The Shaker, Friday 19th February, Y Fricsan

Depar Sounds Presents "The Shaker" on its custom built system which is one of the best quality systems in the area. This night will be pounding to Drum and Bass, Hip Hop and Reggae. The night will feature DJC from Depar Sounds alongside long-term partner in sound L-JAY making the trip to North Wales from Suffolk. We are also proud to welcome back Creami Rizla and her delightful blend of big reggae bass lines that wooed the Fricsan during her last performance. The night will be kicking off from 8.30 on Friday 19th February in Y Fricsan, Cwm y Glo.

Back Again.

Last two weeks have been busy working with Princes Trust teams again so out with plenty of climbing, gorge scrambling and bushcraft sessions. I have really been enjoying my recent spell of working with groups again. Weekend in the middle of the two weeks was good with the Friday spent at definition in Bangor who where hosting Marcus Intalex followed by biking with Kelv on the Saturday. We chose to bike from Beddgerlert forest up towards Bwlch Cwm Llan until the snow and ice stopped us at which point we rode down to Rhyd Du and round into the back of the forest for the return leg to the van. The last couple of kilometres were spent jogging pushing my bike after the front wheel blow out in the picture below. This weekend will be spent in the centre on duty but more importantly catching up with the Six Nations at every opportunity.

Marker pen sticking through the blowout in my front tyre.

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.

It’s still snowing.

It really is a winter wonderland in Llanberis today. The snow falling at the minute is heavy enough to obscure the view of Llyn Padarn from my office. This morning’s footsteps on the driveway have disappeared under the fresh snow since I took the pictures below.

A picturesque day.

I decided on a nice easy day today, a short local walk in the snow with the camera.

The Llanberis Pass at Night.

I had been wanting to take some pictures of the mountains in the snow as they have been looking so beautiful for the last few days but am obviously still in holiday mode as I didn't seem to get out while there was enough light!

The end of the Year.

After it seeming like ages since I managed to get out and play in the outdoors I was not going to let the snow stop me. Amongst lots of New Years drinking Kelv, Pete and I managed to get two bike rides in, as nothing else took our fancy. On the 30th we managed to get around some of the loops in Beddgelert forest as most of it was below the snow line and on New Year’s Eve we had a short ride in the hills just outside Conwy. The Conwy ride was really good fun in deep snow but very hard going not being able to see what was under tyre, this seemed to lead to more time rolling in the snow, or more painfully the gorse bushes, than on the bikes. We did start to think it was not the most appropriate route choice when on our decent we went past walkers with their ice axes out! As an additional note Kelv also discovered that SPDs do not work when frozen up with compacted snow.

Kelv happy with his chocolate break.

Pete apparently enjoying himself on the Beddgelert trials.