Paddy Buckley info needed

[Mark Smith]

I'm contemplating a late summer PB Round, late August to be precise. This is wife dependant so could go either way.

When I did the Bob Graham last year I already knew all those hills well. The Welsh hills, despite being nearer to my home (nr Wrexham/Chester) are not so well known to me, apart from the Carneddau, Glyderau and Snowdon horseshoe. That section out of Capel is all uncharted. This means the PBR will be a great chance to explore some new hills as well as gain the satisfaction of doing what looks like a tough round.

I'm going to recce it like mad of course, and bore the world to death with another blog more than likely, but what I could do with are those killer bits of information that enable you to go into this with your eyes open.

Tips on...

Where/when to start, esp given the August date (could reign forward to end of July but no earlier - i need to train and have BGRs to support). I;ve looked at Bob Wightman's great site and have worked out soe options.

The best section/s for darkness

The best/worse ground and general good/bad areas

Good places for road crew

Training tips (that might differ from training for the BGR)

etc etc!

I'll nag about the minutae in the months to come (trods, lines etc) but I'm all ears to your suggestions and ideas. IainR, get cracking!

Thanks

Mark

[IanDarkpeak]

Mark
I've just PM you some stuff.
Ian

[IainR]

[quote=Swiss Toni;106418]I'm contemplating a late summer PB Round, late August to be precise. This is wife dependant so could go either way.

When I did the Bob Graham last year I already knew all those hills well. The Welsh hills, despite being nearer to my home (nr Wrexham/Chester) are not so well known to me, apart from the Carneddau, Glyderau and Snowdon horseshoe. That section out of Capel is all uncharted. This means the PBR will be a great chance to explore some new hills as well as gain the satisfaction of doing what looks like a tough round.

I'm going to recce it like mad of course, and bore the world to death with another blog more than likely, but what I could do with are those killer bits of information that enable you to go into this with your eyes open.

Tips on...

I started in August, the 11th, left where the track came off Cnicht, did the road section first, then did Bryn Banog leg. email me at iain.ridgway(at)bangor.ac.uk and I'll email you my schedule. Started early evening, 6ish I think.

August is good, OK a bit of long night issues, but the ground is often dry. main thing you don't want is heavy rain or a heat wave.

reasoning: get the dark out of the way early, run the road alone, calm down, relax, then do the first leg in the light, get rid of all that pent up energy, then when its going well hit easy terrain in the dark and do the dark while fresh. The Moelwyns is the navigationally hardest bit so must be light really.

The best section/s for darkness
Summit of Craig wen - Llyn Y Cwn. I got ahead of time and did the glyders F&F in the dark which was hard work and lost time.

The best/worse ground and general good/bad areas
Worst ground Llyn y Cwn - Ogwen for me, and Aberglaslyn til after Y Gyrn, then up PYOW.

Good places for road crew
Llanberis, at the start of the zig zags slate path in the quarries.
Ogwen Cottage
Capel, in the lay by/farmers lane, 150 yards between capel junction and PyB, tell support don't get there too early, as pisses farmer off.
Bwlch Cwm Morthin quarry, get support to walk in from Bleaneau
Aberglaslyn car park.
Rhydd Dhu, don't go that way, go to Pont Caer Gors, park at end of forestry lane, just before railway.


Training tips:

Same as BGR I think, loads of ascent, loads of big hill days, loads of time on the route, get to know it like the back of your hand.

I'm out most weekends or evenings so if you want some company give us a shout, I'll lend you a dog as they have recced the route so many times they know all the short cuts and will guide you around :-) I live just next to Elidir so right in the middle of the round.

Main route finding choices are:

Pont Caer Gors to Craig Wen. not an official route, involves climbing walls. Other way is take bwlch cwm llan track from Rhydd Dhu and break off and head direct after a few miles.

Moel Eilio to llanberis: Take the NE ridge, not the N ridge where the track is.

Llanberis to Elidir: Follow the zig sags through the quarry, then follow the paving slab lined incline, after a few levels there are some steps on the LHS.

Tryfan to A5: Take west gully for descent, then down to A5.

Aberglaslyn to Bryn Banog, up through coed aberglaslyn, then head direct past all ruined buildings to summit, bridleway marked on the map is non-existant.

Here's my report:

http://sarzmountainrun.blogspot.com/2007/08/paddy-buckley-round.html

[Mark Smith]

Thanks Iain, that's a whole load of information - great stuff!

I'll pour over that and get to work on persuading the wife that this is a good idea. Once i've got a fledgling training scehdulr together I'll let you know when i'm planning to recce and see what we can manage.

Thanks again

Mark

PS - enjoyed reading your account - well done!