Half the Snowdon Horseshoe & dont swim in the Blue now Black Lagoon!

I noticed this article this morning while skimming the news stories.  The main thrust is about a place not far from us in an old quarry where the colour of the water has earned the place the name of "the Blue Lagoon".   I'd never heard of it but it appears it was very popoular with bathers ands visitors even though the water is toxic due to chemicals leaching from the old quarry stone.  The local councils answer was to die the water black to make less attractive - - - -

Would you eat a Guinea pig ask the storyline in this one about a couple on holiday in Ecuador, its quite a long piece but in the end they do, apart from the head!  Its something Sally and I have discussed many times, if you are going to travel to "the foreign" whats the point of not trying the local dishes no matter what they are! 

I travelled across to North Wales on Sunday evening  as planned to walk half the Snowdon Horseshoe early on Monday morning.  I parked up at the Pen y pass car park which is the traditional start of a number of walks to the top of Snowdon.  After sharing my evening meal with the midges I wandered across to the loos to be faced with a notice from "the cleaners", which judging by the smell! were not in evidence and had not been,  for some considerable time.

A feature of the car park are sings about taking your rubbish home and quite a bit of finger pointing at people attempting the 3 Peaks challenge leaving theirs for someone else to remove. 

Similarly then the message from the 2 loo cleaning "Johnny's" was about, taking litter home and treating the loos like you would your own.  Having washed my hands in a non too clean sink I noticed as I strolled back across the car park there are "no rubbish bins" to be seen. 

Ok its going to cost to shift rubbish and make sure the loos are clean, "all the time" but the car park charges are steep enough to cope with this.  £5 for 4 hours (try walking up and down in 4 hours) or £10 for over 4 hours! someone is making a lot of money out of that bit of land!

Enough of this whining though.  After sleeping soundly in the back of Cyril my little van I awoke at 0500 to a clear dawn sky and 10 degrees C temperature.  I quickly made a cup of tea then in my haste to pull out my day sack promptly knocked it over!  Second cup of tea! in hand and munching a couple of energy biscuits i looked up at Crib Goch and decided to take "the easy way up" and come back down the Pyg track. 

After encountering a small group of 3 Peakers right at the start of the walk I didn't see another soul until I reached the summit. I do enjoy the "all alone" feeling of starting early.  Descending the Pyg track directly into the sun was very enjoyable after the lung busting ascent was very enjoyable as was the conversation with an old welsh lady wandering up it.  Further down I encountered the tourist crowds on their way up and all but one answered my cheery greetings. 

I finished back at the car park 4 hours after starting and after a cup of tea made my way back home noticing as i did that back in Derbyshire even the layby's have "rubbish bins provided" in the middle of nowhere!

Here's one pic from yesterday on the way back down showing Snowdon summit in all its glory heres a Picasa web albumn link where there are a few more. 

Enjoy the day

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