While the storms were battering the north coast of Wales, The Cottage remained relatively untouched thanks to the protection of the nearby mountainside. Travel was not recommended, so I spent the time getting the final bits of climbing equipment ready for next weeks adventures…

Going on a bolted rock climbing expedition can be quite a ‘light weight’ affair, with minimal kit or clothes. However, heading towards the Arctic with ice climbing gear, winter layers and heavy boots, crampons and ice axes means that ‘additional equipment’ has to be checked in alongside our luggage.

Once the worst of the wind had passed, we walked down to the river to see how high it was. We’d had 60mm of rain during the night in our rain gauge. It was high and fast!

As the weekend passed, so did the storm, leaving behind a bit of blue sky. Along the coast, there are plenty of big trees down and Llandudno pier lost several cabins to the sea.

Along the track by The Cottage, there are loads of spiky, grey moss/lichen that have come into bloom, seemingly overnight! Must look them up at some point…

Late tomorrow, I leave for Norway, and having packed all the ‘group kit’, the remainder of the day was spent making sure that I’d got my personal kit together.

And as it will be one of my last nights of the year at The Cottage, I also had to make sure that I’d got another set of clothes and equipment ready for my return, as I’ll have less than 24hours to get out of ice climbing mode and get my cycle touring brain on! Hopefully, I can leave one bag, pick up the next one and return to the airport! Sounds easy in theory….