Trip Summary

This trip took the club to the brand new bunkhouse (or should I say bunk barn?) of Torrent Bunk Barn in Dolgellau. This bunkhouse sported some of the comfiest beds in individually coded rooms, a cosy kitchen and a brilliant fire-pit. After a relatively short drive via the interestingly well-loved minibus (sporting a brand new dodgy handbrake and a door that liked to open occasionally while driving so that you could greet traffic) and a 9-seater van with an amazingly big boot!

The weather on this trip was phenomenal with blue sky and clear summits for all groups on the Saturday and for most on the Sunday. Winter is definitely over (although there was a notable heavy frost both mornings...). On the Saturday the majority of group headed off for the Rhinogs to attempt the ridge from both directions via climbing, scrambling and walking. One group even managed to fit in some casual kite flying! Another group headed off to admire the views and sunbathe on Cadair and the remaining group trekked off from the Bunkhouse to ascend Glaswym. Andrew went somewhere I believe on a 30km walk. The day ended with some gorgeous food – despite the difficulties of a small kitchen lacking an oven: but thanks to the bunkhouse owner’s Granny we managed! Before bed we sang by firelight — a perfect end to a perfect day!

With another promising day ahead one group set off on Sunday morning to watch the sunrise by walking along the estuary and were back to the bunkhouse at 7.30am. There was a large variety of walks on the Sunday with one group heading off to the Rhinogs where it was clear skies all day and two more groups heading off to Cadair Idris (where it was apparently slightly less sunny) to attempt it by scrambling for one and walking for the other. Other groups took walks from the Bunkhouse in the neighbouring area. Andrew went somewhere I believe on a 25km(+) walk.

The weekend ended like many before with a stop on the way home at Dyas for fast-food. Defintely a great weekend!

Trip Participants

Simon Williams, Peter Kirkwood, Jo Smith, Greg Chadwick, Andrena Ball, Laura Dempsey, Fiona Hughes, Marina Romanello, Philip Withnall, Tom Leach, Tom Ashton, Nick Gachowicz, Valerie Ashton, Andrew Williamson, Aileen Cameroon, Jon Peatman, Chris Arran, Vicky Ward, Feyruz Yalcin, Reuben Newsome, Becky Howard, Laurent Michaux, Chantelle Clark, Daumilas Ardickas, Gael Guetard, Shane Li, Nienke Blom, Tuomo Valkonen and Aga Wabik.

Photos

• Andrew Williamson
• Laurent Michaux
• Philip Withnall
• Jo Smith
• Peter Kirkwood