A thwarted attempt on the 46km ‘Welsh 3000ers’

“It’s a wonderful life” 🎶– Black

(https://open.spotify.com/track/0IWtEFQBwRHaMXZQtGEVcM?)

I can’t remember the exact date: it was sometime in late May, early June, when I got the call.

One of my 2 sons; it was either Harry or Jake, or maybe both, had told me that they were planning to attempt to walk the ‘Welsh 3000-ers’ with their best friend Freddy and would I like to tag alomg?

Not a hard answer to give!

Besides I was still full of adventurous spirit after an epic spring and with the success of my recent 650 mile Camino trek walk up the heights of Portugal and Spain, still very fresh in my mind.

It really was a no brainer! 

“Yes please” I replied. 

It’s always a joy to spend time with my boys.

They simply wouldn’t bother inviting me if they really didn’t want me there.

Our mutual love of the mountains provides good excuses for summit based get togethers.

It genuinely thrills me when I hear them talking so passionately about being outdoors.

In passing on the way in the car, Harry, my oldest son had commented:

‘I absolutely love going into the mountains’ .

Music to my ears!

And so our plans started to quickly unravel.

Of course, saying “Yes” is always the easy bit.

The reality can often be very different. 

As I started to look at the walk and researched a bit of its history I realized that I had once again committed to an escapade, that is certainly not one of the more conventional ‘walks in the park’.

But just as the lyrics of the title song by Black indicate: ‘It’s a wonderful life”🎶 and the opportunities it provides are definitely worth exploiting!

The Welsh 3000ers is a 24 hour walking challenge, involving a linear walk up and over the 15 Welsh peaks that exceed 3000 feet in height (914 metres), 46 km (28.5 miles) in length and has over 10,000 feet of ‘ups!’

More significantly for me, it also meant more than 10,000 feet of walking downhill! 🫣

I’m not a fan of steep descents.

My creaky knees groan! 

I guess as an established ‘second seasoner’ aches and pains are inevitable.

I had a diagnosis of mild osteoarthritis 11 years ago as I turned 50 and underwent my GP surgery’s ‘Well Man’ MOT.

My knee pain is not crippling, but it certainly hurts and it is a tad restrictive.

So this was going to be some challenge.

But it also sounded fun and I love doing stuff with my boys.

Children attending my old school often thought Freddie was my third son.

I’ve always had a soft spot for him!

Previously in the last 20 years, I have successfully completed a several long distance 24 hour challenge runs walks. 

In 2006 I successfully completed the ‘National 3 Peaks Challenge’ in under 22 hours with my brother in law Steve and 4 friends of Jill Mitchell, the mum of Amy, who at the time, was a 19 year old student at that special school.

Jill was a parent Governor at my school: a really good one.

Amy has complex learning difficulties and additional physical disabilities and was in need of a ‘standing frame’ – a very specialist piece of physio equipment, that allows people with serious mobily issues, to weight bear, stand upright and to gain the social, physical and physiological benefits of standing on their own 2 feet: something that we who are fully mobile, too often take for granted.

Jill became our driver and caterer on that trip and she performed ‘out of her skin.’ 

She drove single handedly and safely for over 1000 miles across one weekend. Our journey involved her driving from Halifax to Fort William where we climbed Ben Nevis, then down to Wasdale Head in the western Lake District where we climbed Scafell Pike and then onto North Wales where we climbed Mount Snowdon, before returning us to Halifax.

We climbed all 3 of the highest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales with a stopwatch reading of under 22 hours: which also included all that driving! 

That little jaunt raised nearly £6,000.

Job done!

And best of all: Amy got her walker! 🎉

During that challenge, Jill had produced numerous flasks of tea, sandwiches, cold drinks, snacks, fruit and the most amazing ever flapjack.

Her efforts that weekend were unbelievable, particularly given that she was the sole driver and must have been significantly sleep deprived. 

Jill is a special lady: a brilliant mum, parent and friend.

A ‘Force Majeure’’. We were so lucky to have her take us on board!

Some years later, Jill was to drive again for another of my distance challenges.

This time I led a team of 37 staff from school on the 24 mile, 12 hour challenge known as ‘The Yorkshire 3 Peaks” across a weekend in the summer of 2013.

Jill was as brilliant as ever. 35 staff completed that walk, though most of us failed to beat the 12 hour target time. 

It was tough.

Big groups take a lot of herding and getting them safely and speedily up and over stiles, peaks, streams and bogs is never easy. 

So coming back to this Welsh 3000 challenge, I was under no illusions: it was going to be challenging, especially as we had no Jill to support us this time.

We were self supporting and were going to have to be self-contained in all of our logistics.

However I did feel very special. 

The boys had asked me to join them and I don’t think that was purely for the use of my car, though it probably was a factor! 🤣

Nowadays, when my adult children ask me to join them, it always feels like a compliment.

I’m always grateful!

After all, they don’t have to invite me!

There is no divine right to ‘tagging along!’

Jake, aged 28, planned our walking route expertly.

As the challenge date of the weekend of Saturday 25 July started to loom, so the requests and instructions from my boys increased. 

As the only retiree in this ‘Gang of 4’, I had ‘volunteered’ to take care of the food and accommodation logistics. 

We found an Airbnb in Waunfawr, about 30 minutes drive from Mount Snowdon and the shopping list rapidly expanded from then on with such personal preferences from the boys as: little gem lettuce, organic Flahaven’s porridge oats (now a staple in our house after this welsh introduction) , ‘Delicious Ella’ energy bars, (I’m still waiting to meet Ella, she sounds yummy!) ‘Tangtastic’ and Haribo chewy sweets and ‘White Rabbit Gluten Free pizza’. 

No commission was received in the promotion of these products!

They were all very tasty though!

If porridge can ever be called tasty? 🤷🏼‍♂️

Freddy follows a gluten free diet, so in a nod to our new found ‘walker solidarity’ we 3 opted to go as GF as possible on everything. 

“Dad, can you just…….” was the main gist of every message from Harry and Jake in the 48 hour build up to us setting off.

Most of he logistics went well.

Jake and I travelled via Preston to pick up Harry who had travelled down from the Scottish Borders by train.

We met Freddy at around 6.30 pm on the Friday night, at a remote Snowdonia car park, where we left his car as our final target destination, for the next day.

His car was reachable, according to Jake, by 9.30pm on the Saturday evening if we followed his schedule.

Our gear was all packed, so once that was all checked, we devoured a barbecue at the Airbnb on the Friday evening.

It was especially a pleasure to cook for Freddy who has had to learn to manage a serious food allergy over the last 5 years.

The way he has managed that difficult journey deserves real commendation.

What a lad!

By 10pm we had all retired to bed with our alarms set at 03.35, 03.40 and 03.45.

Multiple alarms  just in case.💤💤💤

As always seems to happen in these circumstances, I was wide awake and raring to go way before the alarm went off. 

With any adventure, my pre-challenge excitement levels always rise, my adrenaline levels rocket and I wake up far too early.

Bacon butties and porridge were served at 04.10, and we were on our way by 04.30 to Nant Peris car park, some 3 miles from Pen y Pass, where we would leave my car and officially start our 28 mile walking challenge.

Jake had booked a taxi to take us to Pen y Pass from my parked car. The driver (with the broadest Welsh accent I have heard in years) was waiting for us as, I parked up. 

Some clever research the night before, meant that Jake secured our taxi for £18, £10 cheaper than his first quote.

Jake is Halifax born and bred; a true Yorkshireman.

He was ‘chuffed to bits” with the rewards of his thriftiness.

As we set our watches and took our first steps up the track, our spirits were high and all 4 of us had a long legged, ‘pep in our step’. 

We are all tall, ranging in height from 6.4 to 6.6 feet. 

On a walk with lots of distance and elevation, long legs are definitely an advantage.

The fantastic weather fueled our optimism. The visbility was superb: we could see for miles, and it was already pleasantly warm with all 4 of us opting to walk in just shorts and a thermal top and over a quick wick T shirt.

As the elevations began to increase significantly, so did the perspirations.

By the time we reached the slightly ominous looking signpost for ‘Crb Goch’ we had all shed a layer and we were hot and sweaty.

Crb Goch!

The name is so Tolkienesque: it sounds a fitting location for a Mordor based holiday home for the Dark Lord Sauron.

The reality of that sign made us all nervy.

Crb Goch is a Grade 1 scramble and ‘walking’ it often involves ‘hands on scrambling’.

Knees too.

Crb Goch is steep.

It sits at 923 feet at its highest point and the walking guide books all suggest a walk allowance of up to 6 hours there and back, especially if taking in the summit of Snowdon and the Snowdon Horseshoe as well.

They also warn of severe drops, high winds and very slippery rock when wet.

Tragically every year at least 3 people die on this iconic knife edge ridge.

It is easy to see why.

The north face has a 1000 feet (300 metres) vertical drop.

For once, I was not the tail ender.

The view back down to the valley was amazing.

I was awestruck with the sight of Freddy starting his scrambling ascent in the golden morning sun.

It is definitely not a walk for the faint hearted or folk who don’t like heights or who suffer from vertigo.

I ruminated on all these thoughts as we started to scramble.

Back in 2014, I had brought another team of 30 school staff to walk the Snowdon horseshoe including Crb Goch.

I remembered clearly that one of the team had experienced a panic attack right on the early part of the climb up towards the ridge.

Amazingly she overcame her fears and carried on to complete it, (a magnificent effort).

Looking back, I did wonder what possessed me to take a team of novice hill walkers, on to one of Britain’s most iconic but deadly ridges?

Thankfully all of our team finished the walk that day.

Once you start Crb Goch, there’s no easy turning back option.

“I’ve started so I’ll finish!”

I had no doubts that my 3 companions would finish.

The confidence of youth!

Me?

I was 47 back in 2013 and much more mountain-nimble.

So I just concentrated on inching myself along without thinking of how far had I left to go.

Or how far I had to drop. 🫣

I’ve realised at the ripe old age of 61, that, more than ever these days, I still want to undertake challenges.

BUT ……..

I’m much more realistic with my expectations, ability and ambitions and also aware that I don’t walk as quickly and I certainly don’t bounce as gently when I fall.

I guess I’m still pretty fit for my age and still capable of walking both quickly and covering long distances, for which I’m very grateful.

But now?

I just can’t match the speed of those 3 boys.

They were like mountain goats and I toiled in their wake: always some 20-50 metres behind.

At one point I went ahead of them.

Despite the precariousness of my situation, I fumbled for my phone as the view back with the boys silhouetted against the early morning sunrise, was spectacular.

At no point did I stress about the constant gap between me and the boys.

It was a beautiful day, warm and I was so happy to ‘snap the gap’ of the stunning panoramic landscape that surrounded  me with my smart phone camera.

We saw creation in all its glory!

The golden sun, licked away the darker shadows and the mountains were alive with colour.

A small purple flower had managed to root itself in a fissure in the rock.

How on earth?🤷🏼‍♂️

What a day to be alive!

Unfortunately though, Jake still had his ‘walking schedule’.

Whilst keeping to time was important to him it mattered very little to me.

I wanted to keep snapping away, but my team leader wasn’t happy.

‘Hurry up dad’ was a frequent complaint as we slowly progressed towards Snowdon summit.

The ‘death zone’ on Crb Goch ridge is approximately 300 metres long.

It took us around 30 minutes to cross it. The views back at the rising sun were amazing.

Gollum-like I crawled across the final metres of that ridge.

Snowdon: the highest peak in Wales was calling us.

“You’d go much faster if you put your camera away” was another frequently expressed observation from my youngest son!

On the ridge itself I briefly listened to his request and I left my camera in my pocket.

My mind was exercised with just holding on and maintaining 3 points of contact at all times.

That drop off the mountain, to the north, was sobering and my mind was fully occupied!

At least rich, golden bursts of orange, red and yellow creased the morning sky.

If ever there was a justification for getting up at ‘silly oclock’, this was it!

From Crb Goch we ascended another 100 metres or so to the summit of Bwlch Glas and then within another 15 minutes we were on the summit of Snowdon itself. 

A magic moment for Jake.

He had climbed it several times, but had never enjoyed a view.

Today was different. We could see for miles along all compass points.

Harry and Jake fooled around on the trig point. Climbing up to pose for more panoramic photographs.

I would have too, but I had continued to maintain my consistency for being 20-50 metres behind them.

I love their spirit.

They always seem to aim higher!

Mountain envy is a thing seemingly.

I was pretty hot and bothered and I just wanted a breather. 

The flow of human walkers at 06.30 on the summit of Mount Snowdon had increased dramatically.

We were no longer alone.

As we approached the trig point that marks the Snowdon’s highest point, a collective decision was taken to get a very quick photograph and then get off that mountain.

As ever, Jake was continuing to exhort us to increase our pace as we were still 30 minutes behind his schedule.

I could think of several places to stuff his “schedule”, but if I have learned anything in my 61 years on this planet, it is that sometimes, it is better if I keep my own counsel! 🤷🏼‍♂️

I’d read earlier in the week, that there had been hour long queues at the mountain’s trig point, for that all important photograph.

In recent years, Snowdon has been renamed: the much less impressive Yr Wyddfa.

This is its new official title.

It doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.

I suspect it will take a few generations for that underwhelming change to cement itself.

We were fortunate.

We only queued for 3 minutes at the trig point and then we were off, following downhill that amazing work of human endeavor ‘The Snowdon Mountain Railway’.

This train track links Llanberis, some 3000 feet down on the valley floor to the very summit of Snowdon itself.

It is a brilliant concept, most especially as it offers a summit experience for all those people whose personal health or issues with mobility would prevent a conventional ascent on foot.

A few Snowdon railways facts for you:

Running from Llanberis to the summit of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon), the Snowdon Mountain Railway is the UK’s only public rack-and-pinion railway. Climbing 1,085 metres (3,560 ft) over a 4.7-mile (7.5 km) track, it transports roughly 140,000 visitors annually. A standard return journey with a stop at the summit lasts about 2.5 hours. 

The railway’s history and design are defined by a few distinct details:

Engineering & Technology: Because of the extreme gradient (reaching 1 in 5.5), it relies on a Swiss-designed rack-and-pinion system invented by Dr. Roman Abt. Toothed cogs on the underside of the locomotives and carriages lock into a central toothed rail. The Swiss-built locomotives have sloped boilers so the water remains level while climbing the steep inclines. 

A Rocky Start: The railway opened on April 6, 1896. On its opening day, one of the original steam engines derailed, plunging down the mountain. This tragic accident, which led to a passenger’s death, resulted in a year-long closure to implement lighter carriages, advanced track settlement fixes, and an anti-derailment “gripper” device. 

Thomas the Tank Engine Connection: One of the original 1896 steam locomotives, engine number two (Enid), served as the inspiration for the character “Ernest” in the Reverend W. Awdry’s famous Thomas the Tank Engine book series. [1]Steam to Diesel Transition: While the line originally relied entirely on steam, it began introducing diesel locomotives (like Ninian and Yeti) in 1986 to cope with heavy demand and improve efficiency. 

The Summit Hub: At the top of the mountain sits Hafod Eryri. Opened in 2009 at a cost of £8.3m, it holds the title of the highest visitor centre in the UK. 

We saw the concrete clad cafe in that expensive visitor centre, but we felt no inclination to visit,

Even if we had, we would have been thwarted.

The cafe doesn’t open for early birds like us.

We followed the path back down the mountain as it hugged the rail track.

Our goal was to return to Nant Peris, where we had parked my car.

Initially it was a gentle and easy path and we were descending quickly.

We walked on the gravel path that underpins the rail track, boulder free for the first time.

After 20 minutes we took the more contoured grassy track off to our right and for the next 45 minutes slogged along this far steeper path down into the valley.

The views were stunning: the slag heaps of an old slate quarry came into sharp focus as we lost our height.

But it was an unpleasant descent.

Steep, twisting with loose shale making the unwary walker slip.

Thankfully I had walking poles: we all did and they helped.

But I still fell 3 times and slipped many times more.

As I have got older, so my knees have found the twists and turns of sharp mountain descents, much harder.

Those knees screamed for an end to this leg of our challenge,

The paradox was stark: sublime mountain scenery, tempered by the reality that I could still see we had several hundred feet of tricky and at times, treacherous descent, to go.

The last few metres of our walk down the mountain, took us past a beautiful old Welsh chapel.

Its weathered graveyard pleaded with us to rest: sadly rest wasn’t on my expedition leader’s agenda!

As with so many of the challenges of life: tough situations will usually and eventually dissipate and some 4 hours after setting out, we got back to to our start point: my car and our huge bag of edible goodies and ‘mood lifters’.

We had strategically stowed them in the car boot at 04.00.

I had prepared bacon butties at 03.30 and now we relished them (cold) as we rehydrated on a heady cocktail of Lucozade Sport, cans of Fanta and Coke Zero, washed down by fresh water. 

Never mind the calorie and sugar intake: on a long walking challenge, you are constantly hungry and thirsty.

Whilst chewing on our breakfast an innocuous question, completely changed the course of the day for us all.

“You have got your car keys haven’t you Fred?” 

Freddy’s sheepish look and the subsequent 5+ minutes of increasingly frantic gropings into the deepest recesses of his rucsac, succeeded in fueling the worst fears of the 3 Moorman Boys.

Freddy did not have his keys.

He had inadvertently left them back at the cottage: some 40 minutes drive away.

Now Jake’s precious schedule looked to be in tatters.

There was no recriminations or anger from any of us: we all recognized that this was an easy mistake to make and it was actually ‘on all of us’ to have checked he had his keys before we set off at 04.30 to attempt our challenge.

However, as his car was already pre dumped in the middle of nowhere for us to use at the end of the final leg of the walk, we now needed to solve this problem…… all in a genuine wilderness.

“Solutions boys? I asked.

In truth, I had already worked out the ONLY solution and I already knew the answer to my own question.

“I’ll go!”

So ‘yours truly’ did the honourable thing and skipped the middle section of this big challenge, to go back and get Freddy’s car keys.

You may be surprised to know that I actually wasn’t too upset.

So no pity is necessary!😜

Walking against the clock is no longer my thing!

If you have read about my Camino journey through Portugal and in March and April of 2026, you might remember, that for me, “it’s (now) the journey not the destination” that truly matters.

I like to stop, look, snap.

Wonder and Wander!

Admire and take it all in.

Besides:
Those 3 youngsters were walking too flipping quick for me anyway!

And……

By going to retrieve the car keys, i would manage to get myself a sneaky BONUS coffee and shower back at the cottage before I rejoined them some 3- 5 hours later!

The reality of that bonus was lovely: especially as I had the ultimate relief: a private toilet opportunity rather than having to dig my own hillside hole!🚽

2 hours later I drove back up through Snowdonia to the 3rd stage of our walk at Lynn Ogwen, where I planned to climb up Tryfan to then meet the boys at the bottom of the infamous’Bristley Ridge’.

It was now 1pm.

By now it was raining, wet and cold.

I climbed Tryfan by myself: eventually tagging along with 2 teenagers from Shropshire who had decided to climb Tryfan on a whim that day.

They were basically dressed. One even wore denim cut off shorts.

In wet, cold conditions denim is the worst material for mountain walking.

Once it gets wet it stays wet.

Credit to him: he never complained about his self inflicted discomfort.

Up on that 900 metre peak it was very cold!

Back in the valleys further south ‘middle England’ was in the throes of its 4th official heatwave of the summer.

Unfortunately Snowdonia knew nothing about it!

As I gained my height, so I lost my visibility.

Life is so full of opposites!

Mountain life especially.

On the summit of Tryfan I ‘enjoyed’ about 10 metres of visibility.

‘Adam and Eve’ the summit’s iconic feature rocks, stood silently behind me and bore witness to my shivering.

There is a tradition on this summit, that you should jump from the top of Adam to the top of Eve.

It’s not an easy jump and if you overshoot you could really hurt yourself.

You could even fall off the mountain.

On such a wet and cold Welsh afternoon, I deliberately ignored tradition!

My descent to our rendezvous was treacherous.

Tryfan’s rocky summit was wet and greasy. It took me over 40 minutes to lose just 300 metres.

At times I was back to crawling on my hands and knees again.

I was still 30 minutes early for my rendezvous with the boys, so I took shelter behind a dry stone wall.

A lone seagull kept me company.

I like to think it stayed for my wit and good looks: but no doubt he was foraging!

Many mountain tragedies are forged on wind chill.

Even on a cold day, finding shelter from the wind can equate to a massive change in temperatures

‘Feels like’ never feels so real than when you are stationary and exposed on a British mountain!

The boys and I finally met up but despite my make shift shelter I was pretty chilly by then.

They had wisely decided to avoid the challenge of Bristley Ridge with its steep descent and treacherous path.

And as Tryfan was supposedly an ‘optional extra’, they decided to skip it! ***

As they needed a break, we chatted for 5 minutes.

Freddie’s hairy legs formed a mesmerizing pattern in the mizzle that engulfed us!

Fortunately we were able to follow an easier and kinder path back down to Llyn Ogwen.

I retrieved my car and we rescued our pre-dumped cool bag of food and drink, secretly stashed under a mountainside tree, the night before.

No human had discovered our secret stash.

But a resourceful and entrepreneurial dormouse had.

Having nibbled through the top of the cool bag, it had found some foil wrapped flapjack made by Harry’s wife Emily, and had gnawed away at its leisure..

Clever mice in North Wales for sure.

At this point our paths separated again.

As I’d already missed a 3+ hour chunk of the challenge, it was a bit pointless for me to continue.

I had now become the ‘Jill Mitchell’ of this challenge and I was very happy to be so.

My knees quietly celebrated!

So I gave the boys all my dry gear from the car and watched them start their next 1000 metre climb whilst I drove home with the car heater on full.

It took me a good half hour to warm up and then to disperse all their wet clothing which I draped across the cottage to dry!

My day had turned full circle: from full expedition member to chief caterer, bottle washer and ‘King of Logistics!’

“It is what it is” as my Camino friend Steve, likes to say!

So it was that the boys finished their epic challenge at 11pm that evening and I had cooked GF pizzas waiting for them when they got back to the cottage at midnight.

So 3/4 of us completed the Welsh 3000-ers.

I didn’t!

And I’m not at all bothered.

I walked Crb Goch, Snowdon and Tryfan and I loved it.

And my knees no longer hurt!

But credit where credit is due.

It was quite an achievement for the boys!

To their immense credit, not one angry word was exchanged throughout the duration of their 18 hour slog of a challenge.

50km walked, 15 of the Welsh 3000ers climbed in under 18 hours of walking!

A big effort.

These things are sent to test us!😜😜😜

Life is never normal: least mine isn’t 🤣

Thanks for the read.

Martin x

Ps a few images from the last 6 hours of their walk.

It’s pretty obvious why the boys took very few photographs of that last 6 hour stretch! 🫣

And a final postscript.

In a supremely ironic twist, Jake texted us all later in the week.

It turned out that ‘our supreme leader’s’ plans weren’t so good after all. Tryfan (***) is one of the Weksh 3000-ers.

I had walked it!

But the boys hadn’t!

They opted not to, thinking it didn’t count!

So did they actually do the challenge?

Those boys!……. 🫣🤬🤫😜…..

Martin Moorman is a 61 year old retired Headteacher who lives with his wife Nicky, daughter Rosie and her growing family in a multi generational home in beautiful North Yorkshire, UK.

Happily married for 36 years, Martin and Nicky have 3 grown up children, all happily married too.

In his spare time Martin loves hanging out with his family and friends, walking, photography, writing travel blogs, football, renovating, cooking and talking a fair amount of rubbish to anyone who will listen!