Nant Peris Ty’n Lon hut meet 24/25 June 2017 and other recent excitement

It was a decent weather forecast and twelve of us headed for the excellent Ty’n Lon hut at Nant Peris at the base of the dramatic Llanberis Pass in Snowdonia. Owned by the West Midlands Ceunant M.C., the hut is very well equipped and maintained but has the edge over many other huts, being located 20 yards from the famous climbers’ pub, the Vaynol Arms!
Frank, Peter and Gill travelled early and managed a very rocky walk on Friday through the Dinorwic and Vivian quarries – surely one of the biggest industrial scars in the whole of Britain with a whole mountainside hollowed out and then dumped on with the waste products of the slate industry.
On Saturday, the whole group tackled Moel Eilio and Foel Fron above Llanberis with dampish weather at the outset but sunshine later. Chris and I turned back at the first summit (well nearly!) and enjoyed free samosas and sweet Chai tea provided generously by a Sikh charity in the suburbs of Llanberis, a completely unexpected bonus, while the rest of the group pressed on to Foel Fron and had more conventional refreshments at the iconic Pete’s Eats cafe before returning to the hut for the customary communal meal – curries with all the trimmings and a little drink or two!

Sunday, contrary to the weather forecast, dawned grey and drizzly with a very low cloud base, totally scuppering the plans of the walkers to go high in the Snowdon range and the climbers hoping to climb in The Pass. Anglesey offered the hope of better weather and Plan B was quickly hatched with the climbers heading for the cliffs of Holyhead mountain and the walkers planning a circuit of the same area and taking in the dramatic coastal scenery around South Stack. Jen enjoyed a very nice Severe route on perfect white quartzite and Chris and I took on a tough VS and an E1, the latter just as the walkers arrived to spectate – no pressure on me to succeed at all then!! By then the weather was gorgeous with bright sunshine and azure blue skies, the like of which you only seem to experience by the sea – Anglesey often delivers when the mountains are clagged in!