Climbing Snowdon

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We didn’t exactly get off to an early start, so by the time we got to Pen y Pass car part to climb Snowdon, it was already full. Instead we parked down the hill and got a bus to the start of the hike.

As we got going, we saw a sign where every sentence began with “dim” dim dim dim dim. Basically, the café at the top wasn’t finished so there would be no tea, no shelter and no toilets. No train either which hopefully meant there would at least be fewer people.

There were a lot of people hiking up Wales’ highest mountain, but compared to a popular mountain in Japan in hiking season, it wasn’t too bad. I admired people who had the patience to march their kids up there. One guy even had his baby in a backpack. I assume it was a baby, he/she was covered with a kind of tent to keep out the wind and rain and we could just hear the screaming underneath. There were a lot of dogs too.

It took us about 2 ¼ hours to reach the top along the Pyg track. We weren’t brave enough to attempt the knife edged Crib Goch track, but could see people above walking on all fours above us (I thought they were sheep at first). The weather stayed fine throughout the walk, but we could see the summit of Snowdon ahead enshrouded in cloud. As we neared the top, we entered the thick cloud and could no longer see the valley below. It got very cold and windy and after taking our turn of standing on the summit, we got out of the wind and brewed a cuppa. We didn’t hang about long, but started the ascent, this time via the Miners’ track which went alongside the lake which was lovely. We passed some old ruined mine buildings and machinery which made the place seem very mysterious. We think the Snowdon climb is the Welsh version of the Inka Trail. A bit busy, but really beautiful and well worth doing.

We stopped off at Lyn’s Caffi in Beddgelert on the way home again for tea and apple pie with custard.