It's all about the pancakes!

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I have finally climbed the highest mountain in Wales and England!

I admit I’ve become a little obsessed with getting this mountain out of the way. I’ve had a crack at it twice and while I’ve been to the top before, not until now, 100% under my own steam. Visit 1 was last March which was the tourist train to the snow line, a trudge to the summit in the snow then back down by foot. Visit 2 was last August when we got turned back about 2/3 of the way up by 60 mile an hour winds coming up over the ridge. Visit 3 ... Success!

Snowdon at 1085m (3,650ft) isn’t the toughest mountain to climb and if you choose one of the more relaxed routes on the West Side of the mountain, like we did, I’d have to say it’s more about hiking than climbing. There is however a nice sense of satisfaction in getting it under my belt, not to mention that our entire route was devised with 2 (successfully achieved) aims:

1. Actually reach the summit; and
2. Rewarding ourselves with pancakes at the end

Going back to our last attempt while we didn’t make the summit, we did stumble on Ty Mawr a cosy little teahouse in Rhyd Ddu village run by a Dutch husband and his wife who do the best food including the now legendary Apple and Bacon Dutch pancakes. So if you are ever passing through Rhyd Ddu do yourself a favour, pop in and indulge in some good eating!

With the memory of those pancakes as our inspiration we (Blue, Glenn, Thaik and I) had an easy choice ... it didn't matter which path got us to the summit as long as we ended up in the village of Rhyd Ddu. So which way did we go?

Straight up Rhyd Ddu/Beddgelert (relatively easy, quite scenic and bugger all people), tap the summit (Ugh bank holiday crowds), race down Snowdon Ranger (bit boring, but straight forward and still not too many peopel) before bog hopping and pole hunting our way across the boggy bottom of the mountain (noone at all till the near the end) back to Rhyd Ddu village.

Now the boggy bottom bit is a right laugh. All the water runoff seems to collect and the path you follow is essentially a search for the next pole to aim for. The ground is nice and bouncy and if you keep moving you shouldn’t sink into the muck ... too much. It’s actually a lovely walk which we probably didn’t give enough attention to as our focus was on reaching the teashop before it closed so we could get our reward.

The happy ending was we got our pancakes. Enjoy the pics

Jane x

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Photos

The path to the top
see how easy (and empty) it is

Remember to look backwards
It's beautiful up there

Found it yet boys?
Nope, still behind you!

Where's the summit Blue?
hint ... it's in the cloud

At the summit
Thaik really loves to smile (honest)