Its been a pretty hectic and busy week in Wales, with some time spent in the water and on the rock, in Pembrokeshire and Snowdonia. Busy is good I guess, but I’ve barely had a minute to stop and gather my thoughts! After rushing back from the snowy Brecon Beacons for the wedding of a friend at The Druidstone, I could have done with more than one day off!
The start of my busy week in Wales saw my first venture in to the sea, chilly it was but a bit of swell to spice things up. We were coasteering for the annual sign-off for Dragon Activity Guides, an important part of keeping current and sharing best practise, as well as checking everyone is competent to work taking groups Coasteering for the year ahead.
After drying off and warming up, Tuesday saw me spending the day climbing with Andy and Igor. This father and son team came out with me last year, and the good weather they had then continued – Pembrokeshire didn’t disappoint! We spent the day at Caerfai, with young Igor climbing pretty much all the routes there! He’s such a keen climber and it was great to see them again.
climbing at Caerfai
The busy week in Wales continued with me having a technical advisor day at TYF. I work for these guys on a freelance basis, but also run their staff sign-offs for the SPA holders to be able to work on the venues they use for rock climbing, that fall outside of the SPA remit. I was showing Tom and Dec the skills needed to work in this environment, something these old hands have seen many times before – but so they can then train their staff up for me to come back in and sign their new staff off…
Sea Cliff Rescue Skills
After a lovely couple of days on the sea-cliffs of Pembrokeshire, it was up to mountainous Snowdonia. I was out with Tracy and Vicki, looking at helping them gain more confidence on steep and rocky scrambles before they head out to the Alps later in the year. We had a couple of lovely dry (if chilly) days in the hills, and did two of the classic days out there. Day 1 saw us head up the North Ridge of Tryfan and continuing up Bristly Ridge, and day 2 was spent on Crib Goch and on to Snowdon itself. A top couple of days with lovely people.
Scrambling on Crib Goch
The long drive back down to Pembrokeshire for the final day on my busy week in Wales saw me doing something a little different. I was guiding 3 walkers who were taking part in an event called the Welsh 1000. They were part of a much larger event aiming to have teams walk the entire Welsh Coastal path in the same day. A long old way! The event is in its first year, and aims to raise money for Alzheimer’s UK, so hopefully will grow and grow – it was a lovely day with lovely people…
The Welsh 1000 walk in pembrokeshire
So, after a busy week in Wales – I am super psyched for 2 weeks climbing in France!!! 1 day off then an 1500km drive down to the Verdon Gorge!! Might not feel like too much of a break…