Question, following on from my disappointment on IOM last week( SOTA is Addictive remember)
Due to my legs and heel problems, I was looking at getting train to Snowdon summit and walking across to Y Lliwedd to activate there 1st then return to Snowdon to activate before getting train back to Llanberis??
firstly is this causing any rule breaches? or going against the spirit of SOTA ?
secondly if no rules problems, has anyone does this path and if so how much of a ridge is it?
Can you tell Im itching to get out on the hills again soon??!!
In reply to 2E0LAE:
Hi, Tony. No rule breach, the station is on the edge of the AZ and not a good place to activate from, it will be as busy as your local High Street on a Saturday morning - heaving with grockles! If you are worried about the spirit of the rules, get off at Clogwyn station and walk up the ridge or the tracks, but I think your leg problems justify taking the full ride.
The drop down to the col with Lliwedd is steep bouldery scree, I don’t recommend it until your mobility problem is a thing of the past. The ridge to the summit of Lliwedd is very narrow and rocky in places, there isn’t much room to set up, and again it will be heaving with humanity at this time of the year - and some of the beggars won’t hesitate to tread on your fingers! A good one to save until after the end of the school holidays, I would say!
I was just about to delete the thread, as I realised from some photos I was looking at via google that this is a plan that wont get off the drawing board for some time if at all for me !!
Never mind I always throw ideas up and see how they fall!!
Just my impatience to do big hills without too much pain and discomfort for myself at the moment!!
Back to the drawing board and look for some unique 1,2,or 4 pointers close to home
Your other problem would be the train. They only guarantee a return seat on the one that you ascend on. Thus on a busy day you might well have to walk down if you don’t return immediately.
At one stage I considered getting the train up Snowdon, walking across to Y Lliwedd (No need to do Yr Wyddfa herself - already in the bag!) then crossing to Yr Aran before descending via the Watkin path to Nant Gwynant and returning to Llanberis by the Sherpa buses. Just about fitted timewise. A variant not so tight on time would be to do Snowdon, then Y Lliwedd and down to Pen y Pass and the last bus via the Miner’s Track. Maybe when I’m done with uniques…
The scree slope at the top of the Watkin path off Snowdon does need care though.
At one stage I considered getting the train up Snowdon, walking across
to Y Lliwedd (No need to do Yr Wyddfa herself - already in the bag!)
then crossing to Yr Aran before descending via the Watkin path to Nant
Gwynant and returning to Llanberis by the Sherpa buses. Just about
fitted timewise. A variant not so tight on time would be to do
Snowdon, then Y Lliwedd and down to Pen y Pass and the last bus via
the Miner’s Track. Maybe when I’m done with uniques…
That’s a change of tack Paul. I distinctly recall you writing that you did not enjoy the walking and wanted to do as little as possible consistent with activating the SOTA summits. Are you getting a taste for the hills perhaps?
I rather fear that I am! As I have got fitter, my original driver for Uniques - that I would never have to go back to experience again the awfulness of a particular ascent - was replaced by a desire to experience the new. Now I find myself yearning to return to the memorable mountains I have done, especially those of North and Mid Wales.
Quite a step forward for one who once upon a time not so long ago regarded Walton Hill as a considerable challenge…