Snowdon
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‘Twas a dark day when I decided to join my hubby along with Chris, Cliff & Sammy the dog on a trip to North Wales. Now don’t get me wrong, I love North Wales, it is so picturesque. The problem is, I like my hills flat, especially if I have to walk them!
My hubby, Chris, makes the trip to North Wales and the Snowdonia National Park three times a year and walks/climbs/scrambles the various peaks. I usually elect to stay home. This time, however, I needed a break from the kitchen sink and so I decided I would join him. No promises of climbing any hills though!
The trip was scheduled for 12th to 16th of September 2011. The car journey from Chepstow in South Wales to our usual destination of Ogwen Bank is usually about 4.5 hours. However, this time we were going to Aberdunant Caravan Park, near Porthmadog, which in theory is a little closer. But, the weather was against us - howling gales all the way. We came across one incident of a fallen tree blocking the road which meant we had to retrace our steps, and then another incident involving a tree and a car but, fortunately, this was almost cleared up when we came across it. When we finally arrived at our caravan we found we had been upgraded due to a cancellation and thus had a brand new caravan with central heating - such luxury!
On our first day (Tuesday), we all went on the steam train which runs from Porthmadog to Caernarfon on the Welsh Highland narrow gauge railway. This is a journey of 40 miles which took 3 hours to reach Caernarfon and 2.5 hours for the return trip. The scenery through the Snowdonian hills is wonderful. On leaving Porthmadog station the train took to the road for a short distance - what fun!
On the way there we sat in the open carriage so that we could take photographs of the beautiful countryside. Sammy enjoyed the trip too - he spent most of the journey with his nose out of the carriage sniffing for sheep! We had lunch in Caernarfon and then jumped on the train for the journey back again.
Thursday was the highlight of the week - Thursday was the day we walked to the summit of Snowdon, at 3,300 feet the highest mountain in Wales. We chose to walk the Pyg Track which starts at 1000 feet above sea level so we only had 2,300 feet to climb!
We took the Miners Track on our return journey. I have done this walk before and have nightmares about it still - it seems to take me longer to walk down than to walk up! We left the car park at Pen y Pas at 7.15am (yawn!) The car park fee is now an extraordinary £10 for the day. Of course, hubby didn’t read this far on the notice board and paid £5 for a half-day ticket… Well, there was no way we would reach the summit and get back again in half a day. Fortunately, he was able to sell our ticket to a new arrival who was only going to do a half-day walk and then he purchased the correct ticket for a full day.
Before we left the caravan that morning I was worrying about being cold but after about five minutes walking uphill I started stripping off the layers! It was a lovely morning but we could see the top of the mountain was covered in cloud. The first hour was a steady climb upwards which got the old heart pounding. It then levelled out for just a short while before we had to start a more serious upward climb. We had to stop for a coffee break and to admire the view at this stage. Not a road in sight but a very noisy RAF helicopter performing its morning’s exercises – we waved hoping that it might be Prince William waving back at us!
Up we go then for the real climb! Oh those poor bones of mine - I could hear every creak. But did I moan? I did not! Reet proud o’ meself am I! We even reached the summit before the first passenger train arrived. As I had lagged behind most of the way, Chris, Cliff & hubby insisted I be first to the summit where I posed for photos. Not long after we heard the first passenger train chuffing upwards towards the end of the line so we made a dash for the café before the rush.
Upon arriving at the café on the summit we were greeted by a ‘No Dogs Except Guide Dogs for the Blind’ notice! Poor Sammy dog! This was most annoying as the thought of a nice hot cuppa and a cream scone was what had kept us going. Our little group had to split up. Chris & Cliff had their cuppa outside with Sammy - no seating was provided outside and the cloud had come down once more so it was very damp. Hubby and I went inside. The café floor was brick, the tables glass topped, no table cloths, no food prep going on – all food transported up on service train first thing in the morning and simply reheated. I have no idea why muddy walkers were allowed in but no dogs!
Fortunately the cloud soon lifted, giving us spectacular views all around. Obviously, on the way back, we were traveling downhill. Now, downhill for me is worse than uphill - give me a flat hill any day! I broke hubby’s walking stick and then had to use his posh one which he was most reluctant to part with. I really felt I would end up flat on my face before the day was over but by some miracle, I did not fall once. By this time too, we were passing crowds of people who were on their way up to the summit. I was so glad we started out early when we had the mountain to ourselves.
Have you ever been on the Miners Track? Definitely go down it rather than up it! At the bottom of the diversion from the Pyg Track onto the Miners Track, I turned back to look where we had just come from and, I do believe, if we had walked the other way round i.e. Miners Track up then Pyg Track home, I would never have made it! The Miners Track itself is very flat to begin with and is easy walking for a long way. But then you reach the bottom of what looks like a sheer upwards climb - not for the faint-hearted and not recommended unless you like your hills vertical!
We got back to the car early afternoon more or less in one piece. Then back to the caravan for a beautiful shower to wash the sweat away. Lovely – the best bit of the day! No, seriously, although I am not a mountain gal, the views are stunning and well worth the effort. I’m glad I made it!
Contributed by Sonia.
(Published 25th Feb 2015)
