It’s been such a varied and busy week that I’ve not really had much time for writing, so here’s a few photos to show some of the things that make up an average week in the life of Ian!… Last Thursday, I hiked a section of the North Wales coastal path with some students, on a bright but very cold day.

We did 9 kilometres from Llandudno to Conwy as part of an expedition training program and took in a few of the tourist attractions along the way!

Later that night I was buying/packing rations for my next expedition, to Arctic Sweden, after taking part in a night orienteering race. I paired up with a friend and we came a respectable 19th out of a field of 40 competitors, over the 9km course.

The next day was more expedition training, but this time doing some ‘un-accompanied’ practice for some Duke of Edinburgh’s Award students.

The route took me past The Cottage and up into the valley, where happily everyone turned up. Eventually!….

The nights this week have been just as busy as the days, with live music in Bethesda providing some great dancing.

There was a partial eclipse on Saturday, which we were lucky to see as the clouds parted just as we were rock climbing on the north coast. A fellow climber noticed it first and alerted us. We made a pin-hole viewer with the guidebook cover!

The weather got even better on Sunday, but I was booked to do an indoor climbing assessment for a group of students who were studying for a BTEC in Outdoor Leadership.

Plenty of climbing and even a bit of paperwork too as they completed their logbooks.

Pat has been staying with us for the past few days and on the way back to Bangor station we enjoyed a nice walk along the pier on another bright morning.

Finally, with the clocks having changed (thanks Mum for the reminder), it’s light enough to climb into the evenings, so we took advantage of the conditions to climb 120m worth of the slabs at Tryfan Bach.

Tryfan Bach Climb:

• Crack 3, Diff*
• Stepped Crack, Diff*