Before I talk about the topic everyone else is talking about, the WEATHER, first a quick reminder that this Saturday sees our Xmas Quiz Night in aid of raising funds for Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation. As ever Mike Lees will be your Quiz Master so those Doctor Who & Jeremy Corbin Fans amongst you (can you be both?) will have a slight advantage. Food served until 19:30 with Drinks served until 23:00, surely better than staying in & writing Xmas Cards! Hope you can bring a team along. £2 entry per team member going to OVMRO.
Now that WEATHER.
As I awoke to the sound of yet more torrential rain on the Cafe roof on Sunday morning & came down to a once again soaked carpet it was hard to believe the breaking news of the devastation in Cumbria & Lancashire. A flooded house is thankfully something I have never suffered but I have in a previous life been involved in helping to put them back together. The months ahead for those affected (in the depths of winter too) are hard to imagine, our sympathies mean little but you have them nonetheless. To have this happen only 6 years after the last ‘freak’ storm is unbelievably tragic.
To put that rainfall into perspective Saturday saw us here in Capel experience one of the worst days we’ve experienced since opening for business nearly 4 years ago. In storm force winds rain lashed down from dawn to dusk unrelentingly yet our rainfall totaled about 6 inches, high but nothing compared to the un-imaginable 16/18 inches falling further North, still can’t get my head around that!
Not yet knowing the un-folding events I decided to brave the storm late Saturday afternoon & set off for a run down to see Swallow Falls in speight. Interesting but not my brightest idea I have to say. With water coming over the bridge I decided to stick to the roads mainly the back road to avoid any un-wanted splashings by passing motorists. This strategy was slightly flawed as I was soon wading knee deep through the overflowing Afon Llugwy. Didn’t stop me from adding to the stupidity by continuing on to higher ground & the relief of the forest. Crack ‘what was that’, or more importantly ‘where was that’, branches down, wind howled, ‘what the s… am I doing in here??
I did get to the Falls, they were spectacular but worth the risk, clearly not. As I high tailed may way back stopping more than once to see what damage the next gust would bring to the canopy above I thought I’ve had enough of river wading so decided I’d stick to the A.5. Here a special thank you to an Audi driver (White & probably a Q.5 or Q.7) who decided not to move into the middle of the road as he came past me. This was not a mere splash, it was like surfing into a giant wave as it literally crashed over me from above. Of course I was already soaked but that’s not the point, you were a real piece of ….! Put in perspective something to laugh at un-like events up North.
Sunday morning saw more bemused looks from Nick, Ady & Titi as I donned running gear again to join Eryri’s Sunday Morning Run ‘WHAT?, you’re going out in that, that’s 4 times in the last two weekend’s, this lunacy is becoming serial’
I and eight other hardy souls had the last laugh though, the wind eased, the rain relented, clouds parted, views & believe it or not the sun shone on our glorious descent! Thoughts of where else would I want to be on a day like today…., nowhere!
