Mount Snowdon - Wales

Wales!

So, after about a year of trying to work my back up to normal standards, the first test is now approaching – Mount Snowdon – Wales!

Snowdon is one of the 3 Peaks, and with its 1082m above sea level, it’s the highest peak in Wales. My friend Albin told us a story about how a mountain isn’t a hill, it has to be 1000m or more to be called a mountain.

Since I speak a lot about my mountain hikes and how much I love the outdoors, I managed to talk my friend and colleague Alex into joining, and his wife Daria as well. With three days to go, my good friend and colleague Albin also agreed to join and we were a nice quartet on an expedition from London to Llanberis.

After a few mishaps with bus schedules etc in Bangor, we managed to get a taxi to the village. The hotel Alex had found was a nice little place by the end of the road in the village, by a nice lake. We are pretty easy travelers and we want the local touch, which I believe we got.

We found our rooms, checked in and took a little walk to the lake. We realized pretty soon that Llanberis is basically the start for the train up Snowdon (yes, there is a train if you wish to not walk..), but there wasn’t much more to see in the village. We tried to find the local pub for a pint, but that was also not the easiest. There are normally a few but we had to search a bit.. Finally we found one, and got some beer. One round was less than £10! Bargain!

Happy mountaineers going to Wales!

Since the range of restaurants and entertainment was pretty absent, we decided to follow our friend Garry’s advice and go into the next town Caernafon. Albin was responsible for the transport arrangements and got us the same taxi driver to take us there. Perfect. We wanted proper pub food to get ready and the driver dropped us at “The Black Boy Inn”. This is apparently a well known pub, known for its great food. And there was no disappointment – the food was amazing. It was in fact so popular that we had to wait for over an hour to get a table.. We were really pleasantly surprised by the fabulous sea food platter and the meat afterwards.. Was absolutely fab! But since we wanted to be fit and ready early the next morning, we decided to leave the place at 11pm. Albin was again responsible for the transport, and called the same guy again, but then we had a problem. We didn’t know the name of the city we were in!!

Albin had the guy on the phone and tried to pronounce the name of the town, Caernafon.. We tried all sorts of ways – but the driver didn’t understand.. I decided to ask the waitress, and stopped her.
J – Excuse me, can you please tell me where we are?
W – You are at the Black Boy Inn!
J – Yes, I know!! But what is the name of the town?
W (very surprised) – Ehh.. you mean, Caernafon? (Pronounced "Kernavon" in Welsh..)
J – Sorry, what did you say
W – Caernafon
J – Eh, sorry, can you say again?
W – Caernafon (this time slower
J – Ok, thank you.

Then I looked at Albin to see if he got it, but he just looked at me stress-fully, and I looked at Alex and Daria, but no, none of us got the name.. Luckily the driver figured out and we could come home.

D-Day Trekking up Snowdon

Alex checking out the area

We got up early, had an English (or Welsh?) breakfast and some nice coffee at the cafe next door. Then we took our backpacks and walked towards the bus stop that would take us to the start of the trek. Alex had done great research and had reviewed the various treks and we had agreed on the Minors trek, which is semi hard. It had some longer flat bits, then steep bits when you start to climb. We then also decided on taking the Llanberis trek down, so we would get down on the other side of the mountain, and by that being able to walk the whole way back to the hotel.

Checking the map of the treks

Oh these Swedish ladies..

On the bus to the other side of the mountain to where the trek starts, we met this local guy who talked a lot to me about this Swedish girl he met in Greece who came from Visby. He liked the Swedish ladies. I was glad to get off the bus before I had a date..

Wales is known to be green...

...and full of sheep

The trek was not too busy, but really beautiful Wales is really green and there are sheep everywhere! That brings a lot of charm to the walk, the landscape feels alive. After a few hours, the steep part started and we could all feel it. Albin was like a mountain goat and jumped up the rocks, the rest of us were a bit more sensible. 

Albin the Mountain Goat

Albin, Jen and Alex

The crowds started to gather a bit up and we got a lot of company. I was extremely impressed by very heavy people, children, old people.. They did a fantastic job as it wasn’t easy
.

Half way up we came to this beautiful and calm lake, and there was a ruin overlooking the lake, and it must have been the 5* location when it was used! I really like treks where you can enjoy lovely views and its not all about the physical part and you need to move yourself.

Holiday-Inn with a view

Daria enjoying the views and being in front of the camera for a moment :)

A bit up the mountain

We finally reached the top and we could see about 3 meters ahead of us, which was a shame as the views are apparently really nice there. It was also getting really cold, and I was glad I had my fleece, hat and jacket. Some of you will laugh now, as Im known to never be cold.. But man was I cold!

Cold but determined - reaching the summit (even of a small
mountain) only means you are half way there

Alex enjoying his warm tea

We got some nice coffee and sat down, and I kid you not, it was interesting people watching! I think I should grade the madness the following way:

1 – Kids not dressed for the weather, with no hats and thin clothes
2 – Adults not dressed for the weather, in shorts and tshirts freezing their butts off!
3 – The fancy pancy girls walking in sexy tops instead of warm and useful gear – Ladies, men on mountains are normally into fleece jackets, goretex and that kind of stuff..

One man I won’t forget was walking in sandals and socks… he was wet through and full of mud.

I got post cards for the kids at home and we started to venture down. Albin hadn’t had enough of the excitement, or he had a date – still unknown for us, and decided to take a different route down, a harder one called Pyg trek and a little bit tougher. The rest of us decided to take the Llanberis trek as I wanted to be careful as my back held up so well. No need to be crazy as there are plenty of other mountains to climb.

We started walking downhill, and even if you think that should be so much easier than uphill, maaaaan did my thighs start to scream. Considering that I have been off most exercise for the last year and only started rehab training for the back injury a few months back, I wasn’t surprised but yet not used to the feeling. I don’t remember when I had such a bad ache in my legs, ever! Funny enough, my back didn’t say much, so that means my rehab is working.
Albin sent us a picture of a pint and wondered where we were- and we were about 2h away. How did that happen?

All in all – the trip was nice and a cool day out with nice friends. The trek is not too tough, it’s not easy but definitely ok for kids as well as back rehabilitating mountaineers waiting to get back into it.

Jen's top advice for Snowdon trekking

• Always pre-book your dinners, there are not many tables free anywhere
• Get a lexicon – Welsh is hard, especially for us foreigners
• Talk to the locals, they don’t like it if you don’t but they can be kind of friendly if you do
• If you want to blend in, get a tattoo on your neck that looks a bit “bad guy”
• Bring waterproof clothing
• Wear boots and not sandals on the trek
• Expect to wait 40 mins for a taxi