Twelve go to Spring in Snowdonia 2017: Sunshine, Ice Cream and a pair of odd boots (21-23 April)

S T A R R I N G

From MNTV: Daniel, Ally, Neil, Tim, Martin, Hazel and introducing weekend virgins Madeleine and Geraldine

From MNTEV: Jacky, Mick, Ray and Chris

Ranger: Rhydian

(by Ally, photos by Ally and Daniel)

It is a tradition that we spend a spring weekend in Snowdonia and this year was no different.  Traditions however are not meant to be broken, but this year we did break a few - oops!

ACT 1

This year like two years ago we were joined by MNTEV, our Merseyside counterparts.  We all met on the Friday evening - some arrived at 5pm, some arrived at 10pm and some got lost but those shall not be named… let’s just say they didn’t belong to MNTV (!).  Once Daniel and Martin had arrived at 10pm we emptied their car of food and the stores box then swapped stories and headed for bed.

Saturday dawned sunny and warm and Daniel went for a run at 6.30.  Jacky discovered Mick had packed a pair of odd boots for her – one red and one black.  Luckily for him it was a left and a right!  At 9.30 we were met by Rhydian at the basecamp and we had a 10-minute drive to the worksite on the Ysbyty Estate.  It was quite a task finding the worksite and if we had not been following one another we would never have found it.  Our task for the next day and a half was chopping down gorse on a slope and burning it so that the oaks that had been planted some years ago could actually breathe.  Some of the oaks had already been so stifled that they had never made it out of their plastic sleeves so Daniel was tasked with collecting up the empty plastic sleeves and stakes.  Madeleine set to work on a large area of gorse.  Ray, who is visually impaired, was guided by Chris to an area on the hill and he set to work and just kept going all day putting the rest of us to shame!  Our elevenses snack was Ally’s Millionaires Shortcake which was eaten with great glee.  Break time gave Jacky and Ally time to tweet to the followers of their respective groups.  The fire was diligently tended by Tim, Neil, Hazel and Rhydian.

After lunch Hazel headed back to the basecamp to start preparing dinner and the rest of us carried on sawing, lopping and burning the gorse and whatever else got in the way that wasn’t oak.  By mid-afternoon it was so warm that a lot of the group were working in shirt sleeves which if you had a T-shirt on was not good news as the gorse and brambles were very spikey.  At about 3pm we stopped cutting and dragged as much of the loose gorse as possible down on to the fire and also made a pile of brash so we would be able to restart the fire the next morning.

It was a tradition on this weekend to go to the ice cream shop in Beddgelert after Saturday’s workday but as we were working nearer Betws-y-coed Ryhdian suggested we try Cadwaladers ice cream parlour there.  It was delicious and we each had single cones, trying between us seven or eight flavours such as banoffee, strawberries & cream, mint choc chip and butterscotch.  After the ice creams some strolled down the main street and others headed back to base and hot showers.  That evening we dined on lentil & vegetable cottage pie with peas and a dessert of apple crumble and custard/cream.

~ I N T E R V A L ~

ACT 2

Sunday dawned bright, sunny and colder than Saturday but that didn’t stop Daniel going for his morning run again at 6.30.  Rhydian met us at the basecamp at 9.30 and we headed along the road, collected our tools from Rhydian’s van and went back to the worksite.  The ashes from the fire were still warm and it did not take long to get it lit again.  We worked hard all morning, stopping just once to finish off the Millionaires Shortcake.  At 12 we downed tools and ate lunch at the worksite to keep an eye on the fire because it was burning merrily away.  After lunch we visited the NT property on the other side of the hill from where we had been working.

Tŷ Mawr Wybrnant which translates into Big House Wybrnant is actually a very small house and was the birthplace of Bishop William Morgan who was the first translator of the bible into Welsh.  We had a talk by the warden who looked after the property.  He told us that it is a traditional stone-built upland 16th-century farmhouse.  It has two rooms downstairs - one where the cattle would be and one where the occupants would eat, sleep and live.  It was extended into the roof many years ago and if you climb the very steep ladder you’ll find two rooms upstairs, one of which has a variety of bibles that are copies of the bishop’s translation, as they were first published in 1588 and in 1620.  In the building behind the house is an exhibition about the house and William Morgan.  After we had had a look around we headed back to base to pack up, clear up, divide the leftover food and head for home.

CURTAIN DOWN

The Sun shone all weekend and the company wasn’t bad either

Spring in Snowdonia 2017 – Done!

Here's to next time MNTV!