The Poo-Saster

Dear people of the internet, I tried to do something lovely and yet it turned into a dramatic and traumatic event. (This story will obviously now be used to embarrass my lil' bro when he turns 18 of course. Yes I am a mean sibling hehe.)

A few weeks ago, I decided to visit my family back home in North Wales. Whilst being back, I thought I would introduce one of my younger siblings to the joy of hiking. So, before heading home, I spent time researching child-friendly hikes/walks. I finally settled on Cwm Idwal as it looked beautiful, and was right in the heart of Eryri National Park (Snowdonia).

Morning Preparations.

Now, bear in mind this was on a weekend, and I wanted to leave super early because parking in Ogwen Valley is not the easiest due to there being some of the most famous mountains walks in this small valley i.e. Tryfan & the Glyders. Unfortunately to my slight disappointment, this was not going to happen, so I settled with the fact that parking may be an issue and made sure I had all the parking options in my head. I got myself a coffee and biscuits and headed up to the garden to have a read of my book before we scrammed some food and prepared some sandwiches. I packed up the bag and headed off down the North Wales Expressway. If you haven’t driven on the A55 Colwyn Bay side, you really should, it's a beautiful stretch of road.

(Sorry Bean about the book being used as a coaster here)

Parking Chaos

A while later we reach Bethesda and drive along down the A5, looking out for parking

as we go. Nothing. I chance the Ogwen Valley Car Park and sit behind a car blocking the road, about 5 minutes pass and I decide to get out of my vehicle and question what they are doing. They were waiting for a car park space. Slightly miffed, I got back in my car, did a 3-point turn and headed back to Bethesda, where we parked in a random layby as I missed the park & ride Car Park and just couldn't be bothered to move my vehicle again. I got my brother out of the car and we headed to Tesco as there was a 30-minute wait for the next bus to Ogwen in the hopes of getting him ice cream… sadly I couldn’t find the ice cream and so we headed back to the bus stop and scrammed some crisps.

To our surprise, there was a carnival planned, so as we waited we got to see some of the carnival floats and had a chat with some friendly travellers and locals, while we awaited the bus.

To Ogwen!

We got on the bus, and my brother was super excited as he loves public transport, we headed to Ogwen, a short drive later and we were back. We cross the road and head over to the start of the route. I request that we go to the toilet first to ensure no accidents, My brother at this time is 9 years old, so he should have control of his toiletry situations by now, at least that is what I thought.

Cwm Idwal Commence

After taking a little look around the Ogwen Valley centre, we start the Cwm Idwal walk, it is a 3-mile loop around Idwal Lake, so it's perfect for taking younger ones. We stop to take pictures of him at the stones which mark each of the mountains around the area.

My little brother was truly so excited and the sun was shining down upon us. He stops at every little stream playing with the water and runs to each big rock attempting to climb it. I was chuffed that he seemed to be really enjoying himself. We make it around a mile into the walk and approach Idwal Lake, to the left we found some humongous rocks which my brother of course wanted to climb and we decided to have our sandwiches atop the rocks.

To my delight, as we’re eating, my brother turns to me and says "You’re right Sandwiches do taste better when hiking". This made me so happy to hear as it really did mean he was enjoying himself.

Sticky Situation

Sandwiches and some chocolate devoured we headed down to the lake, My brother of course wants to play by the water a little, so I allow it, as he throws rocks into the water and plays about I just sit there enjoying the sun. Time passes and we decide to carry on the walk, we walk about 0.3 miles further and he then states to me he needs the toilet. Being a boy I said, "Well find a rock and pee behind it". He went shy and said, "No it's okay I can hold it". Understanding exactly, I turned to him and said, "You need a poo don't you" and he nodded, Oh no. Myself knowing where we were 1.3 miles from the centre I told him we could turn back but he refused, we carried on a little further, but I was now on edge knowing he was in need of a number 2.

Will it hold?

A little further on in the walk, I said to my Brother, "Are you sure you’re okay?" and he turned to me and said, "It doesn’t hurt if I hold my tummy in". At that point, I refused to walk any further and told him where turning back to go to the toilets. He follows until he gets to a point where he says he can’t walk, so I put my backpack on my front and put him on my back. Walking as fast as I could with a 9-year-old child on my back down the rocky paved path and the backpack on my front, stopping to adjust him occasionally, we make it around 0.3 miles from the centre. He decided he wanted to walk again from here, so I put him down and we carry on fast walking. We could see the gate ahead of us and my little brother said, ”Can I run when we get there and I was like Sure?" He started to run and I tried to follow but myself being bigger and there being lots of people on the path, I struggled to keep up.

Is he okay in there?

A little while had passed and I had been waiting outside the male's bathroom, I specifically said to use the females, so I could check on him, but as you’re probably all aware children don’t tend to listen. I start to get concerned as there has been no sign of him for ten minutes and I keep contemplating whether should I risk going inside the men's toilets. Luckily a friendly person asked if I was okay and I then proceeded to ask them if they could check if my brother was in there and okay. Not long after the person comes out only to say ‘It sounds like he needs some help’.

I run into the men's bathroom and ask to join him in the cubicle… it seems he has had a bit of a poo-disaster. I tried to calm him down and proceeded with operation cleanup. I will spare you the goorey details but let's put it this way I had no baby wipes… only dry tissue and water from my water bottle.

I washed him down as much as I could and then cried internally as I had to turn the poo-sodden clothes inside out to fold them up. I wasn't sure If I could just throw them away as I had not bought the clothes myself. I then walked him into the women's toilets and got him to wash his legs down with soap and water.

Ice Cream and Home!

As I put the poo-sodden clothes into my backpack, thanking the lord we had packed a pair of shorts for him. I decide no more walking, let's just get ice cream and catch the bus back and go home. We do just this, I wanted to get to the car and out of public as quickly as I could because the smell from his poo-sodden clothes was following us.

Reflection of the day

So if you ever decide to take younger ones out on a day walk, I learned a few things this day. Force them to poop beforehand, bring a poo spade, ALWAYS HAVE a change of clothes and baby wipes at the ready. You never know when there might be a poo-mergency.

Or just don’t go walking with Children? Solo only.