It was a bit of a murky morning to be setting out on a hike, but the lack of any wind meant that the low clouds and mist actually made for quite a dramatic start as I set off with Neil and Clare through the Ogwen Valley on a section of the ‘Slate Trail’.

The full slate trail makes it’s way around the national park over several days, but we’d opted to hike a day section through the Ogwen Valley, starting below the North Ridge of Tryfan.

The clouds began to slowly lift as we made our way along the old roman road to Capel Curig.

We didn’t see a soul for the entire six kilometres that led us to Llyn Mymbyr at Plas y Brenin.

This was a well timed (planned) stop, and we went into the warmth of the bar for a bowl of soup and hot drinks. It turned out to be a fairly social affair as lots of our friends were passing through there as well. Before getting too comfy, togged back up and crossed the river at the end of the lake to continue along the Afon Llugwy towards Coben’s Falls.

But now the rain had set in, but we were mostly sheltered by the woods.

There is one bus every two hours at this time of year, so there was a little bit of pressure to make it to the Ugly House in time to catch the last bus that would be passing through during daylight hours. As it turned out, a brisk march for the final kilometre had us at the stop with 5 minutes to spare! Perfect!

A very nice bus driver even went past the ‘official’ bus stop in Ogwen and dropped us off right next to the car! £2.00 well spent!

Ten minutes later we were back at The Cottage and tucking into a well earned tea and toast session, followed by each of us quietly retreating to separate sofas around The Cottage for a sneaky restorative snooze! This had us revived enough to venture out into Bangor later for a meal at an Italian restaurant. Brill.