Snowdonia Weekend - 15-17th August 2025

Starring Andy, Clare, Daniel, Denise, Jack, Jenny, Neil and Sarah plus David and Di from Merseyside and Eryri ranger Lewis.

For our first weekend away of the year we went to Snowdonia - this time in the summer not at Christmas.  A last minute change to accommodation arrangements meant we stayed at the Glan Dwr Mountain Lodge in Capel Curig not Hendre Isaf.  Glan Dwr is the Eryri base of the New Forest Climbing Club and is beside the Avon Llugwy.  After weeks of drought the water was still churning past so it'd be a spectacular sight after heavy rain.

The weather both days was glorious - sunny and warm with a cool breeze.  The contrast with Storm Darragh last December could not have been more stark.  Both mornings there were terrific views of Snowdon from Capel and each night the sky was inky black and you could see thousands of stars and the Milky Way.

Both days we worked in the valley a few miles south of Hendre Isaf:

On Saturday we  worked in woodland south of the road (red square on map).  We travelled there by minibus (Lewis picked us up at Glan Dwr) and met Andy and Clare at Hendre Isaf because they were staying near there in an NT cottage (chosen because the rest of us were staying at Hendre Isaf - only we didn't!).  Lewis explained that the aim is to open up the wood to the public by creating a footpath through the wood.  He and a previous group had marked out the footpath and we filled in holes in the path to make the surface more level and slashed bracken to extend the path in one section.  The conifer plantation above the wood had recently been felled and replanted with hardwood (alder, birch, oak, etc).

Jack took some remarkable photos with his 360º camera:

On Saturday evening, Daniel, Jenny and Denise cooked up a hearty dinner of spaghetti bolognese with garlic bread followed by apple & blueberry crumble with custard.

After dinner David set us all a quiz.  We did it in two teams (girls v boys) and tied with 37 points each.  The most fun part was picture 2 in the Faces round - David as a 12-year-old schoolboy.  None of us guessed him!

On Sunday we worked in the same valley but in woodland to the north of the road (red chevron on map).  We drove our cars there so that we could go home directly from the worksite and anyone who needed to leave early could.  Across the valley you could see Saturday's worksite:

We did two tasks.  Half the group slashed and cleared bracken to make a switchback footpath on a very steep slope ...

... and the others with Lewis made a stepover stile.  The stile is tightly screwed together and anchored in the ground and should give many years of use when the footpath is opened.

All told it was a super weekend full of enjoyment and good company.  Thanks to Lewis for having us to stay and giving us satisfying jobs to do.

When we are next at Hendre Isaf it will be interesting to go up the valley and see how both worksites look months later.

Daniel