December 11th - Padarn walk and Christmas Lunch

A rainy Sunday morning saw more than twenty walkers gathering outside the Royal Victoria Hotel in Llanberis for the first part of the day's activities, a walk around Llyn Padarn. Passing the remains of Dolbadarn Castle and the fort like buildings of Dinorwig Quarry we were soon traversing the wooded hillside of the Padarn Country Park. The rain had disappeared and with Guto setting a steady pace to make sure we were not late for lunch nobody could complain of being cold.
The famous viewpoint at the lower end of Llyn Padarn brought a coffee stop and a meeting with Edmund and Rachel, who had walked the opposite way to miss the slippy rocks in the woods. Despite the clouds, the view from the bridge on the old road is hard to beat, and there was shortly another pause for reflection as we stopped to look at the memorial to the local quarrymen who, just over a hundred years ago, were fighting to form a Union.
Then it was the easy part, the flat track of the old main line railway leading us back to Llanberis and the Royal Victoria. Thanks to Guto and Vicky we had the use of rooms in which to clean up and change, so it was a scrubbed and sweet smelling bunch of ramblers, now over thirty strong, who chatted in the bar.
Our Christmas Lunch, served in the hotel's first floor dining room, was a delight. Starting with the crackers and Christmas Favours, silver triangular boxes containing novelties, with the speeding balloons providing much fun (who needs children!). Then we were served a very enjoyable three course dinner, followed by tea, coffee and mince pies. It was such an excellent Christmas Lunch that it was no surprise when a forest of hands showed a definite vote in favour of the same thing next year, please! A good start to the Christmas season, well done Guto and Vicky!

Dave Woods