Cymru 2001

(L-R) Gup, Dave and Ed!

Friday 6th July: Set off from Bournemouth and arrived in Bala around midnight. As we put the tents up, we marvelled at how warm it was at Tyn Cornel Campsite (Frongoch, near Bala) as it's usually cold whatever the weather eslewhere in the country. Got bitten by hundreds of mosquitos - no change there then! PS. For those of you who may be interested the toilet/shower block is almost finished. Estimated completion date Summer 2007.

Saturday 7th July: Got up and hit the river straight away. The Afon Tryweryn is always a good one to shake off any tiredness or hangovers left from the night before! Icy cold water going at a hell of a rate with plenty of spectators waiting for any slip ups - one of us usually provides adequate entertainment! After a couple of hours and a good couple of runs down the river we again stopped to marvel at the SUNSHINE (true!) which shone down, drying our gear and making for a lovely afternoon.

Due to the highly populated campsite and the unusually dry tents we decided to decamp early and head the 80 or so miles to Caergybi (Holyhead to you and me) on Ynys Mon (Angelsey).

Needless to say the moment we entered Snowdonia the cloud desended and the rain started. Upon arrival at Bagnol Campsite things turned worse. Our usual camping area at the bottom of the field away from prying eyes was taken so we selected a new slot and battled against the elements to get our tents up. With strong winds and driving rain, the putting up of the gazebo was never going to be easy. We got on with it all the same as otherwise it was going to be an uncomfortable evening sat in the car.

With the aid of several throw bags, towlines and random pieces of rope we secured it (badly). The next few days' weather would prove whether our shambolic attempt at erecting the gazebo would suffice. Had a few (!) beers before bed and one of us had a revisitation of several cans of Heineken - won't say who ;-) Gup and Dave had a Deckchair Related Incident - Gup's chair, Dave's arse! Shopping in the morning then boys?

I awoke to silence and a lovely view of the stars - I appeared to be flat on my back after falling backwards on my deckchair - nothing to do with the copious amount of alcohol consumed, of course. I looked up expecting to hear laughter but as my eyes steadied and focused on my surroundings it became apparent that I had been left out in the cold (yes, the Welsh weather was back to normal). The others were fast asleep in their tents! Gup assures me he tried to wake me when he went to bed but i was sound asleep. Hmmm.

Day 3 onwards