North Wales March 2001

From ICCC

People

• Rob "MC Hammer" Tuley
• Louise "Swam in 1 foot Surf" Davies
• Asa "Chainsaw Snore" Denton
• Sam "Irrelevant" Moore

Trip Report

Every year the Mountaineering Club has its AGM on one of its weekends, frequently in N Wales. Last year, a few of us joined them at Mary's hut for an epic, alcohol filled weekend. and this year, when they asked us back, we couldn't fail to join them.

Meeting at stores at a very early 1730 saw the bus loaded with 4 boats and all our kit by 1745. We then sat and waited for the climbers to faff and eventually got them into the bus by 1900. Asa had produced some awesome tapes and as Louise pulled out into Exhibition Road with the A-Team theme blaring from the bus, we knew we were in for a good weekend. An uneventful journey to N Wales revealed little about our "hosts" for the weekend, expect for the fact they can faff just as well (maybe better) in service stations as we can and they love Brittany. In fact they supplied a tape which had 'Lucky' as every other song, guaranteed to lengthen any journey.

Arrival at the NLMC Hut at about 0130, we found 3 inches of snow on the ground and the path to the hut was taped off and a notice threatening £5000 fine for anyone crossing it. Preferring this to a night spent in the snow, we trooped up the hill to find a rather nice bunk house. After a few beers, the silly drinking games got underway. These mostly involved either climbing over/under something or getting yourself into a compromising position with someone else. Rob and a random girl won the 'who can put the beer can as far from the line as possible while breaking as little kitchen equipment as possible' game. Bed was gained by most at about 0300.

An early morning walk by the non-drinker present showed that not only were all of the foot paths closed, the rivers had absolutely no water in them and the weather was giving some of the best winter mountaineering conditions for 5 years. A chance meeting with a MAFF officer told us what we suspected, Snowdonia was cancelled. He even said the beaches were closed. A quick phone call to Holyhead Coastguard told us that the beaches weren't closed and so a plan was formed. After the canoe club cooked breakfast for 30 people, we left them to do the washing up and headed for Dinas Dinlle on the coast.

Arrival there proved almost exactly what the coastguard had said, not closed but no surf. However, after attempting to fly Louise's kite in no wind and then burying her in stones, we got bored and went to get changed anyway. It was a fantastically sunny day and walking across a snowy beach felt very strange. Having bought a ball we proceeded to mess around on the terminally flat sea.

All of a sudden, out of nowhere came a two foot breaking wave. Not Big Wednesday by any means, but enough to surf on. We all rode it into the shore and then paddled out again to catch the next one. Then, almost as suddenly as they started, they stopped. This pattern, 5 small waves, 10 minutes gap, 5 small waves, was repeated for the next couple of hours, with the largest of the waves being about 3 feet. Everyone managed a capsize in the very shallow water and Louise even managed to swim, If you can count an upside down beaching that.

After a couple of hours boredom got the better of us so we got off, changed and trooped off to the local cafe where we learnt the recipe for a Ancient Goan Strawberry Milkshake from a rather unusual old man. On the way back to the hut we stopped in Beddgelert for a pint and a troop round the outdoor shops, where Rob bought some trousers only MC Hammer would wear.

Our return to the hut found many people on black tie heading off to the Cobens Hotel. Asa was the only Canoe Club member to have bothered, we felt our t-shirts were plenty smart enough. On arrival at the hotel, Rob put his debit card behind the bar, something he later may have come to regret. We sat down for an awesome meal and then the mountaineers held their AGM. It was a somewhat riotous affair but eventually they had a new committees "elected" and the action moved to the bar. Many hours of drinking, games and general socialising took place, notable moments being the hairclip game and Louise's attempt to catch up with Rob, in terms of the number of men they have snogged.

At 1, the pub decided to close and we all filed out, after Rob had paid off his £63 bar bill. A stumbling return to the hut and half an hour later and most of the canoe club were in bed, leaving Asa to represent us in the games that continued till dawn.

The next morning stretched into afternoon as various people staggered out into the light, many still utterly plastered. Breakfast was finally served at 1230 and then we went to Betws-y-Coed to try and get some new drain bungs. No luck. We returned to the hut at about 1330 and picked the climbers up. A subdued trip home, via a pub in Warwick saw an early return to IC at about 2100 and then off for some well earned sleep.