Cut Short

The December walk was one of the more challenging in the calendar as it was a 5.3 mile mountain walk in Snowdonia. We thought we had better get it in early in case the weather got bad so we set off for Wales on Friday 2nd.

I had booked us into a special B & B, a converted church in Capel Curig and it turned out that the walk started in the very next field. So after a pleasant journey there and a nice meal in the local the evening before, we set off on the Saturday morning for our ultimate test.

The weather forecast was good, supposedly clearing to bright skies late morning, although it was quickly clear that it must have rained persistently for the previous 2 weeks. We were walking through bogs where the water was going over our boots and it was very slow going. We were about a third of the way into the walk - although it had already taken over an hour - and just started up a small incline when Wendy slipped and crashed straight down onto a large flat rock. When she rolled over there was blood pouring from a deep gash above her eye.

We managed to stem the flow and she was able to walk off the mountain - we took a much more direct route back - and I then drove her up to the hospital at Bangor where she had 5 or 6 stitches. The nurse wasn't too pleased with me when I asked if we could carry on with the walk now (I was only joking) and we headed back to the B&B where Wendy rested up until Sunday morning. Boy did she have a shiner by then! Anyway, we had to head back after that as we were due at a Status Quo concert that evening - I mean how much head banging can you do in one weekend!

I should say that Wendy is ok now and you can barely see the scar. It was a shame to end the year on that note but we will go back in the summer and complete the walk properly. We have really enjoyed the walking year and thanks to all those who have made donations in support of us.