Monday, 16 July 2018


We'd set off to walk up Snowdon, having seen this was a possible day trip from where we were staying on Holy Island in Anglesey.  However the weather turned worse the closer we got to the start point of the walk, and (surprisingly for us, and mainly my fault) we were under-prepared - I'd forgotten to pack Caroline's walking boots, and people were missing waterproof trousers, all sorts.  So having arrived at the start point of the walk, with the rain now fairly continuous, we decided to drive to the nearest outdoor walking gear shop, which I think was in Porthmadog, stocked up on essentials, then drove back to the parking spot.  This made for a fairly late start time, and predictable late time home for dinner, but just enough time to get soaking wet climbing a mountain.

Difficulty: 5
Walkers: Tim, Caroline, Isabelle (16), Grace (13), Poppy (7)
13:41, 0.0km 0h00 0m, Start (179)
16:12, 6.3km 2h31 891m, Snowdon-Yr Wyddfa (1085, Hewitt)
19:31, 13.4km 5h50 915m, End (179)

We parked at Rhyd-Ddu on the street, just up from the railway station.  We took the Rhyd-Ddu path up, and then (mainly through inattention to route finding) the slightly longer way back...

The way up was pretty mirky, nothing really to see.  We'd left Evie with Caroline's parents, so there was noticeably less complaining on the way up...  I didn't get any photos of the fairly narrow ridge to the top, quite impressive but I was clearly too busy enjoying the path to take photos.

At the top!  Really not much to see here, just lots of wet people.  At least we got to go inside, warm up a bit, and have a drink & some food.

And the way back down - starting to see a little further now, with the rain stopping and the cloud starting to clear.

And the views just got better...

...and more striking...

Until we could pretty much see everything.