My son and I went to North Wales and we had a tour de force Snowdon Horseshoe traverse. We set out what we achieved to do, which was to climb Snowdon via Crib Goch. I never saw the mountain so busy. There must have been a thousand people above the top of the Miner’s Track. We probably passed another thousand coming down the Miner’s Track, and on the whole route, only on the walk-in along the lower part of the PYG track, were we never at any time more than twenty yards from another human being. So much for the solitude of the hills on a summer Sunday. W.H Murray would be turning in his grave.

I would have needed to pay for parking too. I tried and failed to park at the Pen-y-pass. Perhaps I should have known that this would not be possible mid-Sunday morning in summer. Drove up there, tried to find a space, had to drive back down again. We had to park in a lay-by on the main road, and take a minibus to the top of the pass. I did not buy a parking ticket.

I confess I have never before climbed Yr Wyddfa on a Sunday! It has always been either mid-week or Saturday. Mind, times change in the eighteen years since my first ascent (in summer 1982 with A. Mackervoy) and hill-walking today is mighty popular. We got back to the site (itself a backup site since our first choice, the usual one I go to opposite the Tyn-y-Coed hotel, was full) and we had mashed potatoes and steak cooked on a Trangia. A nice dinner for camp. Thence to Cobdens Hotel for a game of pool and a pint in the cave at the rear (deserted in this season).