SNOWDON 'ERE

PLAS CURIG HOSTEL

SNOW NEAR FOEL-GOCH

ME & TOM ROUTE-FINDING AROUND THE OGWEN VALLEY

PAUL (ASSESSOR) & TOM: A BREAK ON OUR SCRAMBLE UP TO LLECHOG

TOM HAD TOTAL CONFIDENCE IN MY ROPEWORK

LLYN COWLYD

WILDCAMP NEAR FFYNNON LLYFFANT

REMAINS OF CRASHED BOMBER NEAR FFYNNON LLYFFANT

COMMON FROG SEEN ON NIGHT NAVIGATION EXERCISE

SUPPER OUT OF THE DRIZZLE NEAR AFON ANAFON

ALL OVER: ME, PETE (ASSESSOR) & TOM

This is an adventure for me only while Rubi was busy at work. The dates 13th to 17th March have been prominent in my mind for a while, because these are the dates I booked for my 'long time coming' Mountain Leader (ML) assessment. This is the culmination of about a decade of thinking about it, then five years ago signing up with Mountain Training (the awarding body for qualifications in walking, climbing and mountaineering). Two years ago I took a week-long training course in Snowdonia with Paul Poole Mountaineering and now I have returned to Paul for the Assessment Course.

The course assesses the skills required to lead groups in the mountains, including planning, understanding weather forecasts, navigation, safety & risk assessment, use of a rope, environmental knowledge and group management. There was only one other candidate on the course: Tom from nearby Conwy. Thus, the pair of us had the almost undivided attention of Paul and his co-assessor Pete - not much chance of our mistakes going unnoticed then!

I arrived at Capel Curig in Snowdonia on Sunday 12th, and stayed for three nights at the very smart Plas Curig Hostel. On Monday, after examining our pre-course 'homework' in the warm confines of Moel Siabod Cafe next door, Paul drove us to the Ogwen Valley for some navigation exercises. Though foggy at times, it was a surprisingly pleasant day for this time of year. Tuesday involved some scrambling practice and the assessment of our skills with a rope. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were spent with Pete on a two-night expedition in the eastern Carneddau. This initially involved using 1:25K OS maps to navigate ourselves to a wildcamp near Ffynnon Llyffant, a lake just below Carnedd Llewelyn. After a hot supper, Pete tested our ability to navigate in the dark before we settled down for the night.

Thursday saw us navigating with less detailed 1:50K maps across some Carneddau peaks to a sheep-fold near Afon Anafon. It drizzled for a substantial part of the day and the droplets of water on my glasses made it extremely difficult to read the map at all, let alone see some of the finer details. Pete was very tolerant of my constant attempts to wipe my glasses (invariably unsuccessfully as they simply smeared) and my struggle to maintain precision. Fortunately my distance vision is fine, so I could still avoid us getting lost by simply looking over the top of my glasses whilst walking.

After a cold night wildcamping in the sheep-fold, the three of us walked out of the hills to be picked up by Paul in his car and taken back to Moel Siabod Cafe. After Pete and Paul had their pow-wow about our performance, I was pleased that both Tom and I were invited to receive our feedback together as this implied that we had both either passed or failed. Since I had seen how well Tom had performed, I guessed the news would be good for both of us. Thus, we were both congratulated on having successfully completed our Mountain Leader assessment. Handshakes all round! I thanked Pete and Paul for their excellent guidance and advice, and Tom for his good company, before departing.

It would have been a five hour drive home had I not discovered that my smartphone was missing. I normally 'check the ground, and my pockets' before leaving a campsite, but assumed that I had somehow left it in the sheep-fold. However, on driving back to where Paul had picked us up I immediately saw it on the ground where his car boot had been. It had clearly fallen out of my pocket whilst loading the rucksacks into his car. Finding it had cost me an extra hour but the phone was undamaged. Thus, having attained my ML and been happily reunited with my smartphone, I drove the rest of the way home with a broad grin across my face.

OVER THE HILLS & FARO WAY

AN OLD WELL

SPRING WATER

CLIMBING TO ROCHA DA PENA

VIEW FROM THE TOP

MORE CLIMBING IN ALBUFEIRA

SOMEONE HAS WORN A HOLE IN THIS CLIFF

REWARD FOR THE DAY

SCULPTURE IN ALEMEDA JOAO DE DEUS GARDEN, FARO

FARO RESIDENT

KING AFONSO III (ON RIGHT)

For our last day with the car, we drove to the valley of the Ribiera (River) de Benemola, to the north east of Albufeira. We walked along one side of the river to its source, the Fonte da Benemola, where we ate our usual picnic at stone tables. We then crossed over the river where it was shallow and walked back on the opposite bank. Alongside the route we saw evidence of the farming communities that used to live in the valley - ruined dwellings, water pumps and sluices (levadas) to channel water to the fields.

On returning to the car, we next drove west a few miles to see a long rocky ridge called Rocha da Pena. We could see the ridge from some way off so it wasn't hard to find. Parking near its base, we set off walking towards it. To make the walk more interesting, we left the main path after a short while and soon found ourselves scrambling up the rough grey limestone rocks. After about half an hour we arrived at a point where we could enjoy the view before walking back down by an easier route. There was a bar near to where we parked the car so we enjoyed a drink in the day's remaining sun before moving on.

Our return to the hotel took us through Sao Bartolemeu de Messines where we picked up a pizza for supper at the Intermarche supermarket

Next morning we handed back the keys to the car. We planned to take a bus to Faro early the following day so we initially checked where Albufeira's bus terminal was before heading down to the beach to walk the cliffs again, much as we had done on our first day, but this time in the other direction. 

Clambering over the cliffs was just as much fun as it had been the first time. We came across lots of sink-holes, caves and rock arches, all shaped by sea action. The weather was sunny again and it was a great last day in Albufeira.

The following morning we caught the 8.40am bus to Faro. It travelled a very circuitous route and stopped many times before arriving in Faro at 10.10am. We had assumed Faro would be an interesting and historic place with lots to see, but were rather disappointed. For a start, it was much smaller than we had expected the principal city in the Algarve to be. There was a pretty garden with peacocks wandering about in it, a pedestrianised shopping area, the old city walls and the harbour. However, it did not take us more than a few hours to see all this. Perhaps we would have learned more about the place had the museum been open.

There weren't even any picturesque walks nearby so, once we had run out of things to do, we caught the 'Proximo' bus to the airport. This meant that we would have roughly 4 hours to wait before our 8.45pm flight, but we managed to amuse ourselves.

In spite of Faro being disappointing, our week in Portugal had been a great success and the weather had been brilliant. We were not looking forward to the much cooler weather in the UK.