Ever since we moved to North Wales, we have been talking about walking up Snowdon. We live minutes from one edge of Snowdonia National Park and are already familiar with many of its awe-inspiring walks, but our plans to walk up the highest mountain in Wales kept getting thwarted with rain or other interference. Until last weekend.
We scoped out the possible walking paths — I had been eyeing the Pyg Track, but we finally decided on Llanberis Path as it was rated the easiest (although the longest at about 9 miles round trip). I relied on this handy overview and comparison of the different paths, but we also appreciated the longer descriptions from the Snowdonia National Park website and Walk Up Snowdown. Those are great resources for planning a walk of your own.
A week or so before our walk up to the summit, we went on a walk partway up Llanberis Path with some friends — but with a 5-year-old setting the pace we didn’t quite make it halfway before turning around. So last weekend my husband and I set out on our own to try to make it to the summit. We started out at 2 p.m. (we aren’t by any means early risers) and at a leisurely pace we got back to our car a little before 9 p.m. The descent was actually slower going than the ascent, thanks to tired legs and aching knees.
Near the top of the mountain we were rewarded with amazing views of the surrounding landscape, punctuated by waves of clouds (obscuring nearly everything around the mountain) carried by the constant, strong, chill wind. That wind was no fun at all, and after a few minutes at the top I found a nice little wall to huddle next to and peer around before we headed back down. The only really disappointing part was all the trash, though. Clearly there isn’t a lot of education about “pack it in, pack it out” among the tourists who visit Snowdon, and we saw tissues, empty cups, and wrappers strewn about everywhere.
All in all, though, it was an enjoyable walk and I’m quite curious to try one of the other paths up the mountain one of these days.
Expat Linguist 