Don't cry for me Aberystwyth

You know I'll never leave you.

Mmm... a promise I shall have to break in around eight hours. Gutted, I am.

This tail-end of the summer term has gone by like a pleasantly scented, lightly textured leather car door handle. Nice to hold for the appropriate time, but would be strange to keep hanging onto it.

Freddie had the bright idea of climbing Snowdon yesterday, Thursday. After some kerfuffle over cars, we all arrived and left at around 9am. Two more beautiful hours in Rosie's mini, with Dave, listening to more Random Tapes of cheesy music and surveying the stunning Welsh countryside.

The weather wasn't bad when we parked, but waterproofs were donned nonetheless. After an uneventful first hour of easy walking, the rain began, followed by the wind, bringing in the fog.

Before long it was blasting a gale, slashing rain into any unprotected edifice of one's person; with visibility down to about 20m. The apparent unapparentness of the path added to the experience, as we scrabbled up a few scree slopes ending in unyielding sheer rock faces and necessitating sliding back down said slopes.

Shoes squelching, gloves wringing and various things dripping heavily, we eventually summited the beast. Thinking we had lost Colin, Alun and Andy, who missed the car park when we left, we were pleased and impressed to find them appearing at the summit mere seconds behind us... having caught us up by around an hour!

The cafe jobbie at the top was a welcome break from the oppressive conditions, with tiled floors already swimming with water from other walkers. Amazing how much water a single sock can release when it is well squeezed.
A good hot chocolate is excellent, and suitable for dunking anything in, be it a chicken sandwich, potato pasty, custard cream, white chocolate or cheese and onion crisp. All of the above were tried.

On exiting the tranquil surroundings of the building and remembering how cold and blustery it was out there, Dave was happily quoted as saying:

"It's only the thought of Celine on the way home that will get me to the bottom."

And 'it's all coming back to me now...'

Much easier on the way down, and the skies cleared to make everything much warmer, drier and stiller. The view was fantastic.

So, that was my last day in Aberystwyth for this academic year. Sob. Too many goodbyes, too many goodbyes missed too. But here's to the rest of the summer.

Seriously though, the thought of leaving Aberystwyth for this long puts a lump in my throat.