This last week I have been doing conservation work in my favourite place with the Snowdonia society. I've been able to play in the mountains and give back to it whilst completing the final part of my DofE gold (residential). Mum also joined me again at the weekend so we went camping and walking.
04/06/18
On Monday I the volunteer group worked along side woodland trust to set up a work station for them to go forward and build timber gates. So we spent the day making shaving horses by hand. Managed to get a little blister on my hand from so much whittling! The little barn had a great view of the mountains and the dam.
After a much needed shower and dinner in the evening I had a little explore around Caernarfon where I've been staying in a little B&B.
05/06/18
On Tuesday we were making footpaths, never have I thought about how these stepping stones get there but I do now. The shear labour it takes to dig a hole to then role a boulder into it and then balance it out with smaller rocks so they are balanced .. lets just say I slept very well that night! The footpath were working on was in Nantmor (weirdly the same one Mum and I had walked on 4 days before) and is used by 25,000 people a year which is why it was in desperate need of maintenance. We were working with the National Trust who were funded to do this work by public donation. I can now strongly say I will appreciate these stepping stone footpaths a billon times more after our hard work laying these huge stones.
Afterwards we walked to the top of the hill for an understanding of how much more the national trust has left to do, and for the stunning views!
06/06/18
Today we worked on replacing a fence for wildlife trust to contain their escaping sheep. We removed the rusted barbwire chain link fence that was destroyed by a fallen tree
07/06/18
Today was a litter pick up along the Snowdon miners track. We were based around the lakes as this is where a lot of litter collects when it has been blown off the mountain. It was scary to see how many plastic bottles and weirdly pairs of pants(!?) that we found as well as wrappers and cans.
There was one can Matilda and I could see visibly in the water which we couldn't quite reach but we were determined to get it. So we rolled a large stone into the water to stand on and then connected both our litter pickers together and after MANY attempts we dragged it in.
The weather today was amazing and I've never been able to see Snowdon so visible so was a shame we weren't able to go up to the top (where is all the welsh rain? It's so beautiful without it). I did catch the sun a little on my arms...sorry mum - I'll adult better next time!
08/06/18
The final volunteer day is over! I'm so sad for it all to be finished already! I've had such an amazing time with some lovely people. Todays work was rhododendron clearance. We were working in Abergwyant woods/forest which has a series of woodland trails available to the public but the Woodland trust were unable to maintain these plants. I took a particular liking to the small pine type plants (that I annoyingly cant remember the name of) and want to pot them and take them to my house in second year of uni.
09/06/18
Mum, Amber (the dog) and I went for a walk on Saturday round Llyn Idwal lake and then up Glyder Fawr and Y Garn. We all officially broke. Some of the steps up were a bit too big for Amber so I had to sling her over my shoulder for a fair amount of the climb up and yet she still needed a nap at the bottom of Y Garn! The views were beautiful from every single point of the walk, it was so peaceful - well worth all the pain. At the end of the walk the boots came off and we had a little paddle in the lake, it was incredibly tempting to finish off with a swim but unfortunately we had no swimsuits: did not fancy a skinny dip in public. Again, like last weekend, this was a walk I found on the national trust website known as the 'Cwm Idwal walk' with our extra addition of Gylder Fawr and Y Garn; https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/carneddau-and-glyderau/trails/cwm-idwal-walk
10/06/18
Harlech beach was the final stop of my snowdonia trip. After the walk yesterday we were feeling a little sorry for ourselves (*incredibly tender*) and wanted to take it easy. I was shocked by how amazing the beaches are in north wales! when you come here you think of mountains and lakes, not beaches so I was pleasantly surprised. So we had a little paddle before heading home to little Portishead. I was very sad to say goodbye to the mountains - and now the beaches too.
