A Bank Holiday Monday Walking Up Snowdon
Over the Bank Holiday weekend, myself and my family took a trip over to Wales in a bid to walk up Snowdon, the highest point in the country (above sea level). Standing at 1,085 metres (3,560ft), Snowdon is incredibly popular with tourists, famous for its world-renowned countryside locomotives and one hundred year old railway. You could go up it by train, but where's the sense of achievement?
We stayed in Bangor, not far away from the mountain. We had a beautiful view of the sea from our bedroom window and the weather was beautiful (most of the time). We even managed to take a walk along the pier on the evening of Sunday 26th, the night before our mighty climb.
The next morning, we were up at 6:30am, ready to head off to the bottom of Snowdon. We walked the Rhyd Ddu route up and the Llanberis route down, both of which are incredibly different, with one being considerably harder to walk than the other.
This post is for those of you who prefer to look at photographs as opposed to streams of text. So let's get into it,before I rabbit on a little too much :)
Staying in Bangor
I feel like Bangor is slightly underestimated. It's very pretty and you're never more than 20 minutes away from a beautiful sandy beach. The pier is very old-fashioned and considerably smaller than the one in Brighton or Eastbourne for example. It would probably take you about 10/15 minutes to walk there and back, so perfect for some leg stretching after a drive which seemed to last forever!
Walking Up Snowdon
Walking up Snowdon was quite the experience. If you've ever walked up there yourself, you'll understand that no route is easy, and so picking the right one for your abilities can be quite tricky. Llamberis is the easiest route, with Rhyd Ddu coming 5th in the difficulty ranking out of 8, so that's not too bad really. The difficulty comes towards the top of the mountain, when things become very rocky (literally) and very narrow (to the point where I convinced myself I'd fall off the edge of the cliff).
It was all worth it though when we reached the summit. We saw the trains which ferry hundreds of tourists up and down the mountain every day, as well as the summit itself, and of course, we had to have a selfie at the top didn't we? Eventually, there was a break in the cloud (yes, you're really that high up!) and we could see for absolutely miles. The whole view was breath taking, so much so, the photos really don't do the views justice.
For those who don't know, there's actually a café and a small giftshop at the top. You would be surprised how big the summit of Snowdon is. You'll certainly be able to tell when you've reached the top, put it that way!
Walking Back Down
Walking back down was by far the easiest part of the whole walk. Despite the strain on your knees, it really is a walk in the park (pardon the pun). We took the Llanberis route back down, with the most dangerous part being loose rock, which really wasn't very hazardous at all. We walked 7.3km in 2 hours and 15 minutes (roughly), a time we were quite pleased with, especially to say we stopped to eat a cereal bar each and then was heavily rained on. However, we did get fantastic views of the train coming and going, full of eager and enthusiastic passengers, in awe of the stunning countryside scenes.
By the end of the day, we were all (obviously) knackered. We couldn't wait to get back to the hotel and have a shower. We ended the evening in a restaurant, eating dinner and drinking wine, making for the perfect end to a completely unconventional day.
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I hope you enjoyed this post. Let me know if you've ever walked up Snowdon, which route did you take or did you catch the train? I will see you next time with a new post :)
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