Mt Snowdonia, Northern Wales

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Friday night after work I met up with Vicki, her brother and his mate and we all jumped in a tiny corolla and headed for Northern Wales to do some hiking for the weekend. I had met Vicki in Pai, Northern Thailand and we did a 3 day trek and just chilled out for around a week doing nothing as is the normal in Pai. Her brother is a dead keen hiker and having graduated from boys scouts a long time ago he still loves to hike with his best mate Guy. If I had known they were kind of hard core I mightn't had come on the trip to hold them back but to them this hike would be a piece of piss.

We arrived in Snowdonia around 11:30pm Friday night after some heavy traffic driving from London. As soon as we left the confines of our vehicle we could feel the freshness in the air (and obviously it was bloody cold). Our hostel was an old mansion that had 3 rooms with around 10 beds in each and the rest of the place to use as we pleased. It was right on the water as well and not too far from our starting point for the hike up to Mt Snowdon.

After preparing we set off on the bus up to the starting point and then started the ascent. The lush green surroundings were brilliant with the lakes in the deep valleys and the mountains rising up steeply into the clouds. There are numerous ways up to Snowdon but we traversed across Crib Goch which was a bit of a knife edge where u didn't want to fall either side of it or it would be a long way down. That was probably the most difficult bit and after correcting our tracks a few times we made the main track and reached the summit of Snowdon. The cloud was low and the weather was horrible so there was no great view to take in but a little encouragement was taken for the 4 hrs that we had walked to reach the highest peak in England & Wales.

The walk back was quite nice as we walked around back of the mountain and the horseshoe down onto the valley floor. We reached our hostel around 4 in the afternoon after walking for most of the day. A hot shower was the perfect tonic for everyone before we headed to the pub for a hearty meal and a few pints.

The next day we drove to a cute town called Betws-y-coed which is a mecca for hikers and climbers alike. There are more hiking stores in Betws-y-coed than in London I reckon, its ridiculous. The boys were likes kids in a candy store and after visiting all 30 of the shops we could all barely fit into the car with all the new gear rammed into the back seat. It was a good weekend had by all and was great to get out of the hustle and bustle of London life for a while.

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