Snowdon’s summit

Travelling with my wife Tina and our two friends Paul and Emma to Snowdonia for a few days.

Last week we stayed quite literally at the start of the Llanberis Path in Snowdonia National Park, as my friend Paul wanted to hike to the summit at night, to witness the Harvest Moon, it’s an idea the two of us started talking about in November of last year and over a Christmas catch-up we had it booked for September, allowing for plenty of time to plan and buy any equipment needed. He had originally planned to do this alone and to wild camp somewhere nearby. We insisted that he didn’t go alone and that we all fancied going to Snowdon too. So that was that, plans were in place.

We booked an AirBnB which turned out to be ideal for the stay of four nights but was a bit of a tired place with a few issues. That’s not to say I’m not recommending the cottage, I’d just say, don’t expect luxury, expect comfortable and cosy I just hope they fix the broken toilet seat by then.

It was a joy watching the hikers setting off looking fresh and full of energy, then later coming back down, looking exhausted and in need of a good dinner and some drinks; or a bath and an early night! They say the Llanberis path is the easiest of the paths that ascend the mountain but none of them are in the slightest bit easy!

One thing that we were blessed with the entire week, was the weather, it was utterly glorious, summer had made a return and short sleeves were all that we needed. If we started a walk with hoodies on, they were most certainly not needed for much longer than a few minutes whilst out and about. Sunblock was very much required.

I’ve got a few locations to share with you but shall run as a series of posts for you rather than one large one.

Paul did complete his night hike to the mountain summit whilst the rest of us tracked him from the cottage. Tina, myself and Emma not feeling up to it, lack of fitness and experience being a very valid reason. The following day however we all wanted to go up, in daylight but by train! So we went to the ticket office and purchased the last tickets available, which by the way is worth trying if you’ve not booked in advance, for Snowdon is the busiest mountain in the world.

Here is the video I made with my Insta360 camera, often sticking it out of the trains window, to get some amazing shots. My wife Tina is quite used to hiking being a scout leader, Paul’s’ wife Emma has always been a large lady and never lets this prevent her from taking on challenges. Everyone but myself have at some point walked the mountain, Emma couldn’t make it to the very top last time; she nailed it this time, we are really proud of her, as she has shed a lot of weight in recent years.

For more information on the Snowdon Railway, the website is https://snowdonrailway.co.uk/ and is packed with information on the history of the railway and other details. The service runs until the end of October and then reopens in the New Year. Bear in mind that at most times, you only get 30 minutes at the summit and must catch the next train down, especially if taking the later ones because then, the only way down; is to walk it and it takes four hours!

There are plenty of places to stay in Llanberis and we just checked AirBnB for what we liked the look of, what we could afford and found that many were already booked for the time of year, so it’s worth allowing yourself some time.