hidden gem; Lake Bala & Aran ridge
A team of 7 headed to lake Bala, converging from the south, east and west. The southern contingent arrived and were directed to the ‘noisy field down the bottom’; taken as real compliment at our age. Two cars soon became 3, and a wide range of sleeping systems were assembled, but we were still missing a key component. The midges started to nibble and tempers began to flare, but relief finally arrived in the shape of the raven hill fun bus, containing a plentiful supply of raven hill.
With an afternoon of kayaking already planned, Calder Idris would need to wait. The ramble route masters agreed we'd need to find some crowd free altitude, quickly. Aran Fawddwy at 905m was selected, and turned out to be a real gem of a ridge.
No time to admire our work though, buoyancy aids on and kayaks dragged to the shore line, we paddled across lake Bala.
Pub dinner, birthday cake and a glass was raised to the absent friend unfortunate to miss out this time.
Returning to the campsite and super Saturday was almost over, necks craning at the majestic starscape, to a background chorus of badly drawn boy, silent sigh, as close as we’d get to a moment of clarity.
Sunday morning soon arrived, and with it the inevitable chatter of ‘the next trip’. ‘Keep it simple, keep it achievable’, ‘it can’t be camping in winter with this sleeping bag’ and ‘buy mountain bikes’ all thrown into the mixer.
