Last week was the traditional annual-ish wild camp / bivvy with Jono and Gareth. We broke with tradition, however, when it came to location. Previous years have been on Snowdon, either on the summit many moons ago when we were all young and sprightly, or lower down in more recent years. This time I decided a change was in order, so we started the plod up Siabod on Friday evening. We had some company from the farm, who we quickly named Patch, in lieu of knowing his actual name. Jono was up for just leaving him on the hillside to fend for himself, but he did eventually return to the farm.

After searching around for a suitable place to camp, we ended up at one of the old quarries, none of which have any names according to the OS maps. After a midgy dinner we settled down to sleep.

At 03:00 I realised why the sleeping bag I’d taken along was relegated to “indoor only” duty several years ago, and at 05:00 in blazing sunshine I couldn’t take it any longer and got up. Gareth and Jono were still sleeping soundly, so I bounded (read: laboured) up Daear Ddu ridge. Approaching the ridge it was bathed in incredible pink light, and as I climbed up I broke through the cloud into more sunshine. The view over the north of the park is held back until you crest the final rise, and it was pretty spectacular when it did appear, with only Snowdon and the Glyderau poking through the inversion. I forgot my camera, so you’ll have to imagine it!

I descended north, breaking off the ridge at an appropriate point to get back to camp, only to find that (90 minutes after I left) Gareth and Jono were still asleep. I made some grachoconolaustard™ (granola, hot chocolate and custard – turns out it’s pretty nice) and when the first of the day’s walkers passed us on the footpath I gave in and made enough noise to wake the slumbering beasts.

We beat a hasty retreat to the cafe for a hearty breakfast before heading home to refresh before re-grouping at a friend’s for a BBQ in the afternoon. Smashing.