Today we went up Snowdon via the Pyg Track, and then down the Tourist Track.

Once again it was really icy and slippy, but the path is slightly more worn going up the Pyg Track so we were OK. There was one point though where the track disappears at the bottom of a steep bit of rock. We went around it and started climbing up towards some metal pegs poking out the rock. Don’t go that way, there’s a deep mineshaft right below you!

Arrived on the top, staggered to the trig point then huddled behind the cafe trying to eat sandwiches with frozen fingers. After a short stop it was off down the railway and then onto the tourist track.

The tourist track is so long and boring! It’s like walking down a flat road! It takes twices as long as going any other way. Did bring us out next to the car though, which was alright (we caught the bus from Llanberis to the Snowdon Carpark at the beginning) since there’s nothing worse than having to trudge miles along the road.

If you’re ever going up the tourist track, stand at the bottom. See Snowdon way off in the distance? That’s where you’re going.

Tried going up the Watkin Path to the top of Snowdon today. Were beaten back by ice and snow. No snow falling from the sky, just slippy stuff on the ground that I fell over on. We decided the final climb was too dangerous and came back.

There’s a weird bit on the path where some miners used to live. Across the river is an old railway (that if you follow it goes through a swamp and down the side of the mountain straight) which leads to some derelict miner’s buildings. Just outside one building is a strange area of land with loads of slate stuck in it.

Went to the Lake District for the bank holiday. Weather was very warm and still. The kind of weather that sucks moisture out of your body, but then doesn’t take it away. At one point it started raining, but I was so wet anyway and it wasn’t cold that I couldn’t be bothered putting my coat on.

On Saturday we went around the Fairfield Horseshoe. Sunday was a bit more interesting, we did the Crinkle Crags in Langdale. This starts off with a long walk along the valley floor, through a farm, and then straight up the side of the valley. Deciding it looked interesting, I bought some Kendal Mint Cake and stuffed it in my pocket, chewing the odd square on my way up (wondering what the sugar was doing to my loose filling).

We walked along the tops, stopping for the odd cup of tea and a bite to eat, watching the view, having a rest before going up The Bad Step…

The Bad Step is a 10 foot high notch cut into the side of the rock, and is a lot easier going up than coming down. Upon climbing up onto the ledge above it we were met by a group of people apparently eating their dinner, watching the view. Only one of them was sat in a space-blanket. Upon futher conversation it turned out the bloke in the blanket had just fallen about fifty feet onto the Bad Step, and was bleeding…

Just then we heard the sound of a helicopter in the distance, and a bright yellow RAF Mountain Rescue helicopter started homing in on our position. Deciding it would be wise to get out the way, I went and sat on a rock to watch the proceedings. Also, after the encounter with the last helicopter, I made sure I wasn’t going to get blown off anything.

The helicopter came closer and hovered over the grassy coll just before The Bad Step, scaring off all the sheep. Inside the ‘copter much hand waving was going on as the pilot was directed towards us.

Then they flew off…

And returned. This time they flew over my head and hovered about 20ft from it! The experience was not unlike sticking your head out of a car window doing 80MPH. Only it wasn’t your head, it was your entire body. Very loud too. Slowly a man started to be lowered down a few feet from me. He landed, disconnected his harness and, with the help of my dad, carried his big bag o’ stuff to the casualty. Meanwhile the helicopter took off again and landed on the opposite mountain out the way.

I too took off and went further up the mountain out the way. Some time later the helicopter came back and hovered over the people below. Slowly a cable with harness was lowered and the friend of the injured person with all his baggage was lifted into the helicopter. Again the line was lowered and this time the injured person and the man from the helicopter were winched upwards, spinning in the downdraught from the propellers. After steadying themselves on a rail under the helicopter’s belly the two men were lifted inside. After this, with everyone safely on board, the helicopter flew past us all and off into the cloud.

Being some of the closest people to the incident, we satisfied everyone else’s curiosity by explaining what’d happened and set off down towards The Band.

Walking down mountains is often a very slow, painful process, with tired feet and aching knees. Not this time. All of a sudden my pack felt lighter, and after eating half my Mint Cake in one go, I had a desire to get down the mountain quickly and set off at a mild jog. I managed to pass everybody who had left the top before me, and made it down in just under an hour. Raw sugar may play hell with your teeth, but your body knows exactly what to do with it. I could have run down, but my boots were rubbing and I didn’t want to have first-hand experience of being air-lifted off a mountain

On Monday we went for a nice little walk up Wandsfell Pike. A low mountain that looks deceptively simple. However it soon proved to be a right evil sod. Very steep, with a path running straight up it. Arriving half-dead and dripping with sweat we made the top and sat in the sun.

Oh, I didn’t get the job in London… they gave me some weird faffle about not having a “certain something” they were looking for and that they’d “know when they saw it” but couldn’t explain what it was. In other words “we realised we don’t need someone else just yet”.

Spent Saturday walking up various hills in the Lake District. Me and my dad walked up both peaks of Langdale Pike. The weather started off OK, but the nearer we got to the top, the worse it got. Sitting on the top, looking down into the valley while the mist slowly closes in is an interesting experience. Apparently it’s a good view when the weather’s good Managed to take some good pictures with my camera though, so the weather wasn’t that bad. Could see all the way to the sea.

Climbing up large things is to be recommended. The views from the top makes it all worth it. Coming down is a bit painful though. By the time we got to the bottom my legs were all for collapsing from under me. I’m now hobbling round a bit.

I’ll add “Photo album” to the list of things to add to this site. The top item is currently “do some coding!”

At work I’m learning the mysterious black art that is ODBC. It’s very strange, requiring lots of magic code (lots of MS VC++ macros to somehow link database tables with class member variables). Once I’d realised you create a class that inherits from CRecordset things went much more smoothly. I lost track of the number of times my PC said “Debug assertion!”. It seems you can’t execute arbitary SQL on your CRecordset-derived classes, which is a pain in the bum. Had to re-install everything on my work PC as well since the poor bugger wouldn’t do simple things like run Teraterm Pro or download files from the Internet. In a fit of “maybe this’ll help” I put a bigger CPU heatsink on the processor. Running a Duron 800 with a heatsink designed for a Celeron 500 probably isn’t quite right. I could have bolted the GlobalWin chunk o’ metal onto it, but the high volume (both in air-flow and sound!) 60mm fan gets on my nerves.

Oh, and it’s bonfire night. I think people are sending fireworks into the sky, but they could be small nuclear bombs going off the sound they make. They really echo down this valley, it’s great fun Plus you get a free fireworks show just by looking out a window whenever there’s a loud screech.

I am 327 pages into Lord of The Rings (they’ve just escaped from under the mountain after being attacked), which seems sufficiently far for the film to make some sense (not that I expect it to match the book, mind).