A steady drive down from Bala to Dolgelleu would find us at the south end of Sarn Helen (in the Coed-y-Brenin forest)
We travelled north up through the forestry roads and as expected, met a fair number of mountain bikers and dog walkers, but giving way and generally being courteous, our trip through the trees was quite pleasant. At the large gate, we engaged the manual hubs and selected 4-Low for the damp and rocky climb.
The track, although generally smooth, presented us with some nice little technical rock steps to clamber over before the narrow gate at the end of the woods - where we came accross a local farmer with a very shiny Landrover Defender. I exchanged pleasantries but to be honest, only comprehended a few words of English through his heavy Welsh accent. Once he'd reversed up the track a little, we all made it through the narrow gate with barely a scratch on the wing mirrors.
Always keen for a photo op, I encouraged the others to join me on one of the building platforms that can be found along this track:
...but if wash bloomin cold outside the warmth of the vehicle, so we quickly hopped back in and made our way to the ranges valley where we hoped it was a little more sheltered - it was not, so after a coffee break in our cars (with the windows open for a chat) we continued along the Trusfynedd to Bala gated road. Out of Bala, be headed on up to the Bala mountain road via it's couple of switch backs and cut accros another ORPA towards the Wayfarer.
We stopped briefly to let another group past us (turned out to be "BogFrog" from the GLASS and Mud Club forums, leading a group of novices) and then made the summit where Livewire was encouraged to sign the visitors book:
We didn't stay long though, as it was still cold and starting to snow. Ste and I had a quick chat with another group that had stopped at the summit before making our decent.
The sleeper section we heard was in a bad state, as I was to find out - a quick shout on the CB was not enough for Ste and Andy to avoid the impact of a big hole - it definitely woke me up.
Once out of the lane, at the final gate, it was time to unlock the hubs and make our way home - well, that was the plan. By torch light, Ste and Andy had to use antifreeze and a pair of pliers to release a hub each as they had frozen in the locked position.
The journey home through the lanes was "interesting" with the now steadily increasing falling snow settling on the cold tarmac, but once on the main roads, progress was a lot easier.
'twas a cracking day out, but oh so bitterly cold.
Lawrence
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