North Wales

North Wales (2009)

My lab, the Oxford University Ecosystems lab, went for an ‘away day’—well, actually an away weekend—in North Wales. We stayed at Jo’s dad’s house (Jo is a friend, and the partner of one of my lab mates, Cecile). We had been talking about doing this lab trip for years but never got around to it until now. The weather was touch and go, but we managed to find a few bright spots. Half the group—self-named Team Adventure—hiked up Mount Snowdon in hail and storming winds, while the other half of the group—self-named Team Fun—wandered around the lake and town. We all got together in the afternoon to have a grand bbq, which I orchestrated with the help of most of my lab mates. We spent the evening playing silly party games. The next day we split into two cars to go check out some castles. My car, which was driven by my friend Johanna (or JZ, or J-Zeddle), took a round-about route to squeeze in a few more castles and also visit the town with the longest name in the world: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. That’s right, you heard me, I did not fall asleep on my keyboard.

Setting out from Oxford in our giant van.

The peak of Mount Snowdon in the distance. Weather doesn’t look too bad.

Team Adventure before going up Mount Snowdon [left] and afterwards, after going through treacherous winds and hailstorms [right].

Steven tries to get in every shot of the pano.

Beautiful view of the lake, which is where Team Fun hung out in the sun.

Team Fun feeding the birds.

Team Fun looks like they had way more fun than Team Adventure, which was exhausted from the hike.

Well, I guess Team Fun’s activities were also a bit exhausting.

Setting up for the bbq. Jo’s step-bro built an extended bbq there for me so that I had 3 full grills for massive cooking.

Grill Master and his trusty team.

Although it appears like Toby is about to cook the small boy (Luke-Rahul, my and Toby’s supervisor’s son) in the back, he is in fact simply showing off some of the eatin’.