Snowdon - the Rhyd Ddu Path

I have climbed Snowdon over 300 times now. To many of you that must sound rather repetitive and masochistic, but to me it is different every time. At least half my ascents have been in snow and ice conditions, when Snowdon can become a serious mountain. I have done over 100 different routes, some of them climbing routes, some scrambles, others walks. Each time the conditions, weather and visibility can vary greatly. Just as important, whoever accompanies me can make a big impact on my day. But all in all, I just

A grand day out in Mid Wales

This a suggested drive with interesting sightseeing in Mid Wales. From Machynlleth clock tower follow the A489 eastwards for half a mile before taking a fork right on the minor road signed to Dylife and Llyn Clywedog. This road is one of the very best mountain roads in Wales. If you fancy a bit of motorized adrenaline, then about 5 miles up the road on the left is the best place we know for quad biking, Beiciau Madian. Follow the mountain road up to the tops. Looking back just before the top,

New postcards

There are 16 new postcards that have just been added to the range, which now numbers 400. Most of these are strengthening the cards in areas that I do not feel we have enough depth – North East Wales, North Pembrokeshire, the Wye Valley. To see the new postcards, click here.

Photographing water

I am quite often asked how I get that strange misty effect on waterfalls and on the coast. It is all to do with shutter speeds. This probably sounds a bit technical, but the shutter speed is the length of time that the picture takes the camera to capture. I am old fashioned and still using film. The film that I use, Fuji Velvia 50, is a very slow film, which usually results in pictures that take longer, especially in a dark river valley or at dusk on a beach. In a

Price rises

I’m sorry to say that the time has come to bring in a couple of price rises, just in the areas of greetings cards and postcards. The greetings cards are changing from 90p each to £1.20, and the postcards from 20p to 25p.

These prices have not been changed in nearly 12 years now, and I hope not to change them again for many years to come. Hopefully it will be felt that for quality greetings cards and postcards,

Underwater photographs

I have been trying to improve my diving skills and my underwater photography, though I am limited in what I can do by having a fairly basic digital compact for this work. Just before Christmas I had a week in Sharm el Sheikh with a couple of friends, Maurice Wilkinson (who works with me as my sales agent in North Wales) and Charlie Macallister, who has been climbing and diving with us before. We had long days out on the boat, usually getting in 3 dives a day. My favourite dive was

2009 calendars

I know that it must seem that you have only just put your 2008 calendar up on the wall, but the 2009 calendars are now available!

The 2009 Snowdonia Calendar features a winter sunset picture of Snowdon on its front cover. You will find the story of how I came to get that picture in the calendar, but a shortened version of the tale is that my youngest decided to stage a go-slow in protest at being dragged out

News snippets

Many thanks again to those of you who took an interest in my daughter Abi’s and my wife Ali’s sponsored 24 hour crossing of all 15 of Wales’ mountains over 3000 feet high. The money has arrived with the childrens charity in Kyrgyzstan, the Children of Tien Shan, and this is an email message we had from Irina Trofimov –

"My dear Ali, we are so happy to inform you that finally we received your money!!! Thank you