This weekend involved a trip to North Wales with cadets from Oswestry School CCF. Taking advantage of accommodation at Capel Curig Training Camp put us right on the doorstep of some fantastic terrain in which to enjoy a couple of days’ hill walking, introducing many of the cadets to this kind of environment for the first time. Due to the winter conditions on many of the highest peaks in the area, we had to choose our venues carefully, but were fortunate with the weather over the weekend itself.

Saturday saw us making a steady ascent of Moel Hebog, via Moel Lefn and Moel yr Ogof to the North. Most of the day was blessed with great views although it was a shame to reach our highest point of the day enveloped in cloud and strong winds that encouraged us to head down again without too much delay. However, a quick stop in Beddgelert for a hot chocolate soon refreshed everyones spirits.

Knowing that we had the journey home ahead of us, we decided to head for something a bit closer to camp, and selected Moel Siabod as our target for the day. Starting from the banks of Llynnau Mymbyr, next to Plas y Brenin in Capel Curig, we worked our way through the forest and took a pretty direct route to the top. After a long walk the day before, we expected the cadets to be a little weary. However, the pace was impressive, getting us up and down again in under 4 hours even though we spent over half an hour on the top for lunch. Not bad going!

Oswestry School CCF hope to make this sort of adventurous training trip a regular event in the calender, so I’m very much looking forward to future trips with them as they were all fantastic to spend the weekend with in the hills. Thanks very much guys.