Bora Da !

It was a cold wet morning in North Wales when I gathered my small group of tour members, around me.

‘We’re not here for the weather’ I said……. ‘We’re going up there.’

I pointed up at the Carneddau Mountains, that stood proudly against the stormy skies, to the South.

We were all dressed for the weather, and looking forward to meeting Gareth Wyn Jones, a local hill farmer, and his family. Gareth has made a name for himself fighting for sustainable farming and has a personality as big as a house. I knew that my small group were in for a spectacular adventure.

‘Bora Da!’ Boomed Gareth as he strode across the farmyard, his wellies thumbing on the concrete paving…. ‘Bora Da!’

I made the introductions and we peeled off into a couple of groups of 4. One group piled into the soggy Land Rover and the others squeezed into a Honda 4x4 mountain vehicle. Lorraine Dineen ( my colleague) and I climbed into the flat bed sheep trailer attached to it.

With a roar of diesel and much barking from the numerous sheepdogs around us, we headed up the mountain.

This was a mountain trail….NOT a road. The vehicles clawed their were over very rough terrain for about an hour, as Lorraine and I slid around in the back…. Our trip was uncomfortable but the dogs running alongside us seemed to think that these two tour guides were great fun, and they took it in turns jumping into the sheep truck and shaking themselves off all over us… great fun

After about an hour we reached the summit!

The views were astounding. We were on top of the mountain range, looking across to Snowdonia National Park and down onto the Menaii Straits and the ancient island of Anglesey. It was breathtaking.

The only creatures up there were sheep, birds and horses.

The sheep were roaming freely over about 15,000 acres of mountain moorland. ….. as were the horses that we had come all this way to see.

A big part of my North Wales tour is spent in the company of Gareth and his family….. they are friends and thoroughly enjoy the company of my North American friends who accompany me. On this tour we would spend 3 days together, exploring the mountains, the people and the way of life.

These horses are a highlight!

They’ve been roaming on these mountains since the Bronze Age (5000 years) and probably since the retreat of the last Ice Age, and number approx 240….a tiny number.

They’re a tough hardy breed and very beautiful to watch in their natural habitat.

On this morning we were thrilled to find a small herd approaching us, slowly, from the South. We stood quietly as they gained in confidence and trotted to within 50 yards of us. On this morning these two guides had nothing to say.

The horses said it all!