Llandegla has been the scene of some hard work from me in the past, specifically the Fearless duathlons last year and this. Friday night saw me in further respiratory distress running along that pesky reservoir wall, taking part in the Dash in the Dark. The mini-series, organised by the Clwydian Range Runners, has taken place on Friday nights closest to the full moon between January and March through the forest at Llandegla. I wasn’t aware of the first two races, but by sheer good luck I was at my parents’ house nearby on Friday night for the final fixture. The dark aspect of the race is fairly key, so the advertised start time was delayed to let the sun go down! Waiting for darkness to fall, the sunset was lovely in a clear sky.

The field of forty runners set off at about 19:00, and I was somewhat shocked by the sprint off the start line. Being used to longer events like Fearless and Nine Edges, I generally have to pace myself. The Dash in the Dark is 3.5 miles, so there were no such worries here. I soon picked up the pace and managed to stay within sight of the main lead group for the first couple of miles (a few superhuman individuals at the front shot off immediately!). Not being used to such sustained speed, I dropped off a little after that but was still comfortable.

Click here for a photo of me during the run on prdouglas.co.uk

The full moon, also being the closest it has been to earth for 20 years, was huge and incredibly bright in the clear night sky. Headtorches were definitely still required deep in the forest though. My final time was 30:34 for 5.3km off-road at night, which I was quite happy with. It was a well-organised event, but still small enough to remain friendly and informal. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to stay for the prize-giving (although I doubt my absence caused any major problems!). I’d thoroughly recommend it for next year, although I have read somewhere about a Dash in the Daylight series which may well be worth a look too if you’re local.

[Edit: The results (Excel spreadsheet) are now in. 30m 34s confirmed as the time, placing me 17th out of 38.]

A minor miracle took place on Saturday, and my brother got out of bed early enough to come scrambling with James and I. This was Gareth’s first roped scramble, so we wanted something easy but in a spectacular location. Main Gully on Glyder Fach main cliff seemed to fit the bill, especially since it was also the first roped scramble that James and I ever did. Driving up Nant Ffrancon, the cliff looked incredible; dark and foreboding, and swirling in and out of the clouds. Having climbed there several times, James and I know it’s not as intimidating as it looks up close, but Gareth was looking apprehensive. The only way in which the nerves manifested themselves was the application of minor damage to my helmet before we’d even left the car park, but he did provide the Haribo after dinner that evening so I guess I can forgive and forget. The walk-in nearly killed him, but we geared-up at the top of Alphabet Slab and had an enjoyable few pitches.

It was interesting how scrappy and mucky I found the first couple of pitches, especially in comparison with Pinnacle Ridge and Ordinary Route which we did a couple of weeks ago. For a long time now, the first thing ‘climbers’ have said to me on hearing of the Scrambles in Snowdonia challenge is “Why? Climbs are much nicer and safer than scrambles.“. I’ve not really subscribed to that point of view before, but after scrabbling up mud and grass at the bottom of Main Gully I’m perhaps coming around to their way of thinking. During James’ lead he took great delight in finding one of the miniscule remaining snow patches in North Wales and sending a high-speed package of it hurtling towards us at the belay below. The weather remained compliant throughout, with patchy sunshine highlighting the great views of Nant Ffrancon, Ogwen and Bochlwyd from high up on the ridge. The cloud that had helpfully made the cliff look more hardcore than it actually is burnt off as soon as the morning sun got some heat on it.

Gareth got on fine and didn’t have any problems on the climb; he was out-pacing me at times, as I sat below complaining about getting too old for this kind of shenanigans. We topped out mid-afternoon and negotiated the death-screes beside Bristly Ridge before continuing the descent to the car. On the way back we introduced Gareth to the now traditional delights of Rhug, and I finished the day off in style by throwing a complete curveball and ordering a gammon bap with pineapple instead of a cheeseburger. Extreme to the max.