After 50 years more or less of living in the UK I finally walked up Snowdon the other day, the highest point in Wales, and the highest point in England and Wales.
Or to give it its Welsh name: Yr Wyddfa, but just don't ask me to pronounce it!
Technically it's a mountain, but only just, topping out at 1085 meters.
The way up
We opted for the easiest and most popular path up... the llanberis path, and even though this was mid Feb it was still pretty popular, we could always see other people ahead and behind and overtook a few on the way up, and were passed quite a lot both on the way up and down, the later being odd as we started fairly late at about 10.30.
The way up...
Getting towards the top
We were lucky with the weather, it was sunny and quite mild for February, but with some cloud at the top when we were going up, which hid all the snow towards the peak.
By the time we'd crossed under the second railway tunnel (there's a train that goes nearly all the way to the summit, it only runs in late Spring to early Autumn), it got VERY windy and there was snow on the ground, so quite slippery, and the walk went from pleasant to a bit grim.
We were VERY glad I'd remembered at the last minute to take some gloves, but there were plenty people out there without them. People defo underestimate how changeable the weather can be from bottom to top...
At the summit and back down
I had to go up to very pinnacle, it was actually quite scary due to the wind and I wasn't the only one to come down those steps on my arse rather than walking...
We didn't hang around at the top it was too cold, neither did the other 40 odd people milling around, and a lot of us opted to head down the rail tracks on the way back, so much easier than slipping and sliding all the way back down.
We rejoined the main path at that second railway tunnel, stopped for lunch, and the way down was easy!
Obvs I had my garmin going...
It helped as a record of how far the top was, I knew the distance of the path. Total time 4.5 hours, I knew the guides were exaggerating with 5-7 hours, we are just fitter and faster than the usual person.
All in all it was a great trip, helped that we stayed in a pod just 10 mins walk away from the trailhead, found on good old air B and B for a cheap rate of £60 a night too, hit me up if you want the link.
We lucked out with good weather in winter, so it was relatively quiet, I think this would be awful in summer when it's just rammed!
You could run up this too without too much trouble having walked it, maybe some walking bits towards the top, but it's a pretty easy hike over all!!!
