Walking in Wales

I'm a little slow posting about my weekend in Wales. It was a great trip! If only the "Walking Club" had a slightly more masculine name (like "Hiking Club" perhaps) I may have joined sooner. We headed out in a minibus (read 15-passenger van) on Friday evening, stopped off at a pub for dinner, then arrive at our hut that night. The English walking tradition mixes and matches components of camping, backpacking, and hiking. Instead of actually camping, people stay in these nice little cabins, complete with sleeping pads, showers, kitchens, and even electricity. They're quite cheap (£5-7/night/person), and I wouldn't be surprised if it costs that much to find a place to legally camp. On Saturday we drove to a mountain called Cadair Idris, which we summited right as it got windy and rainy. It was actually quite nice since I enjoy the wind at the top. Most of the others in the group took along huge day packs with first aid kits, emergency shelters, rope, etc. This all seemed a little excessive to me, so I took my camera instead. I think it was a good choice.

Cadair Idris

The trip was particularly notable because it was the first time I'd hung out with as an American in a group of primarily Brits. It was an experience I thought I'd have more of, and was quite fun, especially since I could easily divert any America-ribbing by bringing up the Welsh. I was incredibly ignorant of the English-Welsh relations - so ignorant that I thought Wales and England were nearly the same. I mean I knew that they were different, but didn't completely realize that the Welsh have a language that looks like this and is still taught in their schools.


I always thought of the English as being more different from the Scottish and the Northern Irish, but my hiking buddies were quick to inform me that the Welsh are a bunch of sheep-shaggers. As best I can tell the general view is that Arkansas:USA as Wales:Britain, with all due respect to all insulted parties. More photos are available in my picasa album below.

Wales

In other news, this afternoon was the finals of the College ultimate frisbee tournament. I've been playing on the Christ Church and Univ joint team (ChUniv) since last term. We've been doing remarkably well thanks to a couple of great handlers, but we couldn't hold on today. It turns out that some of the teams actually practice, which should definitely be illegal. I'll have to start getting in better shape for our chance at revenge. There's a day long tournament in a few weeks. Expect to hear a victory story soon.