Day Trip to Snowdon

I’ve fantasised about this flight for a while and RASP did look good for all of Wales with a moderate Easterly and decent cloudbase. My half-baked plans were scuppered when a massive wave bar appeared over the Black Mountains in the morning. I got to about 7,400′ in weak but pleasant lift, looked at the lovely clouds beneath me and put Snowdon into the Oudie – only 137 km.

I got in a very hairy spot in a wave-affected valley near Barmouth. No point in starting the engine when it’s 6 kt down and below ridge height! I turned tail and went for my (rather dodgy) escape route where I’d seen a field earlier. The roughness got rougher, then bang! Two turns later I relaxed my buttocks enough to glance at the averager – 12.8 knots! 
Having resolved to slow down and stay high I made it to Snowdon at cloudbase at 5,900′. What a spectacle – Cardigan Bay, Llyn Peninsula, Anglesea, N. Wales coast and the Mersey. 
Fairly easy on the way back, speeding up as my grin got wider. The trace is on the BGA ladder.