Day 10 of our journey dawned with my plan still firmly fixed in my mind. For many it would be a day of rest lolling around camp ‘acclimatising’ but a few of us had other ideas mostly based on a trek up the valley to Gokyo. Gokyo stands at 4,790 & was seen by the team leaders & our 4 doctors as a reasonable next step for those with a more expansive mind or lungs. However my plan which it’s fair to say did not meet their general approval was to walk up to Gokyo with Dorina & then leave

Well the story has been a long time in coming largely to both Dorina & I taking a long time to settle back into the ‘real’ world but I think we are there now so time to write about our little excursion to Nepal. It didn’t start well. I am a bad flier & not just because I get thoroughly disgusted at how Airports treat us (their customers) as cattle but mainly because I can’t sleep on a plane no matter what the length of the journeys are. Don’t ask me why I chose a Jeffrey Archer novel to while

We are delighted to announce that the Café has been chosen as the North Wales Venue to host the premiere of the film ‘Running the Wainwright’s’. The film charts Paul Tierney’s record breaking traverse of the 214 Wainwright’s in under 7 days in summer 2019. Inov 8 will also be present & will help us put on a jog around Capel in the company of Paul Tierney prior to the film & will provide a variety of test shoes for you to run in. For more details go to our Events page, all ticket proceeds go to ‘our’ Paul’s 2020

We were delighted to hear over the Christmas period that we won The Great Outdoor Magazine’s award for Best Outdoor Café for last year, our second year running after being runners up in the three years prior to that.  Of course this doesn’t mean we are the best out there, indeed we are about to review points for improvement for 2020. However it does mean that we are appreciated by many & that means an awful lot so can we simply thank all of you who voted for us, very much appreciated!

A short blog as a thank you to Mick Fowler for giving a thoroughly enjoyable presentation to a packed café on Saturday night. It was undoubtedly a night among the very best for the café & our thanks too to all those who attended. Over 3 turbulent evenings since then I read Mick’s book ‘No Easy Way’ the contents of which his presentation was based on. Each page summed up Mick’s spirit & self-deprecating humour to a tee, I turned the last page with regret that there were no more to read. Even more remarkable was the fact that the

Since coming back from Nepal I have been planning to post three blogs, one about Nepal, one about a ‘little’ Marathon & one about running but my Nepalese hangover (or jet-lag) has left me feeling far away from the real world if I’m honest. However a New Year brings new beginnings so lets start making amends but first that Apology & Statement:- Apology – Our New Year’s Day at the café was not a good start, for reasons un-related to the café & unavoidable Dorina & I were delayed in getting to the café by more than 4 hours which

Whatever you have planned for the festive period we hope we’ll see you in the Café at some point. Below are our restricted/altered Opening Hours, all other days we’ll be open as normal:- Christmas Eve – 09:00 to 16:00 Christmas Day – Closed Boxing Day – 10:00 to 17:00 Saturday 28th (Open MIC Night) – 07:30 to 23:00 New Years Eve – 09:00 to 16:00 New Years Day – 10:00 to 17:00 Saturday 4th January (Mick Fowler Presentation @ 8:00pm, tickets required) – 07:30 to 22:30 Whatever your plans have a great time, Dorina, Gaby, Paul & all at the

Just a quick reminder that this Saturday is the date for our annual Xmas Quiz in aid of Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation, hosted as ever by Mike Lees. We hope you can make it for a lively & fun night at the Café, full details are on our Events page.

The snow arrived in Capel Curig earlier than expected on Saturday morning & helped me cement a plan I’d already settled on during the drive in, ‘no breakfast please, I’m off for a run’. I was lucky enough to be breaking trail in a light covering of snow & flakes falling all around me as I initially circled West around Capel before heading North East to Llyn Bychan thoroughly enjoying myself. This joy turned to a bit of concern as I turned towards Swallow Falls & into a biting headwind for the first time. Hands soon froze & had to

We are delighted to have been nominated again this year for the above awards. Having won last year & been twice runners up it would be great if we could win it again. It truly gives Dorina, Gaby & all their hardworking team a lift to know that they are appreciated by our customers. To vote for us is easy (must be if I could do it), simply google ‘The Great Outdoors Awards 2019’, click on News & then onto Readers Awards, you’ll find us in the ‘Walkers’ Café or Restaurant of the Year’ category. If you do vote why

Where to start, well not Rugby for sure. Firstly Café events:- Our next Open MIC Night has been moved to Saturday 23rd November. Then a new date for your diary, on 22nd February 2020 we are delighted to be hosting Jim Langley & Paul Gannon who will give a presentation about their forthcoming book about Alpine Flora & Geology. Knowing Jim & Paul this should be a fascinating insight for those Alpine enthusiasts who often gaze in wonder, click our camera’s but are not always sure what we are looking at. Ticket prices & more details should be available in

With our hosting Nicky Spinks’ presentation this Saturday evening we will be closing early for normal trade at 6:00 pm with last hot food orders at 5:30. Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause. For those with tickets for Nicky’s presentation we will have a limited hot food menu until slightly later with last orders at approx. 6:30 pm subject to demand in order to allow us to re-set the café ready for the evening.

First things first – It’s the Snowdon Marathon this Saturday so good luck to all the runners & all those who help make the event what it is & to those of you who plan to come out & cheer us on, it means a lot & is always warmly received. Taking a fall a little under two days before a race is never ideal prep. Then add to that 3 back to back runs during the 3 days immediately before race day itself (not tapering in most people’s books). Then add to that  a typhoid jab just hours before that

Just a quick pointer to four events we’ve just added/amended on our Events page. The first in an amendment to our Reach Out for Nepal Day 2020 which has been moved forward to 16th May 2020 due to Paul going AWOL in June & July to the Karokoram, for latest details (including Paul’s run which he hopes many of you can tag along with him here & there) simply go to our events page. Secondly once again this December Mike Lees will be hosting our Christmas Quiz in aid of Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation, a great fun night out

With the rain lashing down all night over the Coed y Brenin it seems appropriate to wish for drier conditions for tomorrow evenings Petzl Night Trail. The race kicks off at 6:00 pm with 90 teams of 3 as well as 44 Solo competitors. The race covers a 3K mostly single track loop (anything but flat) as many times as you can before 9:00 pm with the last lap having to start before the 9:00 pm cut-off. The fastest teams will be aiming for 12 or 13 laps (roughly a Marathon) with the fastest solo’s aiming for 11 or 12

Shorter in distance than Day 2 in both distance & words but not by much, you are pre-warned. The B & B normal breakfast serving was again 8:30 but when booking over the phone I had chanced ‘I’m doing a long run any chance…’ ‘Yes O.K. how about 8:00’ so 8:00 it was, thank you. Never too old to learn today I went for the whole hog, it came quickly & went down well. My overnight recovery had seen me wake early & too tired to get back to sleep but at least it gave me time to prepare mind

PS. After writing this I was worried that it had become longer than planned but, looking back on something that took place over 3 weeks ago, the day’s journey needs some detail to do it justice, my apologies as ever. With Breakfast not being served until 8:30 it was agreed with J & M that today (despite it’s length) would not be an early start. I pushed my luck & walked into the Breakfast room 5 minutes early & got a pleasant surprise of a smiley face & ‘what would you like sir’. Clearly taken aback & not thinking clearly

The idea for this sowed itself soon after my return from the Alps but with August being our busiest month even I had to accept that it would have to wait until September. My plans were further delayed by Auntie M aka Marion going on an un-booked holiday to visit family down South. So two options got pencilled in Wednesday 11th to Friday 13th this would mean dragging Marion back early but if the weather window favoured this option so be it. Or preferably week commencing 16th September. Marion worked on the weather & so I decided w/c 16th which

Don’t sigh with relief too much because there will be a blog about the Llyn at some point soon but for now it is all about the Trailfest race last Saturday:- If you are a Trail or Fell Runner & have not yet run this race I urge you to put it in your calendar for 2020. Dyfi & Sian Roberts have given so much to running & mountain biking in Snowdonia over many, many years & their route from Tanygrisiau to Porthmadog shows their wealth of knowledge, it is quite simply sublime. In the week leading into the race

I seem to be making a habit of putting conflicting things in my diary this year, can only be an age thing. My latest calendar duplication (created by a good long term weather forecast for next week) is to finalise my timing for the Llyn Penisula run into the same week as the Trailfest race (see our events page, a race well worth entering & with a slightly changed course this year), ‘smart one that Paul.’ Having bumped into race organisers Sian & Dyfi yesterday whilst topping up on Gels etc. at Matt Ward’s very enticing Salomon shop I duly