Llandudno - Tim T's Snowdon Expedition!

This week we have been at Venue Cymru! And what a week it has been. We have been staying at the fantastic Can-Y-Bae Hotel on the seafront which, with its close proximity to the theatre, beautiful sea views and all night bar (!) has provided an idyllic base.

Not a bad sight to wake up to!

This week's social secretary was Tim T (otherwise known as the Bull) and as you can imagine, being on home soil, no stone was left unturned. Mount Snowdon, Beddgelert and Conwy Castle - he has been kind enough to write us a guest blog...

Returning to the world's greatest country (15 Welshmen selected for this year's British Lions, thank you!) is always a pleasure.
However the North of the country is fairly unfamiliar territory to me, so on the days when not encumbered by the inconvenience of having to work for a living...or "shout in the evenings" as it's sometimes called, I was eager to explore.
When I first put the idea of an expedition up Mount Snowdon (the world's greatest mountain-fact!) to the company, 15 hands shot up. When I told them the restaurant at the summit would be closed, this reduced to 4.
Walking to the top of Snowdon is no mean feat so I thought, "bugger that, we'll get the train!" In fact we got the steam train to Clogwyn and walked the 1 1/2 miles to the summit.

Sadly, the party was reduced to 3 when Tim Speechley's eye fell out on the train and he went to Bangor to buy some cheese instead...

So the intrepid 3 - Alastair Whatley, Liam McCormick and I fought our way to the top. After what we achieved, Chris Bonington, Edmund Hilary and that Fiennes bloke can stop moaning - a bit of sunburn and sore buttocks is a small price to pay for this view! (Personally, with our raw determination and manly vigour, I think we far surpassed the achievements of those aforementioned.)

Two things of note occurred during the day. (Well three, if you count Tim Speechley's eye - which he found on the floor of the train carriage...)

1. Alastair managed to climb the wrong mountain...the one next to Snowdon...which, as I'm sure comes as no surprise, he then renamed. He settled on 'Whatley's Folly.'

2. Liam reverted to his role of Sherpa Tenzing. He carted a picnic bag full of plates, cutlery, glasses, a cheese board (!) and napkins all the way up to the summit. He provided us with posh pork pies, cheese and tea. Well done Liam...now clean my shoes!

During the rest of the week, some of us visited Conwy...

Conwy Castle

 and on Thursday, we had a 70's Party to celebrate our 100th show! 

We had it at our hotel, Can-Y-Bae, which is possibly the greatest hotel in the world! Michael and David, the proprietors, were fantastic and made the whole week very special for us. Nothing was too much trouble and they were still smiling when the party ended at 4.30am...well I think they were...


Sarah, Jon and I also made a trip to Beddgelert. If you don't know the famous story, do look it up. I would recount it here, but something good just came on telly....also, Alastair and Charlie were nearly in tears when I told them! So probably best absorbed elsewhere.

All in all, we had a fantastic week with some of the most stunning and beautiful scenery I have ever seen. A fair few ales were also consumed which made for a rather jolly week.

Tim T