Llandygai-Eirias Park

The traditional pre-Christmas long outing, our decision today was made for us because 50mph+ westerlies were raking north Wales and rendering the mountains out of bounds. A linear run seemed advisable, along the lines of our North Llyn epic of 2020. I parked in Llandygai just outside Bangor and Jez and I set off along the North Wales Path, following which was our basic plan for the day. It is quite poorly marked, but we found our way under the A55 then alongside the Ogwen, fairly raging after much rain. The path weaves up towards Bethesda through some unfamiliar terrain but with a very familiar backdrop of the high Carneddau, shrouded in mist. After a long but intermittent climb it finally heads eastwards along the minor Aber-Tal y Bont road before branching off for superb running along the tracks that encircle the northern edge of the Carneddau. These contour high above the Menai Strait and always give exhilarating running, but particularly so today with the tailwind. The route then kinks south towards Aber Falls, hard with a headwind. Again, I had done this section before and it is brilliant, delivering us to the foot of the falls. Back down the tourist route then up along the Foel Fras climb towards Bwlch y Ddaefaen. I began to tire a bit for the next section which was much harder than I had anticipated. It descends to the deep valley of Nant y Coed above Llanfairfechan, then climbs up to the Druid's Circle in pretty grim weather, before taking a slightly circuitous route to the top of Sychnant. I was really tiring, partly because I hadn't felt great since Wednesday night, partly because the NWP took longer than anticipated. Whatever, I took the road back to our planned break in Hod, and Jez joined me five minutes later - 20 miles down, but well timed for a bite to eat. After this, fresh socks and road shoes represented rebirth, and we initiated 'plan b', a direct route back to the second car at Eirias Park (where Jez had parked this morning). I felt much better through Junction and then up Pabo Lane to Mochdre, despite its rather painful little gradients. Then an easier finale through the mean streets of Colwyn Bay to Eirias Park. Almost 44k/1500m elevation, rather surprisingly. An excellent and memorable outing to add to the pre-Christmas tradition which goes back many years now.