Bert
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2016
- Messages
- 452
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Hello Fellows. I thought I’d like to share with you some photographs of my recent trip in North Wales around Barmouth and Snowdonia National Park a couple of weeks back.
We consisted of two to three vehicles, a motley crew of my friends Defender 90, another’s Jeep Rubicon, and my beloved Land Cruiser Prado. We had a good time finding various trails and routes, most of which we navigated without any, or very few problems, with plenty of water and a little bit of snow along the way. However, after enquiring, a local guide suggested that Happy Valley had no 'formal' closure notice on it that he knew of, so we went to investigate. On approach, there is indeed no information at the start of the route to suggest there is a TRO or that the route is closed for any reason, so we decided to give it a go.
All went well until almost halfway through we think, before the sight of a burnt out Honda materialised in front of us blocking the route, surrounded by a sea of churned up mud where other folk had squelched on through. On the other side of this no-man’s land, there were three trail riders on their bikes mirroring us, assessing the situation. Anyway, I had a chat with the motorcyclists asking what the condition of the rest of the route was, to see if it was even worth contemplating pushing on. However, after ploughing through no-man’s land on foot to get to them, first sinking up to one knee in mud and then one elbow as I fell over, I’d already decided it would be a folly to attempt, and cause more unwarranted damage to a track already largely destroyed by others trying the same, so the decision to turn around was made without contention. This in itself was extremely difficult to do as we were effectively boxed in by the terrain. It was very fortunate that there were only three vehicles in our group, as this allowed for just enough shuffling to enable us to turn around and safely extract ourselves. If there were four vehicles or more, well, we would have been stuffed I think.
Anyway, after a while, we got our motley crew of three turned back around and worked our way back down the hill under the cover of night fall. So after all of this, I couldn’t help but be left wondering, why hasn’t anybody put a notice up at either end of the trail to warn travellers of the obstruction? We certainly would have heeded this advice if it was apparent. Anyway, apart from that, we had a great time all in all, and even the Happy Valley mishap was an experience worthwhile.
Over the rest of the weekend, I had a friendly chat with a farmer who was a little reluctant to encourage us to pass through his farm on a recognised trail, this was resolved diplomatically, and there was a small area of an overgrown trail that we had to cut through that had become hedged in by about 100 yards.
I regret that we did not take any photographs of the HV obstruction, but we were more concerned about extracting ourselves at that point. I hope that the situation up there is resolved at some point, but it is very apparent that a lot of damage has been done where people have tried to circumnavigate ‘The Bog’. Anyway, hope you like the photos……
Getting ready to set off....
Getting boggy with it....
Gulp, allowing the Good Woman to drive.... a bit....
...more water...
...the newly promoted Gate Keeper.... one of a thousand gates....
...peeking Jeep...
..creeping up the valley...
...the car in front, is a Toyota...
...Jeeping creeping....
Splashing good fun...
..now the Defender's turn (she's called Sally)...
...a little rest.
Angling up the trail...
..at this point, I was glad I folded my mirrors in...
...and the other way...
Got to love the scenery in Wales.
Near the top..
More water fun...
The only problem being in front, is that there are no photo's of me splashing about... :-(
Coming back down after turning around at Happy Valley...
The Next Day....
...are you bored yet?....
squeezing through another slim bridge..
Horsing about...
Another quick stop..
Bleak but beautiful...
The car in front is still a Toyota....
..this WAS a tight squeeze...hoorah for vaseline....need to remember to carry a tape measure...
Sally's turn..
probably the most snow I'll see this year...
happy travelers...
..almost done now, thanks if you've stayed with it this far...
water, water everywhere...
...not a drop to drink..
stopping at Point Pose...
Two friends having fun...
...that's all folks. Hope you enjoyed them.
Next time, Salisbury Plain again.....
We consisted of two to three vehicles, a motley crew of my friends Defender 90, another’s Jeep Rubicon, and my beloved Land Cruiser Prado. We had a good time finding various trails and routes, most of which we navigated without any, or very few problems, with plenty of water and a little bit of snow along the way. However, after enquiring, a local guide suggested that Happy Valley had no 'formal' closure notice on it that he knew of, so we went to investigate. On approach, there is indeed no information at the start of the route to suggest there is a TRO or that the route is closed for any reason, so we decided to give it a go.
All went well until almost halfway through we think, before the sight of a burnt out Honda materialised in front of us blocking the route, surrounded by a sea of churned up mud where other folk had squelched on through. On the other side of this no-man’s land, there were three trail riders on their bikes mirroring us, assessing the situation. Anyway, I had a chat with the motorcyclists asking what the condition of the rest of the route was, to see if it was even worth contemplating pushing on. However, after ploughing through no-man’s land on foot to get to them, first sinking up to one knee in mud and then one elbow as I fell over, I’d already decided it would be a folly to attempt, and cause more unwarranted damage to a track already largely destroyed by others trying the same, so the decision to turn around was made without contention. This in itself was extremely difficult to do as we were effectively boxed in by the terrain. It was very fortunate that there were only three vehicles in our group, as this allowed for just enough shuffling to enable us to turn around and safely extract ourselves. If there were four vehicles or more, well, we would have been stuffed I think.
Anyway, after a while, we got our motley crew of three turned back around and worked our way back down the hill under the cover of night fall. So after all of this, I couldn’t help but be left wondering, why hasn’t anybody put a notice up at either end of the trail to warn travellers of the obstruction? We certainly would have heeded this advice if it was apparent. Anyway, apart from that, we had a great time all in all, and even the Happy Valley mishap was an experience worthwhile.
Over the rest of the weekend, I had a friendly chat with a farmer who was a little reluctant to encourage us to pass through his farm on a recognised trail, this was resolved diplomatically, and there was a small area of an overgrown trail that we had to cut through that had become hedged in by about 100 yards.
I regret that we did not take any photographs of the HV obstruction, but we were more concerned about extracting ourselves at that point. I hope that the situation up there is resolved at some point, but it is very apparent that a lot of damage has been done where people have tried to circumnavigate ‘The Bog’. Anyway, hope you like the photos……
Getting ready to set off....
Getting boggy with it....
Gulp, allowing the Good Woman to drive.... a bit....
...more water...
...the newly promoted Gate Keeper.... one of a thousand gates....
...peeking Jeep...
..creeping up the valley...
...the car in front, is a Toyota...
...Jeeping creeping....
Splashing good fun...
..now the Defender's turn (she's called Sally)...
...a little rest.
Angling up the trail...
..at this point, I was glad I folded my mirrors in...
...and the other way...
Got to love the scenery in Wales.
Near the top..
More water fun...
The only problem being in front, is that there are no photo's of me splashing about... :-(
Coming back down after turning around at Happy Valley...
The Next Day....
...are you bored yet?....
squeezing through another slim bridge..
Horsing about...
Another quick stop..
Bleak but beautiful...
The car in front is still a Toyota....
..this WAS a tight squeeze...hoorah for vaseline....need to remember to carry a tape measure...
Sally's turn..
probably the most snow I'll see this year...
happy travelers...
..almost done now, thanks if you've stayed with it this far...
water, water everywhere...
...not a drop to drink..
stopping at Point Pose...
Two friends having fun...
...that's all folks. Hope you enjoyed them.
Next time, Salisbury Plain again.....
