A Spring break in Wales - Day Two

We awoke to grey skies and mist over the mountains but it didn't deter us from setting off for the Snowdonia National Park after a lovely breakfast. I'm very glad we hadn't pre-booked a train ride to the summit as it took us a lot longer to get to Llanberis than I'd imagined.

We relied completely on Gladys and although she does have a fetish for the narrowest of roads leading to obscure places, she was spot on this time as there was no direct main road to the village. We followed a very windey route with hundreds of bends, at least two mountain passes and some sheer drops to get to Llanberis at around 11am.

Keith had warned me that if we were unable to get on a train he would do something very nasty to me but luckily (phew!) we obtained tickets for the 1.30pm departure so we had about two hours to kill. We walked into the village itself and it was in a shop while I was buying the newspaper and a bottle of water that I heard the first Welsh accents of the weekend. Up until now everyone we had come into contact with had very English accents!

Llanberis looked a bit sad and forlorn. All the action was taking place at the edge of the village with the Snowdonia Mountain Railway, the lake train and various museums all vying for the visitors' attention. A lot of the shops were closed down in the village and some of the buildings were painted in extremely bright colours for some unknown reason.

We walked slowly back to the train station along the shores of Lake Padarn and admired the stunning views of the surrounding mountains.

Although it was still a bit cloudy, the sun was still very much in evidence and it looked like the summit of Snowdon would be clear. I'm not sure I would have paid £54 to go up on a misty day!

Back at the train station we had a cup of coffee and sat in the sun watching the various passengers coming and going. No doubt a lot of people milling about were also walking up the mountain as some of them wore very serious looking climbing boots and carried heavy rucksacks.

At about 1.15pm people started queuing for our train. Keith had told me not to worry about getting to the front as all the passengers spread out along the platform before boarding. We were in Carriage E and when the train arrived we could see people squashed in like sardines. There are ten people to each carriage and we had a family party in with us, one of whom had to go and sit in another carriage, which was a bit strange. There was a woman travelling on her own (who wasn't on the train on the way down) so she must have been in the wrong carriage, but this certainly upset the rest of his party who did a fair bit of grumbling!

It takes the train an hour to ascend the mountain which is 1085 metres high (3560 ft). The views were stupendous all the way up but I did feel a bit of a fraud sitting in the train as we watched literally hundreds of people climbing up. The rail line stays very close to one of the routes up - the Llanberis Path - so we could see the walkers along most of the route. For the most part it looked like a gradual incline, until nearer the top where it became much steeper.

Many years ago I did part of the mountain with my parents but we took the Pyg Track which is less used. I don't remember much about it (it was in 1989, the weekend of the Hillsborough disaster) but I do remember how steep the path was!

When we arrived at the summit, it was packed with people! We left the platform via the cafe and shop and walked out the other side to access the summit itself. There were broad steps leading up to the summit cairn and a crowd of people on top.

Keith on top of Wales and England

Summit views

I am not keen on heights so I climbed up to where I felt comfortable and then sat down to admire the views. It was stunning and I felt a pang of envy for the climbers who had made it to the top the hard way.

We had thirty minutes at the summit before the train left to go back down. When we got back to the carriage there was just two spaces left for us as the rest of the family party had beaten us back and included the old man who had travelled in a different carriage on the way up. I was not looking forward to the squashed conditions on the way down!

Our carriage

On the way down we passed a steam engine. To go on one of these is even more expensive (£35 for an adult) but it looked like the passengers had more room. After it had passed we noticed that the grass next to the track was on fire - probably caused by some burning coal escaping from the engine. It was a bit dramatic and I did wonder whether anyone would go up to put the fires out?

It was a relief to get back to the station and stretch our legs a bit before we got back into the car for the journey back to our hotel. By now the weather was absolutely gorgeous and we had a lovely trip back. The scenery is simply beautiful and I have to mention the huge bushes of purple rhododendrons that grow in abundance. One mountain was covered in them...

We never saw red or pink flowers, just the deep purple ones and they were everywhere, growing wild and in gardens.

On the way we drove through the village of Beddgelert, somewhere I've always wanted to go. According to legend the village is the resting place of a faithful dog called Gelert who belonged to Llewelyn Prince of North Wales. He'd been out hunting without the dog and when he returned Gelert greeted him covered in blood. The Prince naturally became alarmed as he had a baby son. In the nursery he saw the cot overturned and without thinking immediately killed the dog. However, as Gelert died, he heard his baby son's cry and saw the body of a huge wolf that Gelert had killed to protect the baby. Filled with remorse and grief he built a memorial to the dead dog, and apparently never smiled again.

It's a lovely story but I'm not sure how much of it is true! We tried to stop and find the tombstone, but the village was busy and there wasn't a lot of parking (plus Keith was not that interested and wanted to get back) so we drove on.

Back at the hotel we had a quick shower and then drove to the Min-y-Mor hotel for a drink before dinner. Keith was overjoyed to sample his favourite beer but I wasn't keen on the pub and I definitely preferred The Last Inn.

We had another delicious meal back at the Ty'r Graig Castle - mushrooms in a tarragon sauce inside a pastry shell for me, potted prawns for Keith. For my main course I had Cassoulet with smoky mash while Keith couldn't resist the fish and chips again. Both dishes were beautifully cooked and we had a bottle of Argentinian Chardonnay to go. We found room for pud - cheese and biscuits for Keith and "Curly Wirly" sundae for me. After the meal we had a tot of whisky in the lounge and watched the sun sink behind the mountains again. It had been another very enjoyable day!