Pete and Nicky Visit

As Pete and Nicky were visiting this weekend I decided to take off my first weekend in months, I had definitely forgotten how nice it is. We managed to fit plenty in amongst a good few pints. Friday evening was spent messing about on Padarn Lake once I had finished the days kayak sessions. After eventually surfacing after a heavy night we managed to venture out onto Y Garn and the Glyders for Saturday afternoon for what must have been my first mountain walking day in four or five years. The weather was pretty grim but good to be out with mates.

Me playing about on Llyn Padarn.

Pete and Nicky happy to be on the water.

Pete and Kelv route finding.
The gang refuelling.

Nicky hiding from the rain on the Gribin Ridge.

Llyn Padarn Sunset.

Last night gave us a lovely sunset over Llyn Padarn.

Busy Times.

May and June seem to have been super busy months and work has been the focus of my life. So much so that I was having a think of about what adventures I have had and it seems as though it has only been one bike ride over Telegraph Valley.

Kelv of his bike in the ditch after a peddle malfunction.

Back on his feet again with Llanberis in the background.

New website gone live.

We have been working on the new activities website http://www.adventuresinwales.co.uk/ for a while now but yesterday it went live. Thanks very much to Pete at http://chargingarc.com/ for the design of the site and Chris at http://www.freerangedevelopers.co.uk/ for making it work.

Busy Easter Holidays.

Not really a holiday as I have been working but we are now coming out of a busy set of Bank Holidays. We have had loads of guests staying with us at Boulder Adventures which has been nice. Not run as many activities as I would have hoped but this does mean I have had time to get out and have some fun of my own. After a day’s kayaking with a group of air cadets managed an evening climb in the Llanberis Pass with Will. Also managed a trip out mountain biking over Betws way with Simon from the Dol peris, Pete from V12 and Sue from Joe Brown. We had an early off which meant the ride was cut short, regardless of this it was worth it to get out with a good gang. This Sunday just gone the Boulder staff decided we were bored in the office so went out for a coaster at the range the pictures are below.

Me at the Range

Claire at the Range
Kelly at the Range

Claire again

Boulder Adventures Goes Canoeing.

The following pictures are of one of our groups out on the lake today.

A most pleasent week.

Spring is here and I have been let out of the office and spent two days on the lake, firstly with a group of public serivce students and then with a group of cadets. Now looking forward to more days like this now the busy season is upon us again.

My group and I getting onto Llyn Padarn. Playing ball tag.

Not playing ball tag any more!

2011 Adventure Leaflets

The 2011 activity leaflets arrived in the office yesterday and are already making there way out around North Wales.

Two more rides.

It’s been a quiet week in the centre which means that I managed my third evening out mountain biking in as many days. Last night I visited the Llandegla trails and rode the red route with Martyn. There are some really nice smooth flowing sections but there are some bits that are a bit worn and rutted and these get a little tiresome considering its maintained trail. Worth the visit though, I may try to visit again and get on the black route when it’s not peeing it down. All the facilities looked good but only had time to pop in for change to feed the parking meter.Monday night was the more adventurous route when Kelv and I made it up Telegraph Valley, down the Snowdon Ranger path, along to Waunfawr then back over the hill to Llanberis. A great but rather nervous ride with my tyre packed out with cardboard after slashing it open on slate 50m off the tarmac.

Kelv making adjustments while I repair a puncture, Snowdon in the background.

Back on route up Telegraph Valley after repairs.

Llanberis Slate Biking.

Feeling a little apathetic towards any serious exercise on a Sunday afternoon we decided a drive to near the top of the slate quarries was our best bang for the buck for down hilling with minimal up hilling. In the end 3km of up rewarded with 6km of great down hill.

Just coming off the first down hill section.

On the switch backs.
In amongst it all.

Near the bottom of the big middle section.

Morning.

Today for the first time in a long while a gang of us managed to get out kayaking before work. So that we did not waste too much time journeying we chose the Seiont as its on our doorstep. The five of us meet up at Seiont Nurseries for 7.45 to sort the kit out. From here drove up to the get in under the pylons and made it to the get out by 9.30. The Seiont really is a wonderful river made all the better by the fact that there were no wires across any of the bridges for a change. I also have to recommend the cafe at the garden centre we found it very pleasant to take in tea on coffee at the end off the river.

Snowdon makes it into the news ....... again.

Normally stories like the ones below make it round the village of Llanberis quite quickly, seemingly there is something making the news from the mountain every week. It often seems to be charity walking groups making the headlines for the wrong reasons causing as much trouble as the good they planned to do. This is often because they lack any significant mountain experience or leadership and more often than not, in my experience of working with these groups, being very poorly equipped.

This weekend I was not at home in the village to hear any stories first hand but read them in the Sunday Telegraph on the ferry from the Isle of Man on the way home from my brother’s wedding, Pictures and details of the wedding to follow shortly.

Charity climb team member left behind.

The harm caused by mass organised mountain accents.

New advice from the Environment Agency.

In June of this year the EA and Gwynedd Council gave warning that Llyn Padarn had high levels of toxic blue/green algae. This is naturally occurring but never, as far as I have known, been present in dangerous levels in Llyn Padarn. As the algae presented a health risk to people and animals I decided that it would be unacceptable for me to make the decision to expose my customers to this risk. From June onwards I have not used LLyn Padarn for any of my kayaking, canoeing or raft building activities. This is despite having a centre directly on the shores of the lake. As I write, this now totals four months of increased hassle and cost of running my business with no immediate end in sight.

What now wrangles is that the environment agency is now recommending that people should be switching to more ecologically sound detergents to help limit the level of nutrients making it through the water system into the lake. This education in its own right is commendable but costs me more in my operating costs. Surely it is also an admission that the sewage treatment works for Llanberis cannot cope with current demand, although Welsh Water claim this not to be the case. A report compiled in June by the EA noted it was likely that improvements to the Llanberis treatment works would be needed to ensure that the lake meet the requirements of the EC Water Framework Directive. Why on earth are we now trying to sort out a problem like this when the lake is apparently monitored so regularly? The EA advice could have been given earlier or Welsh Water should have ensured their treatment works was capable of dealing with increased levels of nutrients.

Hopefully Llanberis can lower its output of phosphates and nutrients to a point where they are manageable by the manmade and natural water systems that have to deal with them. If not, the worst case scenario may be that another hot summer may produce the same results. So far the algal blooms must have affected most outdoor centres and providers in North West Snowdonia. Three of these have a centre on the shores of Llyn Padarn with many more no more than fifteen minutes drive away. The blooms have also had a major impact of the fisheries of the Seiont River meaning two significant tourism industries have been restricted in operating when the recession is causing additional demands already.

Surely now that it is apparent that the local council, Welsh Water, the Environment Agency and the Welsh Assembly all know about this very serious problem, it is time for all involved to take responsibility for this environmental disaster and cure the problem causing it.

The sun is back.

Summer seems to be here again after having a break for August. This was great as it coincided with a day’s coasteering I was running for the RAF. What a great group to work with as we managed to get loads done covering a massive distance with plenty of swimming as it was such a still day.

The group climbing up to the jumps.

The view down the headland at Nefyn Golf Course.

It was also great that it was such a nice weekend as I was spending the Saturday night camping up in Yorkshire for my brothers stag do. Once the coasteering was finished it was back home shower, change vans and a four hour drive to the home of Black Sheep Ale, Masham. I think you can take a fairly good guess as to the events proceedings; needless to say the gang had late breakfast on Sunday before we all departed. This made for a good nights drinking for me, a good day of quad biking, brewery tours and drinking for the rest.

The Black Sheep Ale.

Unfortunately there is a downside to the nice weather as it seems like the toxic blue green algae in Llyn Padarn may benefiting from the sunshine after giving the impression that it was starting to disappear. This problem of the algae first came to light in June of this year and three months on there still seems to be no conclusive answers as to what has caused the problem. I do know however that is having a noticeable effect on local business and residents. This morning I have had a meeting with Alun Ffred Jones the local AM to express my concerns and hope to hear more from him soon.

Roll on Monday.

Not all Mondays are bad in fact this one just passed was pretty good. It had not been that busy for our office and everyone was back in from activities in good time as all the guests arrived early. The filming of the new version of Clash of the Titans had moved out of the quarries above Llanberis so it was time to go on one of my favourite local routes, the downhill from the top of the quarries to Nant Peris.

Mountains in the background just before we start the long downhill after catching our breath. Mountains and quarries in the background and the valley bottom just visible on the right of the picture, our destination.

Me swooping down the final zig zags to Nant Peris.

Evening Boating.

After a day of mist, murk and rain in Llanberis biking and climbing seemed unlikely, there was no surf forecast so Mark and I made the after work trip over the pass to Capel Curig. When we got to Capel water level was low, only just runable but we made the most of it with some fun on Cobdens.

Mark boofing Cobdens.

Mark surfing a wave.