Again everyone was up just after 06:00. The walk we had planned for today was up Moel Siabod. Ray and I had attempted this walk 2 years ago. We got up as far as Llyn y Foel when the weather came in, and you could not see any great distance and it was really heavy rain, so we turned back and went down the mountain. This year Andy was coming with us.

We started from the lay-by on the A5 (SH736570), going back towards Capel Curig, passing some waterfalls on the left, then turning left over the bridge. From here we continued along a tarmac road then took the right turn after about 50mtrs (note that this is a private road, but only for traffic) going over a cattle grid, continuing on tarmac which becomes very steep, and “a bit of a leg burner”. The track goes straight on when the road bends round to the right; we took this track through tall ferns. We eventually returned to the road which is now not much more than a wide track; then turned left onto the track, going past an empty farm house. The track narrows to a footpath, the North East Ridge of Moel Siabod is in full view of us here.

 We followed the footpath over the step stile. Just after this point we bumped into a group of walkers, doing a map reading exercise, the leader of the group looked to be from the Army, going by the way he talked. He asked where we were heading for and told us where they were heading for he then said to Andy "I know you! Where do I know you from?" Andy replied "sorry but I don't know you" Then the leader asked Andy if "he was a civvy or in the services?" It was a weird conversation at the time.

 Then we got going again over easy ground heading to the left of the ridge, over another step stile following the track past a lake on our left. Keeping to this track, which took us up through the ruins of the old slate mine buildings, going left past the deep water filled PIT (SH717555), the track from here was a bit harder to spot, we kept heading up with the ridge on our right. We had a quick break a little way up after passing the pit, to take in the view from where we had come. Eventually arriving at Llyn y Foel (SH714548), we went round with the lake on our left (this area can be quite boggy so pick your route carefully). We went to the southernmost point of the ridge; we then followed a faint path up leading away from the main ridge. We stopped at a lovely spot for a bit of a rest, the views were brilliant. While here we had something to eat and drink. Bearing in mind this was one of the hottest days we would encounter on this holiday, we had onion bhaji’s and orange juice, quite a weird combination I know, but went down well. We just laid back enjoying the day taking in the views and soaking up the sun. I think we stayed here for about three quarters of an hour before carrying on up to the summit. The views from the summit of the Snowdon Horseshoe were brilliant. You also get good views of The Glyders and the top of Tryfan from here.

While on top we had another break, this time Andy & Ray had Mexican pot noodles, while I just had some crisps, as we had boiled some water for their pot noodles I decided to have a cup of tea, with Ray following suit.

The weather was still very hot so we decided not to go down the North East Ridge, but to descend down a clearly visible track, heading North East towards Caple Curig; this eventually took us to the forest you can see from the summit. When we came out of the forest onto a gravel road we turned left, but I was so worn out at this point, through the heat of the day I called for a halt so I could rest for a couple of minutes. As we had stopped we looked at the map to check our bearings, which was a good thing as we needed to go in the other direction! When we got going again in the correct direction we followed the track until we came to a barrier, where we turned left and up over a small rise, then to a bridge over the Afon Llugwy to join the A5 (SH727578), and with a garage and shop opposite this we all enjoyed a cold drink and ice lolly. I then volunteered to walk back and get the car as we were all exhausted due to it been very hot more than anything else…. It turned out that if we had gone straight on at the barrier, we would have gone straight back to the car. In the end it was a great day out, and I think we found out our capabilities and inabilities on this day.