Well, I wouldnt ordinarily choose a bank holiday weekend to do something like Snowdon but hey ho, needs must. As far as accommodation went, we decided to stay away from North Wales (where the world and his wife seemed to be) and opted for a great place in Oswestry for our base - Sebastian's Hotel & Restaurant What a delightful place, great accommodation and a wonderful restaurant, what more could one ask for? Oswestry is mid point between our home and Snowdon, so this broke up the journey nicely and meant we were away from the maddening crowds.
We were going to climb Snowdon from Pen-y Pass but despite the owner of Sebastian's getting up at the crack of dawn (considering he cooked our 5 course extravaganza the night before) to cook our breakfast, we were still waaayyyy too late for a parking place there. People were parking like 3 miles away from the start to do this route, adding 6 miles to their walking journeys. So, we opted just to go to LLanberis and walk from there with the crowds. From Llanberis, most take the train one way (or both!) so it's very busy but there is more parking. So, we just did it, and will go back at a quieter time to do our preferred route.
The route from Llanberis is longer than the one we intended to take, 9 miles all round, but much of the route is quite easy, with just the last third to and from the summit being challenging. The summit was probably busier than Blackpool on the day (or even central London!) but it was worth doing. The weather was glorious and the views over Anglesey and around were simply breathtaking.
We were going to climb Snowdon from Pen-y Pass but despite the owner of Sebastian's getting up at the crack of dawn (considering he cooked our 5 course extravaganza the night before) to cook our breakfast, we were still waaayyyy too late for a parking place there. People were parking like 3 miles away from the start to do this route, adding 6 miles to their walking journeys. So, we opted just to go to LLanberis and walk from there with the crowds. From Llanberis, most take the train one way (or both!) so it's very busy but there is more parking. So, we just did it, and will go back at a quieter time to do our preferred route.
Look at all the people!
The route from Llanberis is longer than the one we intended to take, 9 miles all round, but much of the route is quite easy, with just the last third to and from the summit being challenging. The summit was probably busier than Blackpool on the day (or even central London!) but it was worth doing. The weather was glorious and the views over Anglesey and around were simply breathtaking.
It was a beautiful day but it was chilly at the top!
See the snow? still a little bit here and there
After Snowdon we had a more relaxing day, winding our way though lovely Welsh villages in Snowdonia. We went to Blaenau FFestiniog and took the little train to Porthmadog and back. A little "touristy" given the bank holiday weekend but very sweet and the views lovely.
Blaenau Ffestiniog Station
Before departing back home, as we were relatively close by and the weather was so beautiful I couldnt resist a small detour to probably my favourite place in all the world. Coming down the slope on the road from Dolgellau to Corris just before the Cadair Idris car park at Minffordd, Tal Y llyn shimmers in the distance. A picture can never do it justice.
The view up the hill from there is just as beautiful
Next on the list is Scafell Pike. Our eldest son is in Scotland kayaking as I write and is due to do ben Nevis on Wednesday whilst he's up there. So he can give us a few tips for when we get round to that later in the year. We're in Switzerland in early June alpine walking so we might have a go at Scafell before then but if we can't find sufficient time in the next 6 weeks, we have Wales on the doorstep and will never tire of walking there.
