Cnicht - the Welsh Matterhorn

We were out early and drove to a town called Croeser. Village. Hamlet even. Just a few houses and a car park actually. We parked the car and started to get ready to hike. Lots of cars started turning up and we got chatting to a few other hikers – they were from the local Ramblers Club. Often when we go somewhere to do a hike (Indonesia, Malaysia…), the only people climbing the mountains are foreign. We wondered whether this would be the way in Wales, but apparently not. We met mainly Welsh people on the mountains of Snowdonia. We spent the next few hours hiking starting with the impressive ascent of Cnight, the Welsh Matterhorn. I slipped while scrambling up near the top and couldn’t find any where to put my feet so just hung onto the rocks. I shouted for David to help, but the wind was so strong, he couldn’t hear me so I had to scream. He came back and lifted me to safety. I have a few big bruises on my legs now. Tricky things mountains. After reaching the summit of Cnight, the Ramblers turned left at the cairn and we planned to turn right (even though they warned us that the ground would be very mucky). The ground was really mucky and I discovered that my “waterproof” boots weren’t waterproof at all! I squelched through bogs and my boots remained waterlogged for the rest of the day.

After coming out of the bogs, we came across a spooky disused slate mine. I took some eerie pictures and we continued along the miners’ road back to Croesor where we discovered a little renovated cottage doing teas! We took off our boots and sat in the sun enjoying hot drinks and freshly made Victoria sandwich. Wales does tea and cake so well that I sometimes wonder why I ever left.

More photos from this trip are on facebook https://www.facebook.com/jomynard1/media_set?set=a.34331095819.57151.630680819&type=3