Aran wildcamp

This is becoming something of a tradition: a midsummer solo wildcamp in Eryri. After an unusually hot Collie run, I headed over to Llanuwchllyn in glorious evening sunshine, beginning the run at 8pm as the sun began to drop. I took the race route, with the intention of finding a camp with views to west and east, my usual stipulations. The obvious problem was a lack of water: it is unusually dry across the hills at present, and I eventually settled on a spot on the western side of Moel Ffenigl (very close to the highpoint of this March's shortened Ras yr Aran - in fact, that was the last time I was up here, less than four months ago, in a windchill of -20c and heavy snow showers). A surprisingly stiff easterly blew up, so I pitched in the lee of a rocky outcrop (allowing for a bit of bouldering in the evening sunshine). The midges weren't too bad, and I found a trickle of water in a nearby stream for my morning brew. The sun dropped below Snowdon and Arenig: a magnificent evening. Sadly, however, the easterly disturbed my sleep a bit - although that did mean I caught the sunrise as I enjoyed a dawn run along the ridge. The sunrise was as spectacular as the sunset, and a full moon shone above Cader to the west.