Walking with slime molds

2^nd weekend of October is walking weekend when friends from the south east come to enjoy or endure whatever the elements throw at us. One day was the Carneddau from Llyn Ogwen. Near the top of Pen yr Ole Wen we bumped into 6 other walkers and for a while followed them as they faded in and out of the clouds. Much later we heard a helicopter and the next day’s news included the rescue of 6 walkers stranded on a ledge overlooking Cwm Llafar. We saw no-one else all day - was it the same group?

Better than Goretex!

On the other day we did a cross over from Ganllwyd to Barmouth via Cwm Mynach and Diffwys. For most of the ridge walk we enjoyed the inside of fast moving cloud and the partial windshelter of stone walls. Heads down views of wet upland and lots of hairy brown and orange caterpillars - were these Fox Moth - Macrothylacia rubi? Their waterproof properties seem far superior to Goretex. 

Mucilago crustacea

But view of the day had to be the Mucilago crustacea slime mold. I won’t attempt any explanation of this but one day hope to understand them better.