Country diary: Bill Condry had hoped to see the saxifrage in flower

Cadair Idris, Gwynedd My last visit was with the friend and mentor from whom I inherited this diary

On foot from Dolgellau, up Cader Road, a wind biting my cheek cold as government social policies. "Gwynt y dwyrain, gwynt o draed y meirwon" (East wind, wind from the feet of the dead)! I flinched before it, turned aside for the Foxes' Path that climbs a great slope of red scree to the east of the summit.

It was 1992 when I last came this way. That scree slope is the simple explanation - one of the most unpleasant ascents on any British mountain, fraught and unstable even in descent. I remember running down it in 1961, and turning a complete somersault as the block I'd landed on chose to career off downhill. No harm done when you're young, but at the age of worn knees and torn ligaments , it's best avoided.