Author Archives: yellowvanmountaineering

Plougrescant to Ile-Grande

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Our longest and hottest day yet (around 46 km). Still found time for plenty of non-cycling.

One of our more interesting routes
Seafront at Perros-Guirec (just before everything got vastly more convoluted, not helped by a large market)
Pretty house
Scrambling at Trestignel
View across Plage de Trestignel
Evening walk on the west coast of Ile-Grande – low tide
Walking turned into scrambling…

La Roche Jaudy – Lanron – Plougrescant

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Increasingly hot, and back to the coast. We were also joined by more friends, making us six adults, seven children aged 11 months to 5, one tandem, four adult bikes, three kids’ pedal bikes, two balance bikes, two double trailers, three follow-me tandems, two shotgun seats and innumerable luggage compartments!

Beautiful morning at the Camping du Ferme Jaudy
Lunch outside the pretty town hall in Pleubian
Back on the coast
The next campsite had donkeys!
Biking to the beach
Unfortunately the tide was (several hundred metres) out but we still had fun in the sand
Dinner treat: pizza and chips
Continuing the sunset theme
About to go down a steep hill that Grannie had warned us about cycling up
Treguier
More yacht (and rowing boat) spotting in the estuary
What else to do with a crepe?
Got to our island campsite in time for a swim – very welcome after a hot and hilly day’s cycling
Evening walk waiting for it to be cool enough to go in the tent

Carantec – Saint Efflam – La Roche-Jaudy

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Two warm and sunny days of mostly inland cycling.

Entourage leaving the campsite
Lunch stop, mostly spent waving at passing tractors
Quiet enough roads for a bit of independence
Good for chatting too (except on the uphills)
The campsite at Saint Efflamm had a pool, and we’d arrived fairly late, so we didn’t get to the beach until sunset – but it was worth the wait
It was fairly spectacular early the next morning too.
Chateau de Tonquedec was a nice spot for lunch
We then had to wait for a combine harvester to squeeze its way between the parked cars.
Church, I think in Tonquedec
Lovely quiet lanes again – and lots of sweetcorn
Amazing campsite – big grassy field, big shady trees, and loads of play equipment including full-size trampoline
Another night, another sunset

Roscoff to Carantec

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Baguette holder
We cycled anticlockwise around the Roscoff peninsula, with a couple of beach stops before leaving the coast.
Bike parking is a steep learning curve (and sometimes involves steep topography)
I want to swim in the sea!
Jump the waves or run away from them?
Jump!
Greenway to avoid the main road (mostly cyclable…)
First priority at the campsite: the play area
Second: site tour and poubelles
Lovely evening and great views towards Carentec, the bay and Roscoff
Sunset

On our way to Roscoff

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Ferry excited to be off on our first family cycle tour.

Bikes off the car and fully set up for the first time (we had tried out all the bits separately…)
Yacht spotting
Bike seat in use as a fish and chip holder (while Claire is on the follow-me)
Plymouth Hoe
Much excitement on sighting our ferry coming into port
Enjoying the space and smooth tarmac

Barmouth

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Half term on the North Wales coast.

Saturday. Our cottage was fairly spectacularly situated high above Barmouth up a very steep road.
View from the back garden towards the Llyn Peninsula. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many foxgloves as this week
Sunday. First on the to-do list: the beach!
Running away from the waves was a fun (but inevitably wet) game
Drier fun
The Welsh flag hill. A little afternoon outing for Dave and Jo
View up the estuary
After being tempted to go further than originally planned, we went to recce Barmouth Slabs as a potential scrambling playground for later in the week.
The rather imposing bottom tier (the upper one was more suitable)
The weather was generally better in the evenings, but a proper sunset from the garden remained elusive until the end of the week
Monday. Cycling across the bridge was another must-do activity
Bumpier than expected thanks to the planks!
Freshly painted
Boats in the harbour (a good chance to examine anchors in situ)
Dunes and bay
Lots of walls to walk on!
Donkey rides
Heading home (shortly after this was the most ridiculous hill I’ve ever attempted to cycle up)
Tuesday. After a morning of heavy rain, we ventured out into the mist for a walk in the local hillside woods
Wet, grassy paths flanked by wet bracken and gorse were a surprising hit. The jelly tots might have had something to do with it
Exploring an old building
Finally we can see the sea
Heading down to town
Barmouth hiding behind the pink flowers that are everywhere, that the girls love and that we don’t know the name of
An astonishing amount of fun was had at a tiny crag and wall near the harbour, before we retreated to Davy Jones Locker for hot chocolate
The walk home along the shore
Wednesday. Another damp day, which Jo and Dave decided to use to run the length of the Rhinogs back to Barmouth (24km and almost 1500m ascent). It was very wet and very misty. It was hard work and a lot of fun.
A lot of the first half was not very runnable!
A view at last
Thursday. A slightly different view up the estuary
On the Panorama Walk
Scrambling
Climbing!
Descending practice
Good view from the crag
Now expert at being lowered
Friday. We cycled to Dolgellau
“I’m hungry” stop a few km in during which Claire ate all of her snacks for the day
After Dolgellau we headed up under Cadair Idris
The high roads were quiet and delightful
A (very) steep descent to Arthog followed
After ice cream we inevitably ended up back on the beach
Paddling
Saturday: Cnicht on the way home.
It looks a long way!
Moelwyns
Scramble maximising
Despite the sunny forecast, we were almost in cloud at the top

Belle Plagne II

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Skiing!

Claire tried ski school, but wasn’t feeling well, so had gondola rides and sliding with daddy.

Jess went to ski school and learned to snowplough with style.

Parents managed a good number of mornings off piste, a day touring and lots of afternoon messing around on blues.

Grandparents did some (or a lot) of walking in the snow.

Helping the bags move along the train queue
Ready for ski school?
After a dull weather day spent on piste (why are the blacks so empty??), it had snowed so we headed off piste.
First off piste turns
Making tracks again! We next took the line under the lift, and then it was all skied out
Snow plough!
First blue run of the year
Such excitement over a chairlift!
Follow daddy?
NO! Daddy follows me!
Long easy blues
Daddy ski school
After some careful route planning (look where that instructor is going!), I convinced Jo to ski off a cornice and over this col.
A great line, with plenty of untouched snow and an adventurous feeling, despite being within sight of the apartment and under a gondola!
Skating!
Hot. Pink.
Refuelling
Significantly worse condition than when we checked it out in morning.
Testing both our skills
Tunnel!
Balcony with a view.
Snowy
Ski tour day!
About to decide the tracks along the ridge are hare, not ski!
Ascending a cornice
Col between Roc du Sérac and Roc des Blanchets
Impressive top, that we didn’t visit, partially due to the huge cliffs on the other side.
Turns from this rarely visited col.
Then off to try and avoid too much uphill.
Nav faff – lots of lumps around.
Found the skin track
Up, up, up
Around 3 meters from the top, it became impossible to skin. So forced to boot the last bit.
Pointe de la Vélière
Lots and lots and lots of fun to be had.
Last day adventure on new slopes
To the Roche de Mio for crêpes.
Jess ran (in ski boots) to the very top, above the lifts and skiers for uninterrupted views.
A great view of our tour: we went along the ridge in the foreground, then around the middle mountain, up to the col of the right double peaks, then down left and back up to the very end of the left ridge.

CUHWC 35th Anniversary Weekend

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After the unexpected adventures of our previous weekend trip to the Lakes, we risked another one to attend the CUHWC 35th anniversary dinner and associated fun at Derwentwater Independent Hostel. Having organised the 25th anniversary event, we now very much enjoy turning up with no event-related responsibilities, and catching up with friends of all club generations. And it’s always interesting to watch the older generations of dufflings and wonder how much of a glimpse we’re getting into our future…

Despite ill kids, it was a good weekend with Borrowdale at its damp February best. Although Jess had fun walking up Castle Crag, table tennis was the biggest hit. Meanwhile Dave and Jo enjoyed staying up till 2.30am drinking whisky!

Buggy chilling at Sizergh on the way north
Snowdrops in Sizergh gardens
Derwentwater shore
Ashness Bridge
Ashness Wood
Towards Watendlath
Faint rainbow over the bridge at Watendlath
Surprise View
Hostel grounds hydro
Colourful
Sunday morning
Grange
Map reading
River Derwent
Why use the path when you can boulder-hop?
When you have a friend to walk with, of course
Halfway bench
Borrowdale view
Lots of slate
Derwentwater view
Summit scramble
Self-explanatory

Ballachulish

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The New Year in Ballachulish. Involving a trip to the sea side, some runs, a few Munros, a couple of unexpected climbs, and family trips up Ben Lora and round Glencoe Lochan. Though the ground was very wet, the weather was often better than forecast and we pooled childcare resources with our friends to make the most of it!

Heading for the beach.
Mid-morning sunrise.
Boats.
End of the buggy road.
Loch Leven and Mamores looking good.
Snack time.
Buggy race?
A storm coming in from noon forced an early start up Sgurr na h-Ulaidh, a slightly obscure nearby Munro neither of us had done.
View back down the valley to Loch Leven and over the hills to the Ballachulish horseshoe.
About to tackle our first winter climb for over six years.
Approach to Vixen’s Gully (harder and better than the guidebook’s Grade I no stars).
About to head off the summit (into a raging gale, as it turned out).
Decent visibility though.
New Year’s Eve wander up Ben Lora, a lovely little hill near Oban.
Winter sun and an airport.
Misty mountains.
Peaty summit.
Dunstaffnage.
Dads’ day out – sunshine and snow!
Ascending the dorsal fin.
Fantastic belay position.
Topping out. We decided no other route would be in pleasant condition, so opted for a traverse of Bidean.
The River Laroch (backed onto by our cottage).
Evening view from Invercoe.
Girls on hills: snowy outing on Bidean with Bethan and Becky.
Scouting out the descent into the Lost Valley.
Down into the rain – it was nicer up high!
Glencoe.
Drizzly but fun (and picturesque) circuit of Glencoe Lochan.
Making the jetty jump.
Dam balancing.
The Pap had looked so inviting that we ran up it later, descending in the gloom.