A Must See And Do: SNOWDONIA & AROUND

Theres a certain magic even just in the word 'Snowdonia'! Its the kind of name I would expect to find in one of C.S Lewis' narratives.

Like its name, Wales' biggest national park is equally magic. It is famous for its scenery, encompassing snowy mountains, scenic coastline and glorious country-side.

Mount Snowdon is the highest peak in Wales (and the second highest in Britain, topped only by Ben Nevis in Scotland). Mt Snowdon is a must-climb even if you're not a hardcore hiker. There are six main trails to the top, or you can cheat by taking a train! Not a option for us, too expensive! We blow our money on speeding fines and parking infringements Mmmm! 3km over speed limit and wham bang that will be 60 pounds thanks!!

I'll get Henry to write up the climb, the gripping version ;). Before he does...Holly walked a 1/3 of the way! Henry carried her the rest!! I have read differing accounts of the height. One website said 3,559 feet, another said 3,720ft or 1,085meters. I'll go with the later. It really was enjoyable and only possible because of Henrys strength and determination!

Henry- We actually cheated by starting at the highest point you can take a car. I parked the car on an isolated saddle where the start of the miners track is. Quite spectacular though. Its far more scenic than the main way up. First you don't really climb much winding around the mountain. You pass three lakes on the way. There are less people on this accent and we really enjoyed the views. 

Just on the other side of the third lake you hit a stair case. Its like something out of Lord of the Rings, The Stairs of Cirith Ungol. Rather unnerving, with Holly on my shoulders. It winds its way up the side of the mountain zig zagging from side to side. You can see the pass up above but it took about an hour to do this section. Eventually we made it. I was surprised as Holly walked about a third of the way. From here we left Holly and Sue behind before climbing for the last 20 minutes. We followed the railway line up to the summit. Not nice seeing train load after train load being dragged up. Just to rub it in even more there is a large cafe on top with amazing views.

We were really lucky with the summit. It was overcast but the clouds were high. We had panoramic views in all directions. The Welsh country side ain't too bad. The walk back down was not quite so interesting. The weather had been cold but by late afternoon was becoming freezing. Sue had gone down to fetch the car and was going to meet us in Llanberis which is the starting pointing of the easier way up. I was to concerned about clambering down the same way we had got up. 

We got to see a number of different trains but the kids were starting to run out of puff. For the rest of the way I carried various combinations, on occasion two at a time. We met a really nice Welsh guy who attempted to entertain the girls for a while.