Hey there people,
As many of you probably now I just spent four days in lovely Wales, not lovely for the weather but for the fact it has awesome mountains, weird language and a very cool vibe.
Goal of the trip was to climb Mt Snowdon, or Yr Wdffa in Welsh, the highest mountain in Wales and higher than anything in England too. As well as that we (Mike aka Storm and I) hade high hope of a traverse which would of involved summiting 3 others as well (Glyder Faw, Glyder Fach and Tryfan) but it was not too be.
We arrived after an awful train journey, overcrowded with over amorous teens and angry people to a pretty pleasant evening, which we whiled away setting up the tent and lazing about cooking dinner. Waking up to rain and low cloud the next day we quickly scuttled aspirations of summits for roaming around the mountain town of Llanberis, where we were based.
We both immediatly fell in love with this town for the relaxed vibe, awesome backpackers hangout, outdoor stores and the fact that it was fashionably acceptable to clomp around in hiking boots!
Nearby we took a tour through place called Electric Mountain, where a hydro-electric power station has been built underneath a mountain. Very fascinating checking out the working station and being 60 foot under a mountain instead of on top of one. At the push of a button the station can go from shutdown to providing enough power for the whole of Wales in just 16 seconds!
After that we spied an old castle or keep as it was called just outside of town. Dolbadarn Castle was it's name, still standing from sometime around the 12th or 13th century. So of course we clambered around all over it, both in and out of bounds, snapping pics and exploring and quite intrigued by the sheer history of it all. We even ended up climbing up what turned out to be the old toilet chutes, luckily there was no clue as to there old use!
Waking the next day to more rain we then decided to go and check out the old slate mine up on the mountain with the power station. And again we where taken by the sheer history of the place, standing in ruins that once housed hundreds of men who toiled in the mines just so people could have the latest trend in roofing material.
Then after a wander through town and some lunch we caught the bus up to the top of Pen Y Pass, the starting point for most climbs of Snowdon. After a look in the visitors centre we headed down the other side to what I found was the coolest part of the whole trip.
We visited a pub called Pen Y Gryd Hotel, used by the successful 1953 Everest team as a training base before the expedition and for reunions afterwards. It's decked out with old school climbing memorabilia and photos, and has a cool room with a log fire where the whole team has signed the roof, along with other British and international climbing royalty. Was great fun name spotting and trying a traditional english ale, served at room temperature of course!! Quite nice I thought.
Not ready to end the day we then headed back up the pass and wen't for a wander to towards the lake at the bottom of Mt Snowdon to stretch our legs. We ended up heading up onto a ridge leading to Snowdon to soak up some rather grey but still nice veiws around the local valleys and out to the coast. Then came running back down the mountain to catch the bus as we weren't sure if it was the last one or not and didn't want to risk a very long trudge home. We bumped into a guy plodding home under a load of climbing gear who gave us some good tips for when we return for the summit, but I think we demoralised him a bit by then running full steam off down the track.
Summary? not the trip we planned but loved it all the same, Wales is certainly a cool country. Loved being back around mountains, Englands just a bit too flat, and the language barrier gave it a cool edge. Have certainly got a taste for getting to the top of Snowdon so will go back for sure!
Take it easy, Steve
PS: You can see photos of the trip on my facebook page. Cheers
