Carneddau run

Peaks: Drum
Area: Carneddau, Eryri
The best day in an awful week of weather, but even with some welcome sunshine our chosen route was badly wind-affected. The plan was to do the Foel Fras race route from the coast, so we (Vic, Emma and David from Denbigh Harriers) trotted up the steep road from Aber to the base of Foel Dduarth under blue skies. We had an excellent tailwind for the gradual climb up to the top of Drum, but the wind was so fierce at the summit that it was all we could do to dive into the cairn and get all our spare clothes on. The onward route would have been horrendous into the teeth of the gale in these boggy conditions, so instead we enjoyed an exciting and quick descent down to Llyn Anafon: picking a good line through the tussocks. I'd been glad of the relatively gentle pace as I'd done a 10 mile tempo run the day before; but we upped the pace for the superb track that leads down Cwm Anafon back to Aber. Probably around 10 miles again, by the time you get back to the A55. On this day exactly two years ago, we did the same route but were beaten back from the path to Anafon by some of the fiercest gusts I can ever remember.