Most of you will have heard of Scottys sudden and unexpected passing. It seemed fitting to see him off in our own way, and we couldn't think of a better place to remember him than the CRTT. Joel, Andy and Marty got to my place on time at 8:30am and then we picked up JohnO and then Dylan on the way over to the lakeside cafe to meet Claire, Richard and Phil at 10:10am (Ten mins late wasn't to be considered too bad under the circumstances, and besides this wasn't to be a rushed day)!

A long drawn out and relaxing full welsh, i announced that i could do with a bit of diesel in the landy as it was already down into the red, don't worry came a chorus of relies, we'll have plenty there and theres a garage on-route on the way back. Dubious I turned caution to the wind and off we headed up to Croesor in my landy (and Richards car). Once there, all nine positioned themselves in and on the landy, and we proceeded uphill on the offroad track far up onto the mountainside.

Kitted up in front a rather overweight couple of ramblers (in fairness how they'd managed to walk up is beyond me because their laden weight must have exceeded that of the landy, with nine people, and nine peoples kit. The landy had now burnt another healthy quantity of fuel so how much energy that pair had exhausted causes the mind to boggle - but anyway, good on them!)

Reminding myself that it was all downhill on the way back, i forced myself to put the fuel gauge to the back of my mind and we headed into the mine itself. Walking along the Adit all talk was of scotties standard attire at this point of the trip!

First abseil already had a nice new rope fitted and before we knew it we were at the top of the second pitch. It was here that we decided we were going to fit the brass plaque we'd had made up. I'd predrilled it with a 12mm clearance hole and the plan was to spin off a hanger nut, fit plaque (with some adhesive filler putty behind it to bed out any rock irregularities and then replace the hanger and nut on front. i.e. the integrity of the bolt/hanger was unaffected but Scotty had now been incorporated into the route he was so fond of.

Plaque fitted we passed round a cigar lit in his honor (well away from rigging i hasten to add) and i can assure you that we did NOT in any way pass round a can of beer which the nine of us did not share and therefore had no need at all to carry empty back out with us to dispose of.

Scotty well and truly remembered we progressed through the rest of the trip, memorable highlights being several tandem passes of the zip line in Scottys honor and of course Dylan's tribute to Scottys nakedness - a naked jump off the top of the final pitch into the icy cold waters below - Dylan, you really do have a screw loose!

Fitting a new length of polypropylene rope across the final lake crossing, took much longer than expected when the entire coiled package of new rope fell into the water and instantly became a rats nest. It was fun watching Andy and Joel wobbling about in the boat trying to untangle it for the first half hour but after that the cold started to set in and Phil and I finished the job on dry land. Donating one (i only had one with me) of my rescus pullys and a steel 'biner a workable pully system was installed but two more rescue pullys are required to install a proper 'triangle' system. The old pullys are worse than useless and the rope will just fall off the side of them and jam if they are used.

Back out and into the landy i was in economy run mode and we got as far as the pub - which of course was all that really mattered! We made rapid progress clearing a space in the lounge; "You would though wouldn't you Dylan? No, but seriously though, course you would!" That guy deserved a medal - talk about taking one for the team!

Hitting the road again the news was sprung on me that the nearest garage that would be open (it was now evening time) was in betwsycoed, my heart sank. We had a decent mileage to get through and landys aren't renowned for their fuel economy.

Driving into the outskirts of Blaenau Ffestiniog i feel the first hints of an engine being starved of fuel. "Ahh Haa! a co-op!" No it didn't have a fuel station but it did sell Vegetable oil. 9 liters of oil purchased and not a moment too soon because the fuel system was dry and it took a bit of priming to pull the new mix through, but needless to say we were back on the road despite a few raised eyebrows in the car park as i tipped bottle after bottle into the tank. Other than a refill with actual diesel several more miles down the road, that was our trip.

And its yours scotty!

My photos are shite - to be honest i only really took the camera to get a photo of the plaque. But i'll post them anyway (one or two aren't mine - but they help describe the trip)