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22 Mar 2008

Hiking in The Devil's Kitchen


To see more photos and these photos individually visit my flickr page by following this link:
Twll Du photos on Flickr


Welcome to Twll Du which translates into the black hole in Welsh, but in English it translates into The Devils Kitchen. It refers to the narrow cleft which you can see in the top right hand photograph. It is found in the hanging valley called Cwm Idwal which is in Snowdonia, Wales.
I have been to this place quite a few times, even with school,as its an area that was formed by glaciation and is absolutely beautiful.
In those past visits I had not attempted any hiking. So its starts as a lovely nice stroll, then its a rather tough scramble to the top. You will see that if you watch the video located at the bottom of this post.
Unfortunately once we did get to the top in one piece, the devil decided to come out to play and we were battered by hailstones and a little snow flurry. Although that did pass fairly quickly, the clouds came down fast on the mountain tops and visibility decreased. This meant it wasn't safe to carry on as we weren't familiar enough with the area for that to be a wise decision.
This also meant I didn't get to see some rather cool rock formations, but I will be going back so will get them next time.
The scramble down was worse as it was a lot more slippery and I had to hold onto to the mountain at some points. No doubt you will be amazed to know that for once I did not fall on my arse, a miracle I know.
The Devil himself appeared in the form of a mountain goat on the scramble down, but stayed still long enough for me to take a picture. A fellow walker told us that one of the mountain goats butt you if you don't feed it. That would of meant goat curry if the furry blighter tried that with me.
Even though the weather spoilt some of walk, overall it was still a gorgeous place and I am looking forward to going back in better weather.
The video is filmed with the same camera that I use to take the photographs, a canon powershot A630. I wish I had a good quality hand held camera but at the moment this does the job.
As its an ominous place I went with ominous music to set the theme, also you could hear that I was out of breath at times, so that had to be edited out.
I forgot to say that the music is by Matthijs Vos, which I found on Jamendo thanks to my chum Tech Fun aka JD. It is track seven, Strings Adventure, and from your comments it definitely adds an eerie factor to the video.

27 comments:

  1. Claire, the pictures are beautiful. I wish we had a beautiful spot like this to hike in Toronto.

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  2. Claire, thanks for sharing the adventure and those views. It looks stunningly beautiful. The video is frikin scary. I was waiting for the killer to jump out from behind a rock.

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  3. Know the place very well fromm my days in the Army, except for this time you did the work and I sat here just looking at the amazing photos.

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  4. Great pictures and nice video Claire. That area reminds me of some of the older hills up near Hawk Mountain Sanctuary north of me in Pennsylvania.

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  5. You are so adventurous! I'm such a chicken...lol. Fantastic photos. :)

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  6. Looks cool, but the sky seems ominous. Surprised you didn't get snow!

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  7. Nice! You know I loved the goats, but the video is my favorite. :)

    The choice of music was perfect.

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  8. This was cool. The pictures really do have an eery aire about them.

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  9. Wow Claire - you certainly are privy to some very cool places to hike. I am so jealous! But as always thank you for sharing your jaunts with me via pictures. Absolutely gorgeous!

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  10. That video was awesome and I'm sure early on there I saw two peaks side by side that looked just like boobs.

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  11. The countryside is quite intriguing looking over there. I'm afraid you're going to find Connecticut to be dreadfully dull once you finally get over this way!

    We do have Devil's Hopyard, though it's not quite as grand as Devil's Kitchen!

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  12. @ Sylvia, thank you and have I been wrong in thinking that Canada was full of mountains?

    @ Tony, you left the rock to visit me! What happens if it was the killer filming? :)

    @ Chris it would of been nice to see army boys on this hike:) It really is a lovely spot aint it.

    @ JD thanks for the music tip and stop trying tempting me with more places to visit :)

    @Drowsey adventurous/mad :) Thank you :)

    @Alison you didn't read the post properly now did you! I mentioned snow. Naughty step for you. Sorry about the castle closing today :(

    @offended/Chelle, the goats were they because of you and I am sure of it! Thank you for comments I took ages picking the music thanks to JD :)

    @Tamera it was very eery indeed, well maybe not as much as the video made it seem :)

    @petra Thank you very much! I really appreciate you saying that. Zombies scare the shit out of me, but I love your site and I am being converted :)

    @trukin cheers, they are indeed the boob mountains I flashed them :)

    @Linda you will be there, so I doubt it :)

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  13. This video was great. Loved the music too.

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  14. You may be the next M. Night Shamalyn. I kept waiting for werewolves to leap out. Glad you made it back alive.

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  15. Personally, I would have liked to hear more of the 'breathless' Claire, but that is just me.

    Beautiful scenery, however!

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  16. @timethief thanks for the visit, I am glad you enjoyed it :)

    @.45 hopefully a werewolf would eat the goats first giving me a chance to escape :) Awww thanks for wanting me alive.

    @Lord Likely, I should of known you would picked up on that, it was the wrong type of 'breathless'

    Thank you :)

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  17. the pictures remind me of parts of Wyoming...

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  18. Finally some snow for you :)
    But where are the nekkid snowangel pictures you promised me??

    Loved the video. Music made me think of old silent horror movies and was waiting for Nosferatu to appear :o

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  19. As I have mentioned in the past, a lot of your hiking photos look like places here in Oregon, but NOT these. The name does fit the location.

    I love hiking, but also like to explore the places I hike. This does look like a place I would really like to hike and explore. I went on a 15 mile hike/climb yesterday with a group and they were hell bent on getting through, rather than exploring the area. So I often go alone to be able to follow whatever attracts my interest.

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  20. I can hardly wait! :) Beautiful photos Claire!

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  21. Great pictures, I enjoyed looking through them. you hike an awful lot, your lucky to have that scenery along with you. :)

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  22. Awesome photos! Sorry I haven't been here in a few days been getting over a humdinger of a cold.

    Love that country out there, thanks for sharing it with us!!

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  23. Wow, beautiful photos!

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  24. Wow, thanks for this nice glimpse into Wales... Talk about a combination of beauty and desolation!

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  25. Mind blowing imagery. The video is incredible, the power of mother nature never failing to amaze me.

    What can I say other than, quite simply beautiful.

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  26. @Robert have you posted photos of wyoming so I can compare? Thanks for commenting :)

    @Thomas, curse you for your freakish memory,lol! There wasn't enough snow (lies) haha! I want one off you first :)
    I am glad you liked the video.

    @Will thats exactly why I like hiking with my two friends, they let me dawdle at the back taking photos and catching my breath. The bigger groups always just want to get it done and never seem to appreciate the scenery around them.

    @Olga hehe me either, I cant wait to see what my hiking buds think about it. I havent told them yet :)

    @Chica not enough as I would like, I am lucky though :)

    @Roger hope your feeling better now? Its a pleasure to share it with everyone :)

    @Tish thank you! :)

    @Jenn yep you summed it up rather well, I think it will look completely different when I go in better weather.

    @floog, wow thanks for such nice words :) I really enjoy writing these posts and letting everyone come along on these hikes with me :)

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  27. Wow! VERY cool! I love the stream.

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