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.

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

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.

Back Yard Biking.

After a year of talking about biking Snowdon with Simon and Kelv I actually found a day when enough people wanted to do it and the weather was on our side. Amazingly it was also bank holiday Monday. We all meet up in met up at Boulder for 4 o’clock to roll down the hill to the Llanberis high street and the Dol Peris to meet up with the rest. After a couple of hours of mostly pushing to Snowdon Summit the crowd had subdued enough to ride and start the descent. If anyone else is thinking of doing this ride any time soon let me know as I am definitely up for another go.

Kelv and Simon pushing bikes up the stepped section.

Kelv looking back down towards Llyn Padarn and home.
Simon with the Llanberis Pass and the Slate Quarries in the background.
Brian, his two lads and Kelv at the back on the way down from Snowdon Summit.

On the way down with the Mountain Railway visable.

Simon setting the pace.

Mark on the lower sections of the Llanberis Path.

Brian followed by his lads with Cloggy in the background.

Long time no see.

It has been while since the blog has seen any changes, not because I have not left the house but because I do not seem to have spent much time in it to let you know what has been going on. Weekend of the 16/17th was spent in Stoke catching up with friends over there and a day’s biking in Cannock Chase with my brother.The last week I decided it was time to run a week long course and worked with a Princes Trust team taking them climbing, up in the mountains and teaching them bushcraft plus plenty of emphasis on team work.

The water on to boil during a bushcraft session.

This weekend has been spent in the Fricsan running the sound system for two different nights. Saturday was the busiest of these with Byd Mawr and their global grooves with guest DJ Bethan Elfyn from Radio 1. I tried to take a picture but the camera was too cold and the lens suffered from condensation. After collecting all the remaining sound system I have been lucky enough to spend the rest of Sunday afternoon in the workshop cutting the panels for my new speaker build.

Using the router to cut the front baffle.

The last 500m are the hardest.

The week following the August bank holiday was pretty quiet personal adventure wise because work was very busy. The centre had a group in which required a lot of attention so I worked in addition to the planned staff. The weekend did start early however, the group went home on the Thursday, an unplanned early departure. This just meant I had time to do all the jobs I should done earlier week before a days work of Canyoning on the Saturday.

After a family get together on the Saturday night this left enough time for a Sunday mountain bike ride. So after a heavy family night drinking and no serious exercise since being ill what did we choose I hear you ask? Well 30kms of the Penmachno trials is the answer.

What a great ride it was, I would have to recommend these routes although Nia and Kelv were a tough act to keep up with. I think the tiredness of 29.6km may well have attributed to my crash, thankfully only cut shins from peddles and bruised pride. I guess this will teach me, I should have thought more carefully before taking the mickey out of Kelv for his crash 500m from the van!

The days proudly worn war wounds.

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.