Sunday 30th August 2015 ko 18.00

Welsh Alliance Division 2

MYNYDD LLANDEGAI 3 (M Smith 6 M Hughes 70p Whitmore 74)

MELIDEN 2 (Buckley 15 Szabo 78)

Att 305

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badge £3

We left Llanrug and climbed into the mountains of Snowdonia and then we climbed some more. The roads narrowed, the heather turned purple almost it seemed through oxygen deprivation, and eventually we reached the tiny village of Mynydd (Mountain) Llandegai.

Now to give you how small, the village has only 187 registered residents, and is 1000 feet above sea level. Now let’s put that altitude in perspective. The highest league ground in the UK is West Bromwich Albion, and that’s 534 feet above sea-level. In non-league the two famous high up grounds are Tow Law at 1004 feet and Buxton at 984 feet. Now, have a think about how close you are to the coast here, then imagine the difficulty faced by our coach drivers.

We were more than pleased to have help along the way. The club contacted the local police who crated a temporary one-way system so the village could cope with on-the-way to double the local population could visit the local football ground.

Cae Pel- Droed, literally translated, “The Football Field” positively buzzed and once Chris Berezai and I had munched our way through baked potatoes we made sure the police who turned up once the crowd were ensconced were fed with Welsh cakes. They were excellent after the game too, blocking the route into Bethesda to give us a quick exit. Actually, thinking about it, did they know something I didn’t?

The club have roots way back to 1929, and were reformed in 1947 wearing kit donated by Newcastle United but the current club was formed as late as 1996 as a junior club. A senior team was formed in 2000 and Cae Pel-Droed was built in 2004 with the help of a £140,000 grant. Mynydd Llandegai won the Caernarfon & District League in 2012/13 and followed it up by winning the Gwynedd League the next season to gain elevation to the Welsh Alliance.

They were made to fight hard for this win too, as the two clubs provided a fine finale to our day. Perhaps Llandegai deserved to shade it, but as the final whistle went the mountains gave us a final treat.

As the sun set the final rays of light illuminated the slate workings behind in a beautiful golden hue. I flicked the camera back on took a few pictures and dashed back to the coach with just about the only grin I wore all day.