North Wales

On Monday I drove to North Wales to a place not too far from Bangor. I had a good drive up in Will's car (little MOF not really being up to long journey's now...). There was very little traffic on the road & I arrived at about half 4 in the afternoon. My friend Jon had driven down from his home in Scotland on Saturday to spend a couple of nights with family in South Wales, then continued up to North Wales on the Monday.

On the Tuesday we decided to tackle Tryfan, which is a hill I've been meaning to do for a long time. It's about the only hill in the UK that you can't just walk up -it's essentially a scramble on the rock from top to bottom with no set path. Depending on how things went we were thinking of also doing the Glyders as well, but conditions were pretty poor. It wasn't raining but there was a lot of moisture in the air & the rock was very slippery. There was also a bit of snow & ice around, plus so much mist that visibility was extremely poor.

Jon took me an 'interesting' route, to put it mildly! There was a couple following us who didn't really know where they were going, & the woman was getting a bit freaked out. Never-the-less, my knee coped fine and after a couple of hours of great scrambling we were up on the summit. The summit is marked by two pillars known as Adam & Eve, & the brave celebrate by jumping from one to the other. We weren't silly enough to try... As you can see, the visibility was atrocious & we couldn't see a single thing from the summit which was a shame.

Once we were over the other side of the mountain & lost a bit of height there was some sunshine over the valley which was nice. The way down was pretty tough & steep with lots of loose gravel, plus snow & ice to contend with. About half-way down I fell on some icy rock & managed to twist my injured knee again which wasn't great. I sat & iced it with some snow for a while, then managed to carefully make my way down, much to Jon's relief. He had visions of having to call out Mountain Rescue!
On Wednesday I wasn't really up to walking, so had a nice day exploring Caernarfon and Porthmadog, a couple of the North Wales towns. Even if I hadn't have hurt my knee I think I would have struggled to do another hill day. EVERYTHING hurt, from my calves & quads, to my arms & shoulders. Scrambling really is a full body workout! Jon set out to climb Bristly Ridge which is another famous scramble in the area, but came back down after he was about two-thirds up. He just lost his nerve, & climbing by himself he said that his mind has started to play tricks on him. Porthmadog has a pretty harbour, & I also went & checked out the steam train which runs from there. On Curto's request I also visited the Purple Moose brewery to pick up a mixed case of beer for the real ale club back at school.


On Thursday I decided I was up for a gentle walk where there was no risk of further damage to the knee. we decided on the Miners track which takes you half-way up Snowdon. It's a tourist path so really well maintained & practically a highway. We had a lovely walk to the end of the track & back. It took about 3 hours, but again we had very poor visibility. We did have a navy sea-king rescue helicopter do a bit of low-level flying on a training run which was quite interesting.

So, that was it. It was lovely catching up with Jon, & nice to get away for a few days. The drive back on Friday (my birthday!) wasn't as easy as the drive up with lots more traffic on the road. I eventually made it home & it was lovely catching up with Will. We celebrated my birthday with a Chinese take-out & a bottle of pink bubbles!

This weekend has been relaxed. I've been writing lots of reports, in-between being distracted by our new birthday Wii we have bought! All my reports due tomorrow are now completed, although the next lot are due the following Monday, so no doubt a lot of this week will be taken up with that!

A week off

School finished at lunch-time on Friday for our 1 week half-term break. We were supposed to have INSET (teachers only day) Friday afternoon, but management were kind & let us off. They suggested we use the time for report writing instead, as the first lot are due the Monday we get back. I was good & stayed at school & got one whole class finished.

On Friday night we had the staff formal dinner in the common room. It was a great night with excellent food, lots of wine, & a few antics later on... That is probably a 200 year old table that people are dancing on!

Will & I enjoyed a nice Valentine's day. I don't really 'do' it, but it was our first one as a married couple. Willl gave me some lovely lilies. Being the thoughful person he is he gave them to me last Sunday, as tomorrow I'm off to North wales for 5 days & he was worried I wouldn't get full pleasure out of them if he gave them to me on the 14th. He also gave me some perfume that I had run out of, & the line has been discontinued. He managed to find some at the duty-free shop in Hungary when he was there for work a couple of weeks ago! My token gesture was to cook a nice meal of rib-eye steak with a mushroom & white wine sauce, dauphinoise potatoes & sugarsnap peas.

As some of you know, before Christmas Will applied for a job at Victoria University in Wellington. Well, he has a phone interview tonight, so we shall wait & see how that goes... He is going to take it at his office at the uni, & he went in a few hours ago to prepare for it. While he is away I have cooked a victoria sponge as a birthday cake for him. His birthday is on Tuesday & I will miss it since I'll be in Wales. I get back on the Friday which is my birthday, so we shall celebrate them both then. As a joint present we have bought ourselves a nintendi wii which we are getting a lot of entertainment out of.

Right, I'd better head off & start to pack for tomorrow. Hopefully the next post will have some nice picks of Welsh hills, if it stops raining long enough to take some!

What a week!

So, on Monday morning we woke up to the heaviest snowfall in South-East England for 18 years! It really was a winter wonderland and I enjoyed my walk into school through the woods.

As predicted, Bearwood stayed open for the whole week, whereas most other schools in the area were only open for 2 days out of the five. It was a disruptive week with only about half the scholars in on most days. On a couple of days the school buses were unable to run, meaning parents had to make the decision whether or not they were able to bring their kids in. Some of the photos in the newspapers were fantastic, including the parliament buildings covered in snow, people sledging in the London city parks, & even some people in London skiing into work!

Anyone for a round of golf?

The photo above is the view from my classroom, looking down onto South field. It was taken at the very beginning of morning break & you can just see the first of the kids running out for a huge snowball fight that took place every break & lunch. They ended up cold & soaking wet for the rest of the day, but they loved every minute of it!
In this extreme weather the birds have been enjoying the food we put out for them. We have even had a few new visitors to the garden, including what we think is a grouse above.
Today we visited Will's parents for Sunday lunch. They haven't quite had as much snow as we have, but their house was still looking incredibly pretty surrounded by the white stuff. We had a very nice lunch, followed by watching the Wales/Scotland six nations rugby match. At half-time Will & I braved the cold for a few pics outside before it got too dark.

The worst of the weather now seems to be behind us, & we haven't had any snow at our place for a couple of days, although we did get some at Will's parents today. Tomorrow is meant to be fine during the day, but heavy snow is forecast for the evening & Tuesday morning. I love the stuff, so have my fingers crossed...

The start of Feb

It's hard to believe that the first month of 2009 has already gone. Time really does seem to be racing by. I've got 2 more weeks of school left before it's 1 week off for half-term. Will doesn't get half-term at the Uni so I'm going to spend a few days walking in North Wales with my friend Jon who teaches at a school in Scotland.

This weekend has been nice & relaxing. I made it to the gym both days which feels good. I also had long lie-ins on both days which feels even better! I didn't really do all the school work I was planning to, but it will keep...

After the last couple of weeks being relatively mild, the cold snap is back again. It is snowing at the moment, & it isn't forecast to stop until tomorrow night. Heavy snow is forecast for tomorrow & extreme weather warnings have been issued for the area. Unfortunately, being a boarding school, Bearwood is extremely unlikely to close down for a 'snow day' like most other schools probably will if it does get heavy. I'm looking forward to walking to school through the woods tomorrow, I might even take some pics if I remember to take my camera with me.

Dave

Dave is the upstairs cat who has decided to adopt Will & I as his second parents. He will 'knock' on the door when he wants to be let in. He is a lovely laid-back cat who has claimed one of the beanbag poofs as his bed. I think he likes the peace and quiet at our place as upstairs he is competing with two very active young kids who are always tearing around the place.