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Over the May Bank Holiday, we decided to make a return to Snowdonia in Northern Wales.
This time we took our own wheels and accommodation in the form of ‘Brian - not sexy but damn good,’ the big blue van.
At 6am on Saturday, Noogs, Sam, Hamilton, Chris and I, all piled into Brian and hit the road. What a trip. While the girls snoozed, the boys were squashed into the front seat, an arrangement that made them look a bit like the members of a George Michael fan club. Luckily us girls awoke for that momentous occasion - the entry into Wales. Woohoo! After the road signs became unpronounceable, we really began to feel like we were in Wales proper. The hundreds of sheep in the fields and green countryside made us Kiwis feel quite at home. I am always surprised at how much Wales resembles parts of New Zealand.
Our first stop was the unusual little village of Portmeirion. The village was built from the mid 1920s to the 1970’s and was the vision of an architect called Sir Clough Williams-Ellis. A strange little place, built to look like an Italian village on a cliff top.
At the entrance we saw a sign proclaiming free entry into the village if you purchased a meal in the castle up the hill. Free entry was all the convincing we needed, so we hoofed it up to the castle to claim our lunch and entry vouchers. The meal turned out to be beautiful and the setting was great. It tasted even better knowing that we saved nearly eight quid each in entry fees!
Portmeirion got mixed reviews from our group. I still don’t know how I felt. Arty but bordering on the verge of tacky? I still can’t decide!
The following day we were up nice and early, leaving our site in Llanberis and making our way towards Pen-y-Pass for our walk up Snowdon. Even before 9:30 the car park at Pen-y-Pass was absolutely packed. Like loads of others, we had to park about a kilometer down the hill and walk back up to the start point! We knew that climbing Snowdon on a Bank Holiday weekend was never going to be a solitary experience but the numbers of people on Snowdon was really blew us all away.
We were really hoping to climb via the
View from the top of Snowdon
It was absolutely freezing. The skies cleared long enough to snap a few photos. Moments later we were surrounded in cloud.Crib Goch route but the weather at the start point promised wind and possibly rain so we decided to play it safe and go up by the alternative Pyg Track and return by the Miners Track.
While it wasn’t exactly alpine scenery, The Pyg Track was a great walk and much prettier than I expected. The summit was absolutely freezing and we were all piling on the layers - the wind was so bitter. We even walked the last 500 metres back to the car park in hail!
We had a few clear moments at the summit and managed to get a photo before having lunch. Oh and yes, we did pose for a photo with the All Blacks flag that you sent over Mum, even if the boys did nearly die of embarrassment.
On return to Llanberis, we spent a bit of time wandering around Betws-y-Coed and ended up eating hot chips down by the river. The cold mountain air must have been good for us because we didn’t even make it to the pub on Sunday night. We were all tucked up in our beds by 9:30.
I have just read an article on Wikipedia
about Snowdon. Apparently it receives the highest rainfall in Britain. Considering this, we were very lucky to see blue skies during our trip. We did feel really sorry for all the campers battling the wind and rain as they struggled to fold up their soaked tents on Monday morning. Buying ‘Brain-not sexy but damn good’ has so far turned out to be a good move!
Bring on the next road trip!
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jacqui
non-member comment
great day
Looks like you had a great day thanks for taking the time to post the photos and story, I enjoyed it