So I've reached the strange place called "taper". It's supposed to involve reducing mileage in the period leading up to the race to make sure you're fresh. There's one fatal flaw with most of the advice you read: it assumes your training plan consists of running xx miles per week. Mine doesn't, and if it did, it wouldn't be enough mileage to worry about "tapering" it in any case. So let's forget it.
Instead, all I intend to do is not do any really long runs, but carry on with a bit of interval training over the next couple of weeks. In other words, rest up a bit but stay sharp.
It will give me time to think the race through in any case.
Tonight, the sun sinks in a perfect red ball over the hills to the west. I can't see Wales from here, but from the hills just ten miles away, you can see Moel Fammau - and from there you can see Snowdonia, if the weather's not in the way. I'd like to say bit about that jaggedy collection of hills between Snowdon and the Carneddau, the Glyderau. I've only ever been disappointed with one trip into these hills - a plod up from the Capel Curig side to a fogged-out Glyder Fach one day in the early nineties. Every other day I've spent here over the last 20 odd years has been at least a good one, with some very memorable times. You don't really get to see the best of these hills from Llanberis - the slate quarries stretching for 2000' up the side of Elidir Fawr don't help, but they are the main reason Llanberis is here today, so better not complain too much about them!
On the Ogwen side, viperish Tryfan is everyone's favourite. From the A5, it looks like a triple-headed shark's fin of rock. On the mountain itself, it looks more like a big jumble of boulders and heather - it can be a confusing place. On my first visit, on a fine warm day, carrying a big rucksack, it scared me to death. I made it up to the base of the North Tower alright, then lost my nerve and spent a long time shuffling my feet, furtively waiting for the next people to come up so I could follow their lead. Those people were good enough to warn me about the notch, just as I was about to fall off the downclimb! Nvertheless, I did get up to Adam and Eve (although I've still never done "that jump") and had a grand afternoon going over to Pen y Pass via the Bristly Ridge. Since then, I've had some good days out on Tryfan, with scrambles up both the Western and Eastern faces, and of course it was part of the Welsh 3000s walk last year, when we had gales and hail to contend with. 
The two big hills, Glyder Fach and Glyder Fawr are amazingly different in character, despite being separated by only a few metres of descent and less than a mile in distance. Glyder Fach has its rough grey boulder-pile for a summit, with the enormous diving-board of the Cantilever Stone not far away, while Glyder Fawr has an array of dark spiky tors on its flat, greenish top. In between the two is Castell y Gwynt, the "Castle of the Winds" - another bristling tor. Once, we tried to cross it in fog, and ended up swivelling a full 180 degrees without realising. It was only when we arrived back at the Cantilever on Glyder Fach, which we'd left half an hour previously, that we realised he mistake. I always find the giant boulders on Glyder Fach a puzzle - no problem on a dry day, they can become slippery and awkward in the wet, and I never seem to be able to find the easy route across them.
A couple of years ago, we got up there in deep snow on an incredibly sunny day - I had to break trail all the way, but the view looking down to the Castle of the Winds made it all worthwhile, with Snowdon looking like an Alpine giant behind. I once went out walking with a lass from work, climbing the easy way up Y Gribin - or at least I thought it would be. Things got interesting when the poor girl had a fit of the ab-dabs half-way up, scared by the exposure. There isn't really any on this route, but it just goes to show how subjective these things can be.
Even the outlying summits are good, with great views especially of Snowdon, and across the cwms to Tryfan. Elidir is either a short rocky ridge climb from the Y Garn side, or a testing climb on grass and then boulders of almost 3000' from Nant Peris. Y Garn itself is nice climb from idyllic Llyn y Cwn, or a rough zig-zag on scree. The worst climb in these hills is from Llyn y Cwn to Glyder Fawr, on a very loose path, which is on the other hand great fun to run down. We usually reach Llyn y Cwn by the Devil's Kitchen path - usually easy, with the delight of Cwm Idwal on the way - but I did nearly lose the dog down a frozen stream one winter. Luckily he was on his extendible lead so he only slid about 12 feet down the icy chute before he came to a sudden halt! On the eastern side, there is some lovely grassy ridge-walking over to Gallt yr Ogof and beyond, with a spectacular view of Tryfan across Llyn Caseg Fraith.
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