Rhyd Ddu path

I'm lucky enough to have some friends of long standing, like Dale whom I have known since we were 18 and on an archaeological dig together. We had met a while earlier as he recalls I was the first police officer ever to talk to him nicely and he was the first hippy I had ever met. 

So as we are both 60, we have a few adventures together over the years. Ben, number 1 son was the first baby he ever held, we shared a cottage in the countryside for a while together.

Its been an ambition of his to climb Snowdon so on a perfect day, last friday, we set off up the Rhyd Ddu path with Ivy the apprentice action Berner.

I like this path as its quiet, the hordes go for the shorter easier accessible route. 

Here we were alone, well nearly, about 30 others all day.

Dale found it all a bit taxing so he sat and contemplated life, the universe and everything and whether or not his mobile phone would still be in his rucksack that we had emptied of essentials and hidden behind a wall lower down, his gear in my bag. Except his phone. 

Ivy was amazing, this being her first mountain and second longest walk. 

The views were probably wasted on her 

and at one point she did look like she would vote with her paws and set off back to the car!

On a lead she had no choice but to reach the summit

where we celebrated with coffee and sausage rolls

before turning our backs on the train loads who crowded the summit for selfies

and headed back along the trail. 

Ivy cooled off in  a stream

and in less than 1.5 hours we were down

and back to the 

sleeping Dale in the truck.

A great day out

topped off by an all day breakfast pouch and coffee, and a swim
 in the lake. The thing about a good mountain day is not the sights or the peak bagging but the company. Dale and Ivy were both brilliant, one a bit more talkative than the other though to be fair.