I just wanted to let you know that I have just added three posts to the Stories section of the website that relate to the conversation that my colleague Wulf Livingston had with Rob Havelock and Lianne Jones in March last year. Rob is Founder of Sober Snowdonia, an Eryi (Snowdonia)-based walking and outdoor community dedicated to helping people recovering from addiction and mental health struggles. Lianne is currently a Duty Officer at Penrhyn House, the residential part of North Wales Recovery Communities (NWRC). Here are the three Story Films:
Addiction & Early Recovery: Rob Havelock & Lianne Jones [4 Films, 8’17”]
Rob was born in Porthmadog, North Wales, 40 years ago. His life took him to Manchester for 16 years, where he got married, had a son, and bought a house. His cocaine addiction and alcoholism then spiralled out of control, and he lost everything. He started attending 12-Step meetings but relapsed, and eventually returned to North Wales with tail between his legs.
Rob initially spent time at his Mum’s in Porthmadog trying to sober up. When he began searching for 12-Step meetings in his area, the first one that came up was Penrhyn House. He took himself off to Bangor, where he attended meetings at Penrhyn as a local community member, rather than as a resident. However, something was missing for Rob there. He was full of ego and even though he had relapsed previously, he thought he knew better than anyone at Penrhyn House. He met Lianne at a meeting in Penrhyn House about two and a half years ago [this was from the time of the conversation, in March 2025], and they started a relationship.
Lianne is also from North Wales, from a town called Pwllheli on the Llŷn Peninsula. She experienced a good deal of abuse and trauma in her earlier life, and the impact of this gradually built up over time as different things happened to her. She eventually became addicted to painkillers, illicit drugs, and alcohol. Lianne started travelling around the country, before settling in Derbyshire for a couple of years. Her situation got a lot worse, and she became very selfish, caring for no one other than herself. She wanted to change and was therefore visiting a Substance Misuse Service, but that didn’t help. She had no one else to whom she could turn.
After she moved back to North Wales, Lianne heard from a friend about Penrhyn House. She reached out to Penrhyn and started attending as an outside community member. She connected with people for a couple of months, attended Fellowship meetings and did some recovery work, but realised that she didn’t really want that type of life. She just wanted to do what she wanted to do, and not care about other people.
Rob took a job in Blaenau Ffestiniog in September 2022, and Lianne was offered a flat there the following month. They thought at the time that things were really coming together for them. However, the lads at Rob’s work would share stories of their escapades over the weekend, and there was still part of him that wanted to engage in such activities. He was always guilty of romanticising a life which involved him sitting in a pub with his pint, being Jack the Lad, and enjoying the company of his mates. He soon relapsed into drinking. However, he found only a short-lasting enjoyment from alcohol. Wulf points out that many people forget the role of pleasure in the process of addiction.
Lianne relapsed soon after Rob. She had experienced the mindset of thinking, ‘I’m away from people in Bangor and can do what I want.’ Something changed in her then, and she realised that she really did want a new life. She was offered a place in Penrhyn House and moved in as a resident.
Changing Lifestyle: Rob Havelock & Lianne Jones [4 Films, 9’09”]
Lianne Jones is six weeks away from doing a 30 mile ultra-marathon. [Lianne completed the marathon successfully.] In her pre-recovery past, she covered, ‘Not a mile’ each day. Rob, born and brought up in Snowdonia, is now a guide taking people into the mountains. When asked how many mountains he had been up three years ago, his reply is, ‘A big fat zero!’ A week later they went up Tryfan, one of the most technical of mountains in Snowdonia (Eryri).
Rob and Lianne’s ‘activities journey’ began with one of the September Recovery Month expeditions organised by North Wales Recovery Communities (NWRC)—one involving rock climbing, gorge walking, orienteering, and raft building. On the last day Rob and Lianne went up Snowden (Yr Wyddfa), their first mountain. A mustard seed was planted in Rob’s head.
When Rob was on a Hill Skills course, the mountain leader, Alex, suggested that Rob become a mountain leader. When Rob replied, ‘What the hell’s a mountain leader?’, he was told that he was a natural with ‘a map and compass’ and in helping the other participants. Rob visited the relevant website, and sorted himself out a profile. He then started having quality days in the mountains, doing what he could to be eligible to take part in the training.
When she was young, Lianne was a member of a sailing club. She was quite athletic at that time and was outdoors a lot. However, as time passed, she changed and stopped doing those things. She loves being outdoors, and is passionate about trying all sorts of outdoor activity. It gives her a feeling of peace, and that’s why she enjoys getting out. Snowden was her first mountain as well.
Ego, Humility, and Giving Back [1 Film, 8’42”]
Wulf thinks that one of the things in recovery is learning humility. He believes that mountains teach you humility. Rob points out that if you stand underneath a mountain and look up and then deny it’s not a power greater than yourself, then you’re going to struggle. It’s definitely somewhere where you need to leave your ego in the car park. If the weather changes for the worse, you need to have the humility to turn back.
Rob compares his recovery journey with being in the mountains. You’ve got a map and compass to get yourself up and down a mountain. On the other hand, you’ve got your Big Book and sponsor as your moral compass and guide on your recovery journey. Remaining teachable in recovery is very important, and that is like the situation in the mountains. Drugs and drink can kill us, as can a mountain easily kills us if we let our ego inflate enough. Mountains can be the best playground in the world, but they can also be very dangerous territory. For him, drink and drugs were a lovely playground at one point, but then they became dangerous territory. Wulf points out that if we lose that element of consciousness in the mountains, like we lose that bit of consciousness when we are drinking excessively and taking drugs, we are then into a Russian Roulette game.
When Rob was earlier thinking of ‘giving back’ in recovery, he asked himself what natural thing could he do to practice his 12-Steps and help others, other than through sponsoring others? When he was on the Mountain Leader course, he found the answer. Try and bring mountain guiding and recovery sobriety together. He did so by setting up Sober Snowdonia in January 2024.
Wulf asks about Sober Snowdonia and the aspirations the couple have for this initiative. Robs says that it is something he has to be careful about because his ego can drive him insane. He wants Sober Snowdonia to be what he wants it to be… now! Most of the time, he’s happy with the pace it’s developing. However, he sometimes get upset with himself when he thinks he’s not doing enough. However, he realises he has got to come to terms with the fact that he’s not available to take people out every day, or every weekend. He wants to run Sober Snowdonia activities on a more regular basis. And his end goal is to offer more than just mountain walks, like outdoor and indoor climbing. ‘But one day at a time, one step at a time,’ he says. Rob believes that it is is such a natural and beautiful way to give back. And mountains are on their doorstep. It would be a shame not to use that fact to their advantage.
Lianne finds it really hard talking about Sober Snowdonia, because it’s Rob’s project and he started it off. She is always there to give her advice and support in whatever way she can. But other than that, she tries to take a step back and allow him on his journey. His love for the mountains is a bit different to hers, and he is passionate about what he does for other people, especially taking them out. He has got more passion than her for walking uphill. She loves the mountains, particularly when she and Rob reach a scrambling stage. She has a burst of energy when that situation arises, being very calm at that point. She doesn’t know where that comes from.