I am going to start this one with naming & shaming a woman who quite simply should know better at (dare I say it) her age & a professional too! Having set out on a ‘new’ running route last Wednesday I was two thirds through a 20 miler & battling a ferocious headwind between Llanwrst & Betws when two gentleman cyclists passed me from behind. Having kept diligently to the right hand side of the footpath there was no need for them to ring bells or yell ‘get out the way runner’ allowing the 3 of us to concentrate on

As some of you will know sadly it is the latter for 2019 at least. Quite simply because returning from an excellent skiing trip to Italy with Dorina & Chris the next day I found out the Chinese have changed their climbing regulations adding literally thousands of £’s to the cost. Fair play to Tom & his team at Jagged Globe who as the week progressed came up with some alternatives including Manaslu & Lhotse but for me, it is Cho Oyu that’s been on my mind & so after much soul searching (Dorina could read the turmoil in my

2019’s Café events got underway in the same vein as those at the end of 2018, both seeing a full house & an enjoyable night for all. First up saw Nick Livesey on 5th January give his very personal presentation about his former years & how his live turned around as he led himself towards mountains, photography & Snowdonia. It was both dark & stimulating & told in Nick’s inimitable style. Nick also volunteered that all ticket proceeds should go to our Reach Out for Nepal fund meaning that 100 tickets at a fiver each added a fantastic £500, simply

Just a final reminder that this Saturday sees the return of Bandabacana to the café, they are celebrating 15 years, so dust off those dancing shoes & come along & enjoy the fun. Full details on our events page.

My running is now firmly back on track which a great thing to be able to say, the latest outing saw me join in with a very good turnout for ‘Rory’s run’ yesterday morning in memory of Rory O’Donnell who tragically died last year at an all too early age. It was a new & unique experience to be a part of a very special run. My lead in to Cho Oyu in now firmly underway, the running mileage has increased, the Core Exercises have begun but the most important step so far was last weeks visit to Scotland with

Whilst I was away in Scotland last week (more of that in my blog later) Eric Jones paid a visit to the Café & Dorina jumped on him, not literally I hope, to get him to sign the copies of his books we have to sell. Ever the gentleman that he is he duly obliged so we now have approximately 20 of Eric’s book ‘A Life on the Edge’ available for sale. These are in addition to signed copies of Doug Scott’s books (Up & About & The Ogre) as well as Julie Carter’s ‘Running the Red Line’ & of

We are sad to announce that tonight’s Open MIC Night has had to be cancelled, on behalf of Alan Mannouch who has had to commit to an un-scheduled work shift we offer his sincere apologies. Alan hope to make up for this in the coming weeks so watch this space.

Well it has been some time now since I’ve prattled on about what I get up to but before I offer apologies or justifications for my absence let me first get to a more important point. A huge thank you from all of us involved at the Café to all our customers & supporters who voted for us in the TGO Magazine annual awards helping us get top spot in the ‘Café or Restaurant’ category winning their Gold Award. After some very near misses in recent years it really was appreciated by all of us & helps maintain enthusiasm to

I am delighted to announce that Nick has agreed to give an illustrated presentation of his ‘The Journey of a Mountain Photographer’ at our Café on Saturday 5th January. Our apologies for the Short notice but we felt the time was particularly apt as it follows on from the very successful launch of Nick’s superb book, signed copies of which are available at the Café & on the night itself. Full details of the presentation are listed on our Events page, we hope you can make it.

We are delighted to announce a couple of new dates in our Events diary. Firstly our ‘very own’ Nick Livesey long awaited photographic book on Snowdonia has now been printed & is available from this Thursday. I am pleased to announce that Nick has agreed to do a book signing event at the Café to coincide with the forthcoming Christmas Quiz (in support of OVMRO) on Saturday 15th December. So to secure your signed copy simply put the date in your diary & come along between 5:00 & 8:00 pm to meet & talk to the Photographer/Author, aka as Nick.

With the BMC’s Winter Skills lecture (presented by Sam Leary & Mick Jones) a sell out tonight your final opportunity to come to the Cafe for a presentation this Autumn is only 6 days away in the form of Filmuphigh’s ‘Brazilian Line’ on Wednesday 28th November. Tickets are still available but with our last 3 presentations having sold out be sure to book to guarantee your seats. Full details are on our Events page.

An added bonus of Doug’s visit to the Cafe is that he re-supplied us with signed copies of his latest two books, we’d sold out of previous batches weeks ago. Copies are again on sale from our counter with 100% of the sale price going to the author himself, details are:- The Ogre – £20 – Biography of a mountain and the dramatic story of the first ascent. Up & About (Hardback) – £24 – Biography of Doug’s ‘Hard Road to Everest’ Up & About (Paperback 2nd Edition – £14.95 Both books are excellent reads be sure to secure your

It was a memorable night despite those IT Glitches early on so I’ll address those first as lets be honest is was both embarrassing & frustrating in equal measure. My apologies on behalf of all those involved with both the inadequate volume on the CAN video hotly followed by the ‘loss’ of Tut’s slides (not Tut’s fault I hasten to add) led to the lights going back on & a significant delay. The patience the audience gave as Marion, Denise, John, Doug & Tut frantically tried to work things out was really appreciated so thank you very much for this.

Thank you to everyone involved in any way with this years fund raising for the Melamchi School, with Doug Scott’s next presentation at the cafe only days away I am pleased to give the following update on both the fund raising & the School itself, so here goes:- The total raised to date in 2018 is £8,061.80 which is significantly higher than our earlier expectations of around 5/6K, simply a great result. This figure will go higher due to a Gift Aid application I need to make for my sponsors so the final figure should exceed £8,400.00. We will present

This Saturday sees us welcome Doug Scott CBE as he (together with Paul ‘tut’ Braithwaite) gives his presentation ‘The Hard Road to Everest’. Tickets have been selling well in recent days but we still have 12 left so if you want to attend please e-mail us or call the cafe on 01690 720429 as soon as you can to avoid disappointment. As last Saturday when Susanne Sholtz gave her excellent presentation about the history & behavioural patterns of the Carneddau Ponies (thank you Susanne) we will be closing our kitchen early to allow us to prepare the Cafe for Doug

This coming Saturday sees us hosting Susanne’s Scholt’s Carneddau Pony Presentation with a packed house so please note that last hot food orders will be at 6:00 pm & not the usual 7:30 pm. I am delighted to announce that our friend Rob Johnson & his Filmuphigh have chosen us as a venue to premiere his film ‘Brazilian Line’ with he date being Wednesday 28th November. Full details will be on our events page later this morning. Finally if you here any screams in Bettws between 12:45 & 1:45 today do not call the police, it’s simply me having physio

First things first, this Saturday (27th) sees us again hosting Team 333’s AGM. They do excellent work in raising funds for Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation (our local rescue team). I point this out because as such we will be closing at the earlier time of 6:00 pm with last hot food orders being 17:30 pm, we trust you will understand. Earlier in the day I & some 2,000+ others will be running & sometimes walking the classic Snowdon Marathon. Please note that the Llanberis pass will be closed from 10:00 am to Midday & that parking in Llanberis is

A final reminder for an enjoyable night out at the Cafe this coming Saturday. Organised by our good friend Hazel Robbins & hosted by the ever great value Mike Lees we hope you can join us for a lively quiz with plenty of laughs & scratching of heads all in aid of the Little Adoption Shop which rescues abused dogs in China. Full details on our events page, the night will include an Auction & a Raffle, our thanks to everyone who has donated items to help this cause.

Well by now I had intended to have blogged about my endeavours in the classic Peris Horseshoe Fell race the Saturday before last but with time passing & the fantastic Autumnal colours now putting on their show (it’s a joy to be running through them at this time of year, if only I could sprint onto the scene in the way that they have this year) I feel (as they say) to have been overtaken by Events & Cafe Events at that, so:- Thanks Tim for a thoroughly insightful & enjoyable insight last Friday into your year as a mountain

We are delighted to be shortlisted again for this years TGO Annual awards in the best Cafe category making it 4 years running that we have made the short list so thanks to all those who recommended us. Voting is now underway so if you feel we deserve your vote simply visit www.tgomagazine.co.uk & click on the Awards tab, you should find us on the 2nd page, your support would be greatly appreciated by all of us at the Cafe. There are a number of other local businesses who are nominated in other categories so hopefully they’ll get your votes