Carneddau run

Peak: Drum
Area: Carneddau, Eryri
This route is a tried and tested solution to ferocious westerlies, and it worked again as Storm Eleanor hit North Wales with 80mph gusts at our exact moment of departure. Andy and I set off under leaden skies from the A55, up the steep road taken by the Foel Fras race, which is always a struggle. As soon as the track to Bwlch y Ddaefaen gets exposed the fierce westerly kicked in, blowing us upwards initially before turning into a crosswind higher up. We knew it would be impossible to communicate on the top, so worked out a pre-arranged set of signals! I lay flat on the grass on the summit of Drum, an old trick, as the 75mph winds whistled just above my nose. Andy arrived, and we indicated 'down'. I'd pulled exactly the same trick a year ago, when hail made life even more uncomfortable. Today, it was just the wind, and it was hard to make any progress towards Llyn Anafon initially, even steeply downhill. But with each metre descended, the wind gets imperceptibly lighter, and down in the cwm there is usually very little if it's blowing from the west. Excellent running down Anafon (feeling much better than I was last time I was here, descending from our 3000s run in August), then we took the extension north to the road, avoiding the tarmac and finishing on the A55.