Whinlatter Forest

Pictures taken at the new Whinlatter Forest Mountain Bike trail, Lake District. The top distressed image was of course an accident, borne from using an uncontrollable compact camera, but I quite like the effect. Click images to view larger.

A bike ride up Snowdon

This evening we went up Mount Snowdon. On mountain bikes. This involves a 2 hour ride/push to the summit, followed by a bone-shaking 25 minute decent back to Llanberis and a pint. Thanks for the pictures John. Click images to view larger.

The new summit cafe is really taking shape now. You can see the ongoing progress [here]. People often comment that in demolishing the previous eyesore that was the 1960's cafe from the summit of Snowdon, there was the opportunity to return the summit of our highest mountain to its natural state. Every year though, this hill gets busier. At the weekends there can be a queue to stand on the summit platform even when the train is closed. Although this bustling summit feels at odds with the relative freedom of the rest of Snowdonia, in the wider context, Europe’s mountains are scatted with are cable cars, funicular railways and high alpine cafes. These cafes often offer wonderful local food and impressive views. In this tradition, one beautiful piece of modern architecture on our most trafficked Welsh summit doesn’t seem one too many to me. Maybe now it will become the exciting mountain experience for the masses it always should have been. Let’s just hope when it’s completed, that the chef is as good as the architect…

21st June 2008

Mountain bikers often times take themselves pretty seriously. There's the expensive bikes, the tight leggings stretched over rippling thighs, the layers of technical performance fabrics, the hard-won fitness, the sizing-up of other riders, the unwritten competition. Occasionally though, someone comes along and laughs in the face of all that. Here’s to that man!