Another nice week up in The Lake District in mid-September with a couple of massive 7-8 hr hikes around the mountains south of Buttermere, and those south west of Derwent Water.
We had three days on the Isle of Jura to take in the whole length of this massive island, which has a distillery, some spectacular mountains, and more deer than people, but not a single campsite.
After that, we drove up to the top of Skye to see the Quiraing and camped in a gale further south on the island before finishing up with a trip to Loch Lomond and a walk up Conic Hill.
With a whole week of sunshine forecast, it seemed like a perfect time to do another camping trip to Snowdonia. I've climbed Snowdon quite a few times over the years but this time I decided it would be nice to do the Horseshoe route which I'd not done before. As is often the case, the Pen-y-Pass car park was full up, so it meant catching a bus from the Park&Ride SE of Llanberris back to Pen-y-Pass. The bus stops running at 7pm, so by the time I was off the mountain by head-torch I had a delightful three extra miles to walk back to the car.
During the week I walked up Mynydd Mawr, an inviting looking mountain four miles west of Snowdon with an impressive view from the top. And then I finished off the week with an epic 16 mile hike from Betws-y-Coed up a long expanse of wild mountain to the spiky rocks of Glyder Fach (994m) before scrambling down Y Gribin to arrive at Lake Ogwen at sunset, followed by a 7 mile walk back along the road to the campsite by head-torch. A tough long hike, but good exercise, photos and memories.
