June 1977 - Snowdon, Ingleton, Blackley, Welsh 3000s, Three Peaks Challenge, etc

4 June 1977 - and I'm back at Pen-y-Pass at the start of the Miners' Track (above) for another walk up Snowdon. I'm not sure who my companions, if any, were on this visit.

I'll continue by way of captions, as I've found no diary for this period. If you click on a picture you might find a slideshow of better images, but the captions won't appear.

Cloud on the summit of Snowdon

Snowdon's south ridge, from below the summit, in clearing weather

A view back towards the summit, with Glaslyn

Moel Siabod from the Pyg Track

Snowdon, from the outskirts of Capel Curig

5 June - a day out to Ingleton, and the Waterfall Walk

At Thornton Force, with Pete Hill, Graham Forder and Rob Corbin

Meanwhile, Jubilee bunting at home in Russet Road, Blackley - see also here

12 June - driving back from a visit to my parents in Sudbrooke (Lincoln),
a lovely sky had me stopping to get the camera out despite an absence of the
Vulcan bombers that habitually filled the skies

18 June - an attempt at the Welsh 3000s, with Paul (aka Angus) Wightman, John Howarth and Frank Brierley. I think we attempted sleep in the stone shelter on Foel Grach,
before rising with the sun on the Carnedd ridge

Looking ahead, from the Carn Llewelyn area on a rapidly warming day

The cloud dissolved from one side of the ridge, giving Brocken Spectres

as the sun cast our shadows against the remaining mist

The Glyders cleared ahead, as we proceeded over Carnedd Dafydd

Heating up nicely now, after a relatively sleepless night in the stone shelter, even though we had gained most of our height the previous day, the heat was now getting to us as we traversed the Carnedd summits.

We must have left the Mini Estate (Frank's?) at a Llyn Ogwen lay-by, and we decided to call it a day at this point. Frank and John were happy to stop. Paul's memory has jumbled several Welsh 3000s attempts, one of which he assures me was successful.

We drove down to Porthmadog for some R&R. Subsequent to this I was involved in numerous Welsh 3000s attempts, often in a 'support' capacity. Success usually alluded us. Eventually, on 5 July 2003, Sue and I finally did it, ably supported by Alan Roberts. Report here.

We admired Cnicht and the Moelwyns from a short stroll around Llyn Bach

Porthmadog harbour - 1977

(current pictures can be seen here)

I took a picture of Linda, a powerful engine built as an 0-4-0ST by the Hunslet Engine Company, Leeds in 1893 for main-line service on the Penrhyn Quarry Railway, at a cost of £800. Linda was sent from Hunslet on 6th July 1893, named after Linda Blanche Douglas-Pennant (1889-1965), the daughter of Edward Sholto and Blanche Georgina Douglas-Pennant. She had a derailment on 8th October 1958 and worked her last trip at Penrhyn on 11th July 1962 (breaking down at Felin-Hen). Linda was initially offered for purchase with a price of £1,500, a price considered too high by both the Festiniog Railway and Talyllyn Railway.

22 June - leaving the pub in Glenridding at closing time, Jim Bradley, Laurie Marshall and I admired copious numbers of glowworms as we ascended to the summit of Helvellyn, to admire the mid-summer sunrise.

No tent is needed, just a sleeping bag to keep warm

It was a lovely morning on which we descended slowly back to the car

There were good views up the valley beyond Patterdale

Lanty's Tarn was passed on the way down. 
I remember a slightly scary (due to being tired) drive back to Jim and Cathy's house in Whalley Range for some breakfast, before heading into work in Brazennose Street

On 25 June I was joined by Adam and Phil Hyde (of the brewery, but at that time Adam and I both worked for Thornton Baker in Brazennose Street) for an 'assault' on the Three Peaks - Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis. We left Manchester at 10:00 am and Bangor at 12:45. In those days the Three Peaks challenge was timed from 'feet in the sea' (Caernarfon or Bangor) to 'feet in the sea' at Fort William. Our walk started from Pen-y-Pass at 13:10, and we departed from there at 15:20. In the meantime Adam and Phil found time to pose on the summit of Snowdon, where they are pictured above in a cloud.

We got to Seathwaite at 19:02, and left again - having climbed Scafell Pike - at 21:42.

Glen Nevis was reached at 2:27 am on 26 June, and we got down from our ascent of Ben Nevis, to finish in the sea at Fort William, at 6:21. The photo above was taken during our descent from the Ben.

We were back in Hale outside Adam's parents' house, suitably armed with glasses of champagne, by 14:00 on 26 June, after a round trip of 878 miles in the car and a few more on foot, taking 28 hours and 30 minutes, the bit between Bangor and Fort William having taken 17:36. We all did it, and we shared the driving.

I must have spent the rest of the afternoon in Hale, as this picture taken on Great Ancoats Street on my way home to Blackley indicates that the sun was setting on a very successful weekend

On 29 June some of us nipped up to the Ram's Head near Oldham,

and Pete Hill enjoyed a dip in a reservoir in between beers

So that was June 1977; I feel exhausted after jotting out those captions - it was an active month!