Fight Club Hikers Use Reasonable Excuses

Me and LTD went to Gerlan, on the slopes overlooking Bethesda for the annual Fight-Club-Hikers-Can’t-Be-Arsed-To-Hike-Anywhere meet. The last two November meets were met with atrocious weather and only a very damp trundle over Lingmoor was taken by me, Masey and our soggy dogs last year.

The previous year’s weather was even worse and absolutely nothing at all was attempted. This was a Reasonable Excuse

But this year it was just cold and windy and the hills were clear of fog and dry (ish) apart from a shower or two. I had a route with a couple of easy escapes or shortcuts and, it seemed that there was enthusiasm for the escapade in The Bull the night before. A ten o’clock start would be required. 

Fight Club Hikers decided, though, that a lazy, two hour breakfast would be preferable to actually walking anywhere and proceeded, or, more accurately, proceeded not to proceed anywhere at all.

At ten o’clock, LTD was chewing my leg to be off, so off we went. As it goes dark at half four, I thought this was late enough. So, whilst FCH members considered another round of toast, me and LTD were marching up Moel Faban , a rocky little 408metre Tump just above Gerlan, where LTD met Kipper, a rampant collie who insisted  and insisted on licking LTD’s naughty parts.

We followed this with a lurch up the beetling slopes of Gyrn, a 514metre Dewey with a lovely view of the Bethesda quarries and then, in a  stinging hail shower, the piece of resistance they call Moel Wnion – named after a popular vegetable commonly grown on the allotments in Gerlan.

After lunch in the tropical confines of my liddle group shelter, we avoided Drosgl using a reasonable AND believable excuse and wandered over easy grass to Gyrn Wigau, a Nuttall with all of 15 metres of re-ascent (so, only just a Nuttall, then) which has a cracking view of the Carneddau corries which the rest of the Fight Club Hikers were poking about in a cwm in using a different reasonable excuse for doing Not Much At All. This was, of course, my second ascent of Gyrn Wigau.

The King’s Head in Bethesda provided entertainment for the night and LTD enjoyed the attentions of several lovely girls and, too late for me, it dawned on me that I should have had a small cute dog with me on nights out when I was eighteen  - some several years ago….  Bugger. Too late now.

On Sunday, the weather was duff, so I went home. I thought this was a reasonable excuse.

The route is just 7 miles and 2400 feet of ascent. Drsgl and various other Nuttalls could easily be included.