Published:

August 14, 2008

Bears in the Woods... and Dunes.. and Mountains..

To celebrate the one year anniversay of One Black Bear we headed over...

To celebrate the one year anniversay of One Black Bear we headed over to sunny Wales (honestly it was, we have the sunburn to prove it!) for a long weekend. With a bunch of party stuff, Gareth's giant suitcase and the biggest tent around we needed a suitably large vehicle to handle the load. Subaru kindly steped in and provided an Outback and Legacy Sports Tourer for the duration, thanks again guys!

Friday morning we all headed over ready and packed for our camping trip to Shell Island; laptops and all. After sorting a few things we set off on our bear adventure in the afternoon and with a little bit of a delay (someones directions...) we arrived in one piece.

We managed to find a great spot to pitch the tent in a good size clearing within a wooded area just behind the dunes. It was somewhat off the beaten path, but we had four wheel drive so the rutted mud road was not a problem. Time to crack on with the tent (aka the canvas mansion); regardless of its size it was simple enough and the colour coded tags made life easy, all done and dusted in a mere 30 minutes.

As the night rolled on and we'd got the fire going (yes, geeks can do outdoor things too!) we opened a few beers and started the bbq, many hours (and bottles) passed and we all headed over to beach. Anyone else tried going up a dune drunk? It's not easy. After dipping our paws (sorry, bad jokes come as standard) in the sea and a few more beers we finally called it a night and broke out the sleeping bags.

Morning came and we eventually crawled out of the tent and got ready for the day ahead; climbing Snowdon, but first a greasey spoon to combat those hangover smyptons. Once we were no longer bears with sore heads (i did warn you about puns!) we scrambled our way up to the top with a few stops on the way for photographs, water and to rest some sore muscles. We weren't the only ones on the mountain that day, our day trip coinsided with the Snowdon run. Yes, I did say run.

Once a year Snowdon is the venue for over one hundred fell runners who range massively in age and ability but the current record holder managed the course in just over one hour! Amazing! During our last stint towards the summit we came across some competitors; including one 71 year old who over took us!

Taking the oppurtunity to rest and recover we paused at the top to watch some of the runners go by before starting on our descent. Although the train did look the favourable option (ie least tiring) part of the course crossed the tracks and was closed, so we had to make our way down on foot. At times it was tough, one part in particular caused some issues. On the way back to the cars we found a lovely river with a chain of water falls ending in a nice lagoon esque section; a prime location and conditions for a swim.. Shame there wasn't any samon! On the whole it was difficult, but well worth it.

As you can well imagine we were somewhat tired that night so when we got back (from the pub) we relaxed in front of the camp fire for a while. Of course we couldn't leave it at that, so we got the wireless router out, hooked it up to the Legacy and setup our own little network. One retro LAN party insued, with a multi player Call of Duty 2 session lasting way in to the night.

Next morning the bears headed to the beach. Swimming, logo building and another barbeque rounded out our holiday, topped off with some sun burn and the inevitable sand in places you dont want just to make the drive home that bit more itchy.

Taking a pleasent diversion though a picturesque area of wales we took our time coming back, enjoying the ride and the shade provided by the Subaru's arriving back to the hussle and bussle of Birmingham just after dark. Early nights all round before work the next day.

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