Beddgelert Forest & Nant Colwyn from Moel Hebog, Beddgelert, Gwynedd, Wales

There are lots of things to be doing when recovering from a battering from a slip on black ice but going up the side of another hill a week later mightn't strike anyone as being one of them. At the time, my confidence was ailing after that mishap on the descent from Scandale Pass near Ambleside, but a sunny Saturday was on offer, and I wasn't to waste it. My way of making good use of the crisp dry frosty February offering was to head to Beddgelert in Wales, guided by Richard Sale's Collins Rambler's Guide to North Wales. The book may date from 2000, but I am tempted to give it another to see what ideas it puts my way.

What was put into my head was the prospect of a walk up the side of Moel Hebog, perhaps taking in Moel yr Ogof and Moel Lefn too. What I cannot imagine now as I write these words is that my ambitions soared to that extent, especially with residual soreness in my back. As it happened, I very sensibly only went part of the way up Moel Hebog. Inexperience with the rocky stuff more easily put me off in those days, but there was the added reminder of a misadventure going on too. Added to that was the amount of time available with the short days in February.

Still, I got in some decent views in spite of the haze that blighted any making of photos. Being less experienced in the handling on an SLR made have had a part to play too. Nevertheless, I made the best of things as you might have discerned from the photo, with its smattering of the collections of trees that form Beddgelert Forest and the rougher terrain surrounding them. Rising up at the right is the start of the high country surrounding Yr Wyddfa with lesser though still bare humps of the Nantlle Ridge rising to the north. It's countryside that is making me want to return after a lengthy absence and there's a tempting route option between Nebo and Rhyd Ddu in that old guidebook too.