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Bog Snorkelling on the Glyders

Bog Snorkelling on the Glyders


Postby smirnie71 » Mon Oct 08, 2012 11:49 am

Hewitts included on this walk: Gallt yr Ogof, Y Foel Goch

Date walked: 07/10/2012

Time taken: 6

Distance: 11.4 km

Ascent: 800m

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It's been a long time since I've been up a hill. More than four months in fact.
It hasn't been for lacking of trying or will, things just haven't stacked up in our favour this year. Aborted missions, lack of resource and time as well as a discernible drop in confidence have all featured in the mix.

So as I pointed the car North up the A5 on Sunday morning it was with mixed feelings. The weather forecast was promising and the morning was just beginning to dawn so I quickly forgot about my nagging doubts. Will I be fitter this time? Do I have the bottle not to turn around when things are anything other than dead easy? These factors have after all at least in part contributed to a lack of hill exposure this year.
By the time we reached Glasfryn, about 10 miles south of Betws-y-Coed the sun had risen and all of Snowdonia was bathed in a soft golden light. I've never seen these mountains look so clear and so majestic. Even from this distance I could easily discern the Snowdon Horseshoe, the Glyders, the Carneddau and shapely Moel Siabod. I cried. With happiness.

We parked up in the small, free car park behind Joe Brown outdoor shop in Capel Curig and headed north up the track and past a house to find our path on to the Glyder Ridge.
Problem - can't find a path, or at least not the right one. Oh well, there's nothing for it, let's just head up in the right direction following sheep tracks and scrambling over slabs. I was feeling really good. The sun was shining and I didn't turn back at the first obstacle. Eventually after a kilometre of 'freestyling' it, we found a faint path up on to Cefn y Capel.

This is where things started to get really squelchy under foot but the reward for persevering was some amazing views and mountains all around us in hues of gold, green and grey.
Image
Panorama of Carneddau with Pen Llithrig y Wrach & Craig Wen in the centre
Image
Carneddau from the Glyders - Craig Wen & Creigiau Gleision
Image
Snowdon horseshoe in the last of the Alpenglow
Image
Snowdon

As we wanted an early start we hadn't had breakfast so now was a good time to start the stove and cook up some porridge as well as making the best drink known to man; a freshly brewed mug of coffee. Not long after brekkie we reached our first major peak of the day, Gallt yr Ogof.
The weather gods really were smiling on us as the mighty Tryfan loomed into sight and all the hills were picked out in stunningly clear light.
Image
Mighty Tryfan looming up from the Ogwen Valley
Image
Tryfan & Pen Yr Ole Wen
Image
Gallt yr Ogof summit view to the Carneddau
Image
It might be a 'lesser' peak on the Glydera but the views are stunning none the less

Happy to have reached our first summit and somewhat complacent from having negotiated what felt like miles of bog hopping we headed down the hill towards our next target, Y Foel Goch.
The going was incredibly wet and by now I was seriously regretting giving my recently ebayed La Sportiva Raptors their first 'proper' outing. My socks were sodden and I was fully expecting my toes to be webbed by the end of the day. That said they warmed up quickly after each full bog immersion as long as I kept moving. And then it happened. In the blink of an eye I was in bog up to my waist.
What the hell? What do I do? I know... P.A.N.I.C for my iphone life!
I couldn't tell you why I concluded my phone needed to be rescued first but I did. I lent forward and thankfully there was firmed ground right in front of me. After fishing (no joke) in my pocket for my phone I lobbed that on to the ground in a relatively dry spot. It felt like I was sinking further in. Thank goodness I remember reading on some outdoors site that you should not struggle and try to raise your legs so you're in a sort of breaststroke position. I seemed to recall it also said something about taking your pack off, which I tried but failed at miserably.
While all this was going on, Fiona was trying valiantly to get to me without falling in herself. Easier said than done as the bog extended for some distance and there was no point in both of us being stuck. Eventually I managed to pull one leg to the surface but I really had to fight the feeling of panic as the second resolutely failed to be raised. After what felt like ages I finally managed to wiggle it out and was lying flat on the bog. I'll have my snorkel now please! I pulled myself on to the ledge in front of me and heaved a sigh of immense relief as I'd managed to pull me, my iphone and critically both my shoes out of the bog. Walking several miles over rocks and bog in socks was not an idea I relished.
Fiona was understandably shaken but thankfully there was no harm done apart from one very soggy woman and a severely dented ego.
Image
The bog was so saturated that the peaty mud was diluted
Image
Glyder Fach from Y Foel Goch

Cloud was coming in and the wind picking up slightly so in order to get warmer and try to dry off a little we picked up speed and headed towards a sheltered lunch spot at the base of Glyder Fach. Sandwiches and coffee were consumed in the lee of Bristly Ridge watching and chatting with other walkers.
We potentially had a long walk back to Capel Curig if I'd misread the bus time table again so we decided to drop down in to Ogwen Valley going past Tryfans east flank and then leg it to the bus stop at Llyn Ogwen.
Image
Tryfan up close and personal

I stopped tracking our walk on Viewranger as I was running low on battery so you will just have to take my word for the fact that we hared down to the A5 covering two kilometres in less than 20 minutes to jump on the Sherpa bus with less than 15 seconds to spare. Both of us grinning from ear to ear all the way to Capel Curig because we'd had an amazing day out, the bog didn't claim us, we didn't turn back when things looked unfamiliar and we have somehow got the fitness to pull that final route march for the bus off.
It was a simply brilliant day out! :clap: :lol:

** I have tried linking my photos from picasaweb but they are not appearing on this post so to see photos and where they were taken simply click on my social hiking map below and then click on photos **

++ addendum to the amendum - thanks to the tech hero who is Malky_C there is now imagery in this report - Thank YOU! ++

[socialhiking]http://www.shareyouradventure.com/map/os/Smirnie71/capelcurigtollynogwen[/socialhiking]
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Last edited by smirnie71 on Fri Nov 09, 2012 10:12 am, edited 4 times in total.
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smirnie71
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Posts: 249
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Re: Bog Snorkelling on the Glyders

Postby smirnie71 » Wed Nov 07, 2012 11:59 am

It's been a long, long time since the last post and it took a while to get this one off the ground too, however having mastered the art of bog extrapolation, here it is! :crazy:
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smirnie71
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Re: Bog Snorkelling on the Glyders

Postby ChrisW » Thu Nov 08, 2012 6:35 am

Some lovely photos smirnie but I am disappointed in not having any of you slowly sinking into the bog :lol: In all seriousness that sounded bloody awful :shock: I went through a frozen lake last week up to my waist - the 5 km hike back through the snow to the car was no fun so I have some idea how you felt :(

Great report though and an entertaining outing for the first in several months :clap:

Not sure what happened to your picasa links but the pics are easy enough to get to from your map :D
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Re: Bog Snorkelling on the Glyders

Postby smirnie71 » Thu Nov 08, 2012 10:24 am

Hi Chris!

So sorry not to oblige with a bogfast photo. Think it couldn't have been further removed from poor Fiona's mind!
Ok, at least I didn't have a 5km walk in snow, rats that must have been very cold indeed!

It was a fantastic walk - we have done others but just not had time/inclination to write them up but I hope to catch up in the next couple of weeks. It would really help if I could suss out image thing. I did try clicking on Img and putting url in between the brackets :? I'm clearly dense...

Image
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smirnie71
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Re: Bog Snorkelling on the Glyders

Postby malky_c » Thu Nov 08, 2012 11:47 am

Just skimmed the report - I'll be back to read it properly shortly.

To get photos from Picasaweb into Walkhighlands can be a bit awkward - I struggled at first.

When you have the individual photo up on the screen in Picasaweb, you should get the following screen wth the menu on the right:
Image

The 'link' and 'embed image' lines with the URL in show when you click on 'link to this photo'. You need to select the 'embed image' URL, and tick the box underneath which says 'Image only (no link)', then select the photo size you want (Large 800px is best if you can get it). If you then paste that code between the [img ][ /img] tags on here, it should work.

If you can't see the page shown in the photo above with the same menus on the right, then it's due to a rather daft setting in Picasaweb. I couldn't get this initially, but somehow discovered that if I changed the language setting from English (UK) to English (United States) then the correct menus came up. To do this you go to the 'Settings' icon in the extreme top right hand corner of the page.

Hope that helps :)
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Re: Bog Snorkelling on the Glyders

Postby clivegrif » Thu Nov 08, 2012 7:29 pm

Glad you have made it back to the hills - I know only too well what a drag it can be if for whatever reason its not possible to get out there.

Great pix - it looks like all the trouble was definitely worthwhile.

Best wishes
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Re: Bog Snorkelling on the Glyders

Postby smirnie71 » Fri Nov 09, 2012 10:55 am

malky_c wrote:Just skimmed the report - I'll be back to read it properly shortly.

To get photos from Picasaweb into Walkhighlands can be a bit awkward - I struggled at first.

When you have the individual photo up on the screen in Picasaweb, you should get the following screen wth the menu on the right:
........................

Hope that helps :)


That more than helped Malky, thank you so much! I did search the forum for 'how to's' but drew a complete blank and I can safely say although I'm no technophobe, I doubt I would have worked that out. THANK YOU! :clap: :D
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smirnie71
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Re: Bog Snorkelling on the Glyders

Postby malky_c » Fri Nov 09, 2012 4:21 pm

I did actually manage to find that info in the 'how to' section at the time, but I can't remember for the life of me how I stumbled across it. Anyway, there was a tiny bit of self-interest there as it means I can now see the photos much more easily :wink: :lol:

I've only been over those summits a couple of times, and I'd forgotten just how good the views of Snowdon and Tryfan are from there :D

If there's one thing I've discovered (or been reminded of - not sure which) over the last year of walking in Wales, it is that the bogs can be even worse than the ones in Scotland :shock: . There seems to be a particular type (a paper-thin skin of vegetation which hovers over a vast bottomless swamp, that you can see vibrating 10 meters away, and feels like it will tear at any minute) which is really common to Wales, and occasionally quite scary! Glad you managed to free yourself from it :)
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Re: Bog Snorkelling on the Glyders

Postby smirnie71 » Fri Nov 09, 2012 11:02 pm

Well that was timely Malky as I plan to add some more over the coming weeks.
Just haven't had the time to walk as much as I'd like or write up reports.

I thought the bogs and peat hags were bad enough on the Hirtenau and lesser Arans but that really did take the biscuit. I hate walking with poles and gaiters - still not convinced about the gaiters but the poles are now must have kit... in Wales any way! :shock: :(

Thanks for reading and keep your coming :clap:
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smirnie71
Munro compleatist
 
Posts: 249
Munros:12   Corbetts:3
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Sub 2000:7   Hewitts:24
Islands:14
Joined: Dec 30, 2009
Location: Falkirk

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