UKC

We're planning a leisurely recce of the PB and I just have a couple of questions. If anyone has any advice, I'd appreciate it!
1) The first difficulty appears to be getting through the mines on the way up to Elidir Fach - is this more straightforward on the ground than it looks on the map?
2) Secondly, another nav question - the leg from Capel Curig over towards Cnicht also looks a bit vague, again, is the path obvious when you get there?
3) Finally, as I said, it's a "leisurely" recce, involving a pub tea and an overnight stop, is there a good place to leave the car in Llanberis where it won't get clamping / upset the locals / get vandalised?
Many thanks (any other tips gratefully received), Christine

In reply to Christine:

1) yes.. straight up the zig zags.. over the iron bridge, right, follow that incline up to the main byway.. through the kissing gates then up the huge incline just to your left.. with paving slabs on. Every time it looks too steep or broken, look out for broken steps on the LHS.. follow this until a big swinging corner.. or up the incline again.. then up the there to the top gate. Then up another incline and trod diagonally up right to the top road.. then look for a winding shed back left.. then straight up.. you should pop out 100 yards to the right of Elidir Fach...

But basically just go up up up..

2) Capel.. god no... its a bog.. you follow the boundary fence.. its called boundry ridge. The PB is very unpathed, think trods at most generally, its why its harder than the BG.. but that section especially, and early on hebog is very rough, complicated, hard to know which summit is which. I did that at night in a blizzard on my winter round and was constantly falling through the ice into deep bogs and had a hell of a night there..
3) Lagoons.. or on the road say in the estate..

In reply to Christine:

1. Head over towards the quarries, go right towards the Hydro-electric works then take a path on the left that leads up through the lower scree slopes (this is walled for the most part but a section has collapsed so the path cuts through the woods for a bit). At the top of this path you cross a bridge over a tramway, drop down on to this and follow it up the incline all the way up to the level by Dali's Hole. Turn left then take the next incline on the right - this is the one to the left of Australia - this goes all the way to the top of the quarries. Now just go straight ahead to get to Elider Fach.

2. No obvious path - a lot of bog! Once you drop off Siabod then you just follow the fence occasionally crossing it to pick up the anonymous tops.

3. Dunno.

Iain Ridgeway will know more about any specific tips.

ALC

In reply to Christine: By the way the Paddy over 2 days is still huge.. 3 would be better.. certainly not 'leisurely' anyway..

In reply to Christine: you wont do it easily over 2 days! we tried it over 4 and my brother lost the battle in the bogs over the molwyns (or however you spell it) it was raining heavily though so I did give him some credit. take deet etc for any wild camps or you will lose a couple of pints of blood.

In reply to Christine: Thanks everyone, advice much appreciated. I did suspect the Capel leg could be tricky. Happy to take my time, so will cheerfully spend another day having a pub tea and a sleep somewhere. Looking forward to it and will make any "adjustments" the weather deems necessary. Cheers!

In reply to Christine: We did bits of it in 3 days, but it was bloody tough! I'm impressed with anyone that does it in one go and if you do it in under 24 hours, I am in speechless awe! There were lots of bits that were incredibly difficult to run (agree about the Bogwyns) and if it wasn't boggy, it was really rocky (how anyone gets off Glyder 2nd one at speed, I don't know). Still, it was top weather and the views were amazing. Completely agree that it is harder than the BG. Now off to run somewhere grassy in the N Lakes Thanks for the directions through the quarries.

In reply to Christine:

Glad you had a good time. There's definitely a lot of "hard" ground on the Paddy. Traditionally it's seen as being 2 hours harder than the Bob Graham, i.e. you need to have done the BG in 22hrs to be in with a chance of getting the Paddy done in 24.

This is a general question really - what's the success ratio on the Paddy Buckley? I know there isn't an official time limit but most these days aim for 24hrs. The success ratio on the Bob Graham is reckoned to be 1 in 3 attempts ( http://www.bobgrahamclub.co.uk/index.php?page=home ) also I've no idea what the Ramsay Round figures are like.

ALC