Snowdon Rhyd-Ddu path

After 6 months of Covid lockdown i was feeling a bit sluggish and not sure how i would cope with this challenging ridge walk. We parked in the Ranger path car park and walked to Rhyd-Ddu as we were planning a circular walk back down the Ranger Path. This got me warmed up nicely and the walk in was great, climing all the time and the views improving as you went.

The weather had been great but as we came round on the ridge and the views opened the cloud closed in and we were in for a dose of hail. Typical. However that helped me get my head down and focus on pushing upwards for a bit however there were the odd gaps.

The ridge was fantastic and felt great to be out in the wilds and even with some exposure the cloudy conditions were helping. However as i was 3 quarters across the ridge and the cloud cleared a little i stopped and admired the view and suddenly had a realisation of how big a drop of it was. Its amazing how your legs turn to jelly and you get a feeling that you will fall. I looked up took a few breaths and pushed on to the end just looking at my feet, concentrating and not looking down again. I hadnt experienced that before - must just be getting old!

The push on up to the top was great and i was amazed how empty it was after all the reports of queing and no social distancing. However it was just us and a couple of people making their way up - not much of view though.

It was really cold though and i took my gloves off for a few minutes and suffered the hot aches in my fingers on the way down. As always though on the way up was the using couple in shorts, T-shirt and trainers, i am always amazed how they get away with it.

The Rangers path was great and we got some speed on and as we decended the cloud lifted and again showed us what a fantastic place this is.