The day after the OCC Awards Dinner

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OCC Hikers on Y Garn

Thirty-nine members of the Ocean Cruising Club stayed on to take part in post-AGM weekend activities. On Sunday, the 7th of April, groups got together in local ventures such as mountain walks, visit a deep mine, or just driving around Snowdonia. It was altogether an enjoyable, informative, interesting weekend and much of the credit must go to OCC Regional Rear Commodores Chris and Fi Jones of 'Three Ships' who did a superb job of organising.



Of those attending the weekend, 39 took part in 5 activities on Sunday, including:
- Mountain walk up Y Garn in Snowdonia
- Walk around Cwm Idwal in Snowdonia
- Visit Moelfre RNLI station with a walk on Llygwy Beach in Anglesey
- Car tour of Snowdonia
- Deep mine tour at Llechwydd slate mines.




Alex and I chose the 'gentle' walk around Cwm Idwal as Alex has been nursing a torn hamstring muscle. Our group included several older members and some younger more sprightly members.  Bob Shepton was with us and explained that he has come here to train for mountain climbing many years ago. Climbers still come four mountaineering practice before attempting first ascents or different terrain. Sure enough, there were several climbers on the sheer rock walls surrounding the lake. 










The scenery was stunning, and after the initial climb, an easy walk of about 3 hours' duration. We then retired to Zip World for lunch. Not one of us was tempted to zip line over the deep waters of the disused quarry, but we were fascinated with the plethora of adventure seekers who did. What a gold mine!






Twenty-four people later arrived at the Black Boy Inn in Caernarfon for an impromptu Sunday evening meal, continuing the reverie for one more night. It was a lovely weekend of camaraderie and friendships made and rekindled. We stayed overnight at the Inn, in the lovely room above the receptionist's desk - room no. 2, I believe, with a queen bed and a lovely bathroom overlooking the courtyard. They have off-street parking for £5 overnight so it was ideal. Great location right inside the walled city. We were exhausted from all the human interactions over the past three days, all good, but looking forward to some time exploring on our own. I'll cover the next couple of days in another blog entry. 



Next year, the OCC AGM and Awards Dinner moves across the pond for the first time, landing in Annapolis, Maryland, "the sailing capital of the world", on April 18-19, 2020. See you there! Can't wait to get back to Annapolis and Alexandria for a visit. 

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