Snowdonia - 16th to 21st June 2007

  Birmingham, United Kingdom
Sunday, August 19, 2007

Day 1  
We leave Cardiff in the morning and our first stop was Conwy (We changed at least 3 times on this day to reach the destination). To reach Conwy, there is no straight train so be prepared to change a few times at least. We bought the Flexi wales package which enable us to take the trains on 4 days and the buses anytime anywhere in wales for 8 days. As we have the young person railcard, it is really worth buying the package. We paid around 46 pounds for it (Original price = 65 pounds). This package also cover the Welsh Highland Railway and the Ffestiniog Railway.   When we reached Conwy, the first stop was our hostel - YHA Conwy. We didn't really expect the YHA to be located slightly uphill so you can imagine how much I complain on the way up haha... Poor Mariani... However our room's view was nice enough so I stopped my complains hee.. I would highly recommend staying in Youth Hostel because the people are friendly, the place itself is highly maintained (according to hostel standard) and its fun cooking with your friends while staying there. They have all the equipments that you need to bake, grill, oven, cook etc. We went to the Conwy town hall to take a look. Looking down from the walkway along the town hall, you can see that the town wall surround the residential areas and it seems like protecting it. It is a lovely stroll along the town hall. Looking towards inland, you can see the forest and looking away from the inland, you can see the sea. How nice... I must say this is one of my favourite scenery there. Its a pity that we didn't manage to go to the Conwy castle though. I believe it should be lovely as well. We had wanted to go to Bonant Garden but because the garden last entry is at 430pm and we still have to take bus there so we forgo it.  

Day 2  
We continue our journey to Betws-Y-Coed where our next hostel was located. This time of the year a lot of the youth hostels were fully booked by schools so we booked in another hostel called "The Vagabond Bunkhouse" (http://www.thevagabond.co.uk/index.html). One advantage of this hostel is that it is close to the main bus-stop and the town. The rooms is big but I find it a bit rundown. Occasionally you can find spiders climbing here and there. The toilets are shared between males and females but the shower rooms were separated. It is kind of scary when we stayed there especially the first night actually. The reason is because the place was too quiet. It seems as if we were the only occupants there until we saw two other guys but I guess that's it, the whole bunkhouse only the 4 of us.   Our legs were feeling "itchy" so we went to the nearby outdoor shop and the assistants were very enthusiatic in recommending walks around the town to us. We wanted to go for a waterfall walk so he recommended a place called "Fairy Glen" and another nice walk which we can be near to the lake. The waterfall walk is easy. I suspect the route is privately owned because it required a fee of 50 pence. The waterfall is nothing that fantastic but still it is nice. The only downside to it is the condition of the water. The water is very dirty. It is a pity I think. We walked along the trail and reached the picnic area. We are blessed with sunshine this day so we had a little rest. After taking our rest, we continued to our 2nd walk to see the lake. The outdoor shop assistant told us that there will be white mark along the way and we just need to follow them and we can reach the lake. This can be quite misleading because there are times when we could not find any markers! We remembered how the route is like from the map that the assistance showed us and we try to follow the map. Luckily for us, we found the lake. Its a lovely lake and its a good ground for people to fish there. It is not a very hard walk although there are a few ups. It took us around 1-1.5 hours to reach the lake.   However, as we were returning, we got LOST!! The path all looked the same with trees and trees and trees. Although we still have around 4 hours before sunset, I began to panick a bit. Along the way we could not find a single soul!! I am fortunate that my companion is Tingting because she is very calm. I am the noisy one and tends to complain haha.. Anyway, we were walking until we saw a house up the road. I am not too sure if there are any people in there at that moment but because of Tingting insistence, we approached the house to confirm. We knocked on the door and there was a lady. We told her that we were lost and she smile and said we are not the only one. I felt so relieved hearing that.  She told us to go down the road and walk straight all the way. We thought we saw light BUT when we reach the bottom of the road, WE COULD NOT SEE ANY STRAIGHT ROAD!! The only straight route is go through the gate and onto someone's land. Trespassing!! Can be a serious case. So, in the end, we went back up again and explain the confusion we had and lucky for us, the land should be owned by the lady and she asked us to go through the gate and through the woods. It is a easy and nice path down and there is only one path so we will not get lost in between again. I must agree, it is indeed a nice walk down.   After some walk, we finally came out of the "maze". I guess we are too "gungho". We did not equip ourselves with any maps or compass. Maybe with that, I can try to use what I have learned during the BATC survivor course skills. We thought that once we hit the ground, we are very near to the town BUT its not that near afterall and we walk almost an hour plus to reach back to Betws-Y-Coed.   We had quite a tiring day today.  

Day 3  
Due to the walk on day 2, we decided to take it slow again and opted to go for a train ride. We took bus to PorthMadog for the Ffestiniog Railway. This trail runs from Porthmadog to Blaenau Ffestiniog through the scenery of the Snowdonia National Park. People who are considering of going to Snowdonia, I must say that the Sherpa bus is very convenient. Most of the scenic areas can be reached by Sherpa bus. It is highly recommended to obtain a free copy of GWYNEDD public transport maps and timetables from the travel agency. For more information on the transportation, please refer to www.gwynedd.gov.uk. I called it my "travelling bible". The bus timing are very accurate. Alternatively, you could also get a copy of the Conwy Public Transport Information. Conwy booklet still have the train timing while the other one do not have. Back to the train ride, we do not find the view that fantastic though. It is important to occupy the right hand side seats because on the left side, most of the time is wall. When we reached Blaenau Ffestiniog, we decided to take a look at the Llechwedd Slates Caverns. The brochure seems very interesting. There is a bus during summer time to transport tourists to the Slates Caverns but when we came out, the bus was gone. In the end, we have to call a cab. They have special number to call for transportation there. The bus company going only to the Slates Caverns is owned by a guy named John. The bus ride cost 1 pound and the flexi wales card is not valid here. If taking the taxi, it will cost 50 pence more. The underground walk in the Slates cave is nothing until we reached the underground lake which is hugh and beautiful. The water is so clear that you can see the underneath. Apart from that, another astonishing finding is the space of the cave. It is simply huge! I would not have expected it to be that huge. It is almost 3-4 storeys high. It is amazing. No wonder it is the winner of every major tourism award.  

Day 4  
Day 4 day 4, what did we do on day 4?? Hmm... Ahh... this is the day in which our whole trip is all about!!! The day to climb the mountain!! Snowdon, Here we come!!   This morning, we took the 925am bus from outside our hostel and reached Pen-Y-Pass at around 938am. When we reach there, the first thing we do is to go to toilet.. Haha.. no lah... we went to check the weather. "Thundery shower in the afternoon, rain expected whole day" (It was written something like that as I cannot remember the exact words). We were thinking "Oh no, do we have to cancel our climbing trip or postpone it to another day?" But we don't feel like postpone it because as you all living in UK should know that the weather is always unpredictable so if we stay and spend the $$ on accomodation and if we still could not climb in the next few days than what? It will be a waste of $$ we think. So, in the end, we went to ask the assistant working there if it is safe to climb if the weather forecast was that bad. He gave us a classic answer. He said "Any mountain climbing is dangerious..." Wow.. of course we know that, I guess we just want to find some reassurance. We than realised that all climbers were responsible for their own safety. They will not stop anyone who want to climb in any kind of weather. They expect all climbers to know exactly when to turn back, when to proceed and when to postpone. Since he did not stop us, we decided to take the risk. We took his suggestion and took the PYG track up. This track is not the hardest nor the easiest. It is in between the two. The Crib Goch route is the hardest of all climb there. It involved rock climbing and there is a point where one would have to cross over a pile of rocks with no support on either sides. Just imagine an inverted V shape mountain and you have to cross over the peak of the inverted V shape. Not easy and its dangerious. I would not advice anyone who are still a novice to try this. At least for the first few times, take the easier route. PYG track is relatively a nice ascend up. You get to see the two lakes, Llyn Llydaw and Glaslyn. Oh yes, I only mention 3 routes in here because we started from Pen-Y-Pass. There are quite a number of routes to reach Snowdon so check which route suits you before you go might be a good choice. Back to PYG track, as we ascend, we were lucky to be accompanied by a few more climbers. There was even one family with the mother, granddad and grandchildren. We guess the kid is only 10 years old or younger. He became our motivation. We thought if a kid dared to climb in a maybe harsh weather, why not us? Half way up the mountain was still quite alright because the weather is still quite beautiful although we can see the fog forming high up in the mountain and dark cloud closing in. The next half way up quickly became horrontious (is there such word?). The weather changed so fast and in minutes, we were both drenched. Because the weather changes too fast, we do not have enough time to wear another layer of clothes without getting all wet so in the end, both of us only have 2-3 layers with a waterproof wind breaker. Let me advice those who want to try the Snowdon, always bring along a set of waterproof gloves, it is good to invest in one water proof pants (We saw quite a lot of climbers wore it over their original pants), good thermal flask for keeping hot water, cap, good walking shoes (not neccesarily need boots for PYG climb but certainly will be better to have one) and a set of extra clothing. Oh yes, don't forget to water proof the bag as well (by putting a plastic bag as the base layer in the daypack). When we finally reached the top, we were freezing. We couldn't feel our hands and our mouth. The water that I brought up has became icy cold. How to drink?? The worse part is that the weather up there is much much worse than the climb itself. We were greeted by strong cold wind and heavy downpour and the mountain fog. After so many challeges, we could not even see a tiny thing up from the mountain! We were supposed to be greeted by islands and even Ireland!! Sigh.. wrong timing I guess. We met some climbers who had climbed snowdon for a few times and they always met with bad weather. However, one consolation is that it is a good experience and the climb is good. I must always praise my companion. She is a good companion to be with. I must say that I enjoyed myself despite the horrible weather. When we descend, we took another route called the miners' track which is suppose to be the easiest route among the 3 but the longest too. This track will bring us down to the side of the lake so it will be very beautiful. However, when we were descending, it seemed that this climb up is a more difficult one because the route is steeper but it occupy one section only. The rest of the walk is very gentle. Again, the weather has not been too nice to us so even when we descended, thinking that the wind and rain would not be as bad as above, we were wrong!! Perhaps we were too cold so we still find the wind and rain a bit unbearable for us. It is a pity actually because we wanted to take many photos up at the peak and as we descend but we were so cold that we could not take out our camera at all. Altogether we took almost 5 hours for the whole climb. Reaching back to the base is another story. We thought that the base should have some warm places for us to take refuge but we were wrong!! When we reached back Pen-Y-Pass, the bus that we have to take just left!! We have to wait for another 2 hours!! The cafeteria do not allow wet shoes or wet clothes to go in for a rest so we have to go to the bus waiting shelter. We thought that it might be warmer there and we were wrong again. There is no heater at all! You can imagine both of us drenched inside out standing in the cold waiting for the bus. It was so unbearable that we decided to take refuge in any bus. Since we have the flexi wales pass, we took the bus to Bets-Y-Coed and let it come back to Pen-Y-Pass and than back to our hostel. This way we can stay in the bus all journey and the bus do feel a little warmer to be in. The moment we reached our hostel, we dashed straight to bath. Ohh.. the feel of warm water flowing through us feels like heaven.   That is the most exciting story of the whole trip.  

Day 5 (Last day)
This day, we decided to take it slow and easy again. We went for the last woods walk just behind our YHA Bryn Gwynant. It takes 1 hour to go up and down. After that, we proceed to Rhyd Ddu for the Welsh Highland Railway to Caernarfon where we will take bus to Conwy and train back to Cardiff. The Welsh Highland Railway provides a more scenic view than the Blaenau Ffestiniog railway. I would recommend the Welsh Highland Railway if you decide to spend $$ on any railway trip. We reached Caernafon around noon time and had our lunch at the "Prince of Wales" (However, the restaurant is not called that in North wales but setting and menu are the same). By this time, I am already down with flu. Must be due to the Snowdon climb. After lunch, we took the local bus 5 or X5 to Conwy. Since we have been there, we thought that we would know where the bus would stop. In the end, we missed the bus stop and got to alight at Llandudno junction. Luckily for us, we have a straight train from there back to Cardiff. By the time we reached back Cardiff, its almost 7-8pm. We were so tired but we were happy that we have made this trip as well. The experience with the bad weather and getting lost made it all worthwhile. I am beganning to look forward to my next trip to Edinburgh and lake district. Hope you enjoy the trip here as much as I do. Ciao!!