as a duo.  Forgot to mention that on our ascent we gained two more walkers who asked if they could tag along.  After an arduous descent everyone was relieved to reach the Gwesty Gwernan pub which was on the other side of the mountain to where we should have been. lol We then had to get a mini bus to get the drivers back to the car park at a cost of £2 per person (well worth it)  Quick mention Jack also took a wrong turn, maybe something in the water!
The first two nights we had communal meals in the mountain centre, thanks to Halina, Helen, Mark and Ursula for cooking the wonderful food for us all.  The last night was a communal meal at the Slaters Arms who did a good job of providing us with 24 meals from a tiny kitchen (never before been done)
On the last note I am sure all would agree that the centre was great, good facilities, clean, spacious and the best of all the ladies all had a single bed (no bunks)
Thanks to all for making it a memorable weekend
Paul
Click here for photos of the Cadair Idris walk
Click here for photos of the Mawddach Trail walk
Click here for other photos of the Corris Weekend

Comments

stockport walking - 4 Jun 2011 07:04
2nd Blog from John H.

Corris week-end

Friday: It was a dark, gloomy start to the day as I set off for Stockport station.
By the time I had made my way to arrive at Tywyn on the central Wales coast by
early afternoon, the weather had brightened up considerably; and I had a pleasant walk along the beach to Aberdovey and then up to Corris from Machynlleth.

I arrived at the centre to find the group engaged in a hilarious game of ‘guess the name’. Example: ‘left on a jet plane and died on a jet plane’, answers please on a postcard to Joanne (I think it was). Also if you had a blank card you had to sing a song
for the other members of the team to identify the artists; this proved to be not too difficult as it turned out that the answer seemed always to be ‘Take That’.

Saturday I chose a walk with Pete & Helen (thanks guys), distance 9.1/2 miles, rated ‘challenging’ and centred on The Tal-y-llyn railway station at Abergynolwyn. We started off with a stroll through some woodlands thinking that it was rather easy going; but when we had finally climbed to over 600m and disappeared into the clouds, we thought differently. Thanks to Pete’s navigational skills we made it back ok in time for a ride on the railway and refreshments in the station tea shop.

We had an excellent curry meal back at the centre. Various people hurried off to watch a certain footie match at the local pub; they were very quiet when they returned, so we guessed that it had not gone well for the team in red…..

Sunday: I was delighted that, despite the inclement weather, a good number of us had decided to stick with the planned walk up Cadair Idris. Sure enough it was not long before we were engulfed by the mist and rain; but we pressed on ever upwards, or so it seemed, over increasingly difficult terrain before finally reaching the summit.

We huddled together in a stone and slate shelter for lunch with a surprising number of other hardy souls (no, make that ‘mad fools’ or another word beginning with ‘f’). We started back by scrambling down some scree and by the time we realized that we were headed in the wrong direction, it was too late to turn back. So some of us had a pleasant interlude at a hotel by a lake whilst a mini bus was summoned to take the
drivers back to the cars.

Paul had organized a meal for us at the local hostelry and we enjoyed delicious home cooked food washed down with copious amounts of the local ale; an excellent evening all around.

Monday: We split up and made our way back by various routes. I walked on to Barmouth by way of Dollgellau before continuing up the coast to Porthmadog and
finally inland and over the mountains to Blaenau Ffestiniog.

All in all a brilliant few days. Thanks to Paul for organizing it and thanks to all those who led the walks and helped with the excellent meals.

John H

Sunday 15 May 2011

Edale 15th May

Edale 16.5 miles 
 
8 intrepid group members set off from Edale Station with eagerness for the days walk, we missed most of the rain during the morning but as we reached Hope after lunch the weather turned a bit grim and stayed like that until the end of the day. A small ray of sunshine was at the sweet shop in Castleton where supplies were bought before the the windy and driving rain ascent of Cavedale, which we all remarked at the top "I don't remember it be that long" as that was the last of the hills at least we were all still smiling? Then onwards on the last two and a bit miles back to Edale. Thanks to everyone that turned out on which is probably the wettest day for quite a few weeks.
Cheers
Chris & Wendy x
Click here for photos of the walk

Sunday 8 May 2011

Leadmining village walk 8th May

Leadmining village walk
 
17 of us set off from Taddington Village, passed through fields and crossed beautiful but steep Deepdale and made our way to the old mining village of Sheldon.  We visited Magpie Mine and continued on to Monyash where we stopped for lunch at the Bulls Head Public House.  We then headed for Flagg, Chelmorton and back to Taddington. The rain held off and a nice day was had by all.  Several of us bought Duck eggs on route with Harvey having what looked like an Ostrich egg in his box!!  We did however encounter an extremely rude gentleman in a pin stripe suit that obviously did not like us "walkers" and he let it be known, water off a ducks back!!  The afternoon finished with a drink in the Queens Arms in Taddington.

Paul&Halina
Click here for photos of the walk

Wednesday 4 May 2011

Bramhall Walk 4th May

Well we know Summer is here when we start the Wednesday evening walks.
29 of us met at the March Hare for a pleasant stroll along Happy Valley and through the grounds of Bramall Hall. It was a warm, bright evening and unusually for the first walk of the year we returned to the car while it was still light.
Then it was time for some refreshment to finish off the evening.
Thankyou
Harvey

And today it is raining - badly needed for the gardens but luckily it held off yesterday! Hopefully we will be as fortunate on forthcoming Wednesdays

Sue T