The Welsh 3000's

The Welsh 3000,s are all the summits in Wales that are over 3000 feet.

The welsh 3000s were a spur of the moment thing, i spent evening printing route maps and having done most of the summits many times i was quietly confident of a good day out.

The weather forecast predicted fair weather overnight and through the morning to lunch, with cloud and rain coming in during the afternoon. With this in mind i set off up Snowdon on the miners path at 5.30 hoping to get the majority of the run done before the weather came in.This was my first time on the miners path and ...... its really more of a motorway than a path... mind numbingly boring.

 90 mph on the A55 with the cruise control on my mind wonders to the weekend ahead, I’m not keen on heights and the prospect of my first visit to Crib Goch, on my own, is playing on my mind. I wish that twat in the Rangerover would get out of the way and stop playing silly games. Refocus Dave, nearly there.

I’m trying out my new head torch, another eBay bargain purchase and its 1200 lumen, almost square, beam appears to be just the job. I can see much more of the miners path motorway ahead, my mind wonders again.

Fed up i decide to ignore the prick in the breeze block ahead and pull in to the left lane to undertake, a puff of black smoke from the car in front tells me the game is on. Under take performed and on the brakes. I look across and see the driver is a middle aged woman who has obviously had a hard life, so i decide to let her go. Its been nearly 12 years since i lost the plot this bad and it doesn’t feel good.

Finally the path starts to climb and the night retreats, up ahead i can see Snowdon covered in a dark blanket of fog. Ummm, Crib Goch in the fog, nice. I pass a few dozen “3 peakers” and push on; I’m getting into my stride now.

We left the A55 at junction 13 and found the car park where Debbie would pick me up at the end of the run on Sunday afternoon. Conversation was strained.

Snowdon summit was wet and windy, the gusts were becoming a concern so i got a move on, Crib y Ddysgi summit appeared out of the gloom and i descended towards the traverse across to Crib Goch, conscious of the wind gusting harder and the rain joining the party. Was this really a good idea? I dismissed this though as doubts about the coming ridge and my ever present fear of heights, especially on exposed ridges...

Debbie drove from here and the atmosphere in the car was thick, i could feel a headache coming on and new i had slipped from the path, it had been a while, it had been almost 12 years.

Crib Goch was living up to the hype, wet rock, driving rain and a gusting wind that was really starting to scare me. I pushed on following the narrow path, trying not to look down and scare myself silly, i scrambled over a couple of small rocky summits, remembering something i had read on the internet i new the summit would be close now and soon came across it. Bloody hell, how am i supposed to get around that thing?

I had as clamber around on the wet rock and decided the right hand side offered the safest route, off i go, happy that i will find the path around when i get down a little lower. Wrong. I couldn’t find a way around, the rock got looser and the wind continued to push the rain into my eyes.  Back up to the summit again and time to make a decision, keep looking for a way around or go back. I sat behind a rock out of the wind and decided to have a look at the map, i’m sure i could work out how to do this, I’m an experienced fell runner, I’ve spent so many days in these mountains doing this, all i need to do is keep it together.

We arrived at the bunkhouse, the atmosphere still strained, my head pounding and my mind in another time zone.

Unfortunately i hadn’t zipped up my map pocket and both map and glasses has vanished, oops. The rain was getting heavier and the gusting wing was not helping, time to head back to the main tourist path and down into Llanberis. Today was not going to be my time to complete the Welsh 3000.