Welcome to Hikers’ Paradise!

We’ve got a full two days of walking & hiking ahead. All we need to fuel our day is a Full English Breakfast.

This blog post on Snowdonia was inspired by the annual feature on British TV:

ITV’S BRITAIN’S FAVOURITE WALKS: TOP 100

THE BEST OF BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND AS VOTED BY YOU

SNOWDONIA, here we come!

You will normally have to book an accomodation in the Village of Llanberis in Snowdonia, North Wales. The village sits beside the banks of the lake Llyn Padarn and most importantly, it sits at the foot of the mighty Mount Snowdon, the highest peak in Wales. You will see yourself among a throve of eager hikers, walkers, and holiday makers as it sits at the heart of Snowdonia National Park. Its hard not to be carried away by the hustle and bustle of this crowd. 

You will notice that the mountain in the background has an intriguing gray stairway like formation to it. This used to be the old quarry site for slate mining, one of the major industries of Wales during the Industrial Revolution. 

This is now the start of the climb to Mount Snowdown via Llanberis path. They consider this path as one of the most treacherous of the several paths that lead to the summit. But as you shall see shortly, when you enjoy the view, you forget how difficult the climb is until you start gasping for air and your legs start shaking. 

This is one of the last coffeshops you will see along the way, the next one will be the coffeeshop/restaurant in the summit. So if you are dying for a drink or finding another excuse to rest, this is now your last chance lol. 

You see this stone wall of a fence? Welsh farmers build these things by hand, no other way round it, unless of course you invent a machine that can now build a stone wall. Welsh farmers have been using this technique for centuries to keep their sheep from wandering off from their farms. The stones are not cemented and can therefore fall off so the farmers will have to keep repairing these walls. Talk about hardwork aye.

Depending on which season or month you hike these mountains, you will naturally need to have some warmers or jackets because this area have its own microclimate. You don’t want to cut short your climb just because you are frozen to the bones.   

This track is still shared by farm machinery and hikers alike so be mindful of any approaching farm vehicles. 

As we climb higher, we slowly get a glimpse of the lake Llyn Padarn and the village of Llanberis beside it.  

Now this is your first glimpse of the Snowdon Mountain Railway. This train travels for 4.7 miles from the village of Llanberis, where you buy your train ticket all the way to the summit of Mount Snowdon. This train has alot of customers specially the elderly or those not fit enough to do the climb or for the lazy ones lol. Customers can enjoy the lovely views like the ones enjoyed by the hikers without bearing the pain of the climb lol. Mount Snowdon? Easy peasy…

When you see this stone building, it means you are approximately halfway through the climb. Rejoice!

We’ve been walking lazily so far. Now. its time to tighten those bootlaces on and get your walking poles on the ready. Time for a bit of serious climbing.  

It looks like a mystical creature might suddenly emerge from the mouth of this enchanting pool lol. 

This gate near the mountaintop conjures up image of Lord of the Rings. Perhaps its this aura that Wales still emits. It feels like it is still a land full of legendary and mystical creatures lol. Sorry for the naivety:)

Looking chilled madame. It looks like you used the train to reach here. But no, she was hiking from the bottom lol, she just looks effortlessly cool:)

These views are worth the climb wouldn’t you agree? Llyn Padarn is now a distant body of water in the horizon. 

We didn’t use this side of the mountain, it is too steep and the rocks are very loose. If you are scared of heights, avoid this path near the summit. Brave dog!

The spaceship-like structure (it’s not that we’ve seen spaceship in real life lol) on your right-hand side is the train station at the summit. It also has a coffee shop, restaurant, and souvenir shop. 

Okay, we’re admiring the view but at the same time busy classifying who amongst them used the train or who climb from the bottom. Time to seek some psychiatric help I guess:) 

This is the most important souvenir photo for the climb. It’s not that we studied whats inscripted in there (no idea), but because when you have this photo, that means you have actually summit-ted Mount Snowdon–vain!

These mountains are home to several hundreds or thousands of Welsh sheep looked after by local farmers. Really admire how innocent and cute they look. Sweet:)

Thank You…