This trip away so nearly did not happen. Romford had floods the day before and my sons school had been closed. Luckily my wife did a half day at work so she could look after my son. So myself and Dan managed to set off at about 1230pm for Nant Peris. We eventually arrived at Ty Isaf Campsite some 7 and a half hours later , thanks to traffic on the M1 and M6. However we did shoot past Birmingham, nicely on the Toll Road but at a cost of £5.50.
We get to site and meet Micheal who was already there. We set up the tents and Siobhan,Gav,Lee and Karen arrive.
We nip over and pay the £10 each for the two nights camping at the farmhouse and use the toilets. These are not luxurious by any means but adequate. Showers cost either £1 or 50p and other than the disabled toilets, the others had no lights fun come nightfall!
Stream running through the campsite
After a quick brew, we thought about dinner. I stowed the kettle and milk under the car and told Dan to remember its there before we drive off again.
We walked across the road to the Vaynol Arms but they had stopped serving food. So we jumped in the car to drive to Llanberis to get something. I hit the car into reverse and then heard a horrible noise. Yep I've forgotten about the kettle and milk. Both now dead!!
So it use the saucepan for the rest of the weekend to boil water and use what I salvaged of the roadkill Milk!
In Llanberis Pete's Eat's had closed, all that was open was the chippy. So I had no choice but to have Cod and Chips. After being on a diet for 6 months I really didn't want to eat it, but I was hungry. I found it greasy and really didn't enjoy it much at all. Still it was food and just over a fiver each.
After eating we nipped to the Vaynol Arms for a pint of Robinson's Wizard and a game of pool on a wonky table. The lights above the table was fashioned out of a mountain rescue stretcher and the walls covered in other mountain memorabilia.
We retire to our tents for the night and try to sleep. The order of the night was light rain and midges.
We wake up the next morning and after some tea and breakfast the group walk across the road to the car park to meet more of the group that wasn't camping to catch the bus to Pen-Y-Pass. We paid the £1.50 for the bus and we climb up the Pen-Y-Pass to the next car park and the start of the PYG Track.
Situated at the high point of the Llanberis Pass
at an altitude of 359 metres (1,178 ft), the road was built in the
1830s to allow ore from the mines on Snowdon to be transported to Llanberis.
It would be taken down the Miners Track to a store-house at Pen-y-Pass
first. Previously, the miners had had to move the ore over the Snowdon
summit and down to Beddgelert, which is located at around a third the height of Snowdon.
The Llanberis pass road extends beyond Pen-y-Pass to join the Beddgelert-to-Capel Curig road at the Pen-y-Gwryd hotel. That notable climbing hotel was used as a base by Sir John Hunt, Baron Hunt and his team whilst training for the successful 1953 expedition to Mount Everest and equipment and autographs from that and other expeditions may be seen in the Everest Room.
Group Photo before the off at Pen-Y-Pass
We set off on the PYG Track and climb slowly up towards where we will branch off for Crib Goch.
A View down Pen-Y-Pass to Llanberis
View down to Pen-Y-Pass
We now leave the PYG Track and off onto Crib Goch, and it wasn't long before the scrambling started.
Crib Goch is described as a "knife-edged" arête in the Snowdonia National Park in Gwynedd, Wales. The name means "red ridge" in Welsh.
The highest point on the arête is 923 metres (3,028 ft) above sea level. All routes which tackle Crib Goch are considered mountaineering routes in winter or scrambles in summerThe classic traverse of Crib Goch from East to West leads up from the Pyg track
to a "bad step" where hands and feet are both needed briefly. It is
followed by ascent to the arête, before tackling three rock-pinnacles to
a grassy col at Bwlch Coch.
We reach the top and stop for lunch and a short rest.
There was a large group ahead of us moving slowly, the ridge was as busy as the M6 yesterday!!
Amazing scrambling and spectacular views in between the cloud.
We now reach the pinnacle and a fantastic climb up before a climb down the other side, I'm enjoying this ridge far more than last years Striding Edge!!
Another short rest before we continued!
As we got off Crib Goch we start walking towards the summit of Snowdon. But now the mist had really lowered and it had started raining horizontally. A team meeting and it was agreed that Snowdon Summits would be missed and we'd head down off the mountain. Only two of the Group hadn't been to the summit before but they didn't mind missing it.
So we head off down the Llanberis path to Allt Moses where we then followed the Railway Track. The train went by, how I wanted to hail it down and ride down and out of the rain.
We then head off over a sty and down a very steep path down the mountain towards Nant Peris. I fell on my arse twice and others much more. It was hard going trying to steady myself down the hillside, but eventually we reach the wall near the bottoms, head over a sty and through a load of Bracken to cross the river by a bridge.
We cross the bridge and pop out by the Vaynol Arms and cross the road to the campsite. We are very wet and a little beaten down. All in all a 7.2 mile walk and very enjoyable despite the weather.
After a quick clothes change we all head into Llanberis to Petes Eats for a pint of tea and dinner! Much needed to warm up and recover from the weather.
Llanberis was home to reputedly the strongest woman ever to have lived in Wales. She was born in Llanberis in 1696 and died there some 105 years later.At the age of 70 it is said Marged vch Ifan could still out wrestle every man in Wales, and in a year she could catch as many foxes as the local huntsmen could in ten.Tradition maintains that she was a first rate carpenter,tailor,harp-maker,fiddle maker and musician. After receiving many offers of marriage she chose the smallest and most effeminate of all her suitors. She is said to have beaten him twice; after the first beating he married her, after the second beating he became an ardent churchgoer.
Of course we all ended up back in the pub for more drinks before retiring back to our tents for the night.
The next day Dan and I decided not to have another walk, Dan had injured his ankle coming down off the mountain yesterday and the weather wasn't looking great. So we decided to pack up our tents say our goodbyes and headed off to Betws-y-Coed. We parked up and it was still before 9, So we had to walk about a bit waiting for a cafe to open.
We walked over into the train station, pretty too so it was.
Welcome to Betws-y-Coed, the gateway to Snowdonia and the neighbouring
towns and villages. This magical setting has a distinctly Alpine feel
enhanced by the dense Gwydyr Forest surrounding Betws-y-Coed.
Here there is a railway museum and a cafe in an old carriage,unfortunately the cafe wasn't open till 0930!
So we walked back round to the craft shops and waited for the cafe to open at 9. The breakfast was most welcome. We then browsed the shops looking for gifts. We bumped into Lee,Karen and Gav from the group here!
After a lovely look around, bit too quick but we needed to get home, we head off homewards.
I must thank Micheal for organising the meet and the rest for wonderful company. Last and not least Dan for all the driving. A big thanks to the wife for allowing me to go and sorting out the childcare problem after the school closure. Thanks Mel xx
The FaceBook page Walking For Pleasure is a real treasure full of great people with the same passion for walking, so glad I found it!
So until the next meet !!
