Cymru (Wales) - Day 1 & 2

So New Year’s Eve after the afternoon playing cluedo in the pub was a quiet bit of dinner with Row, Mark and their friend Yetta. Some bubbly to ring in midnight and the end of the rollercoaster year that was 2008. We were up early and loading up the car with our gear the next morning to then be on our way to Northern Wales shortly thereafter.

As we headed northwest out of London’s outskirts, it didn’t take long before the surrounding countryside was appearing more and more white. Other than last April’s snow ‘dump’ on London that lasted for only the morning, I’ve not really been in a snow covered country before, so you could say that I was a little impressed with the scenes we were driving through. The further we went, the white it got - as you can see here.

We met up with Andy and Lindsay at the first ‘services’ that we called in to for breakfast. A little expensive, but that’s the English roadside services for you. Once underway again, and it was just more and more impressive scenery as we progressed into Northern Wales.

Betws-Y-Coed (pronounced ‘Betsy Co-ed’) was our first stop. Petrol and Outdoor stores. Bargains a plenty here as most of the stores were either outlets or in full sale mode. I didn’t actually know that Northern Wales was a large and popular camping/hiking/climbing/trekking/outdoor wonderland, which explained that there seemed to be more camping/outdoor stores here than any other type of store. But I digress... This little township was simply stunning.

After doing some shopping in several of the stores, we decided to head out for an afternoon walk, before heading back to a pub.

I did say it was a rather picturesque place.

Once warmed in the pub, it was time to head on to Llanberis (pronounced ‘clahnberris’ - yes, the welsh language is something quite unique as you can see here on this sign),

and check in to our hotel. You have to love winter deals that these places do just to keep ticking over in the cold, non-tourist season - £99 for three nights including breakfasts and dinners, and the meals were VERY good, especially for the price! Sure, the view from the restaurant isn’t bad either, not that you could see it at night while downing the 3-course dinner.

Day Two, and again it was up reasonably early to do the trek up Mount Snowdon - the highest peak in Wales. Well over a thousand feet in altitude above our hotel, and the only way was up.
Whilst it looks easy enough to traverse there are some very steep sections as well as some spots that were a little more interesting to navigate (as Mark is showing us below) - yes that's ice, and very slippery ice at that, which I proved later by going for a penguin slide down it...
Impressive view from up here, and yes, that lake you can see near the middle of the pic is iced over!
Unfortunately, further up, the winter weather stepped in to make life both COLDER and somewhat more interesting...
We stopped briefly at the summit in the -15C wind to eat before continuing on our way. That’s Andy, Row n Mark down there sheltering from the wind.
Believe it or not, that snow n ice covered path on the right was our planned path down. When you consider the sheer drop to the right and our lack of ice climbing gear it was "back down the way we came"...
Thankfully on the way down, the weather began to lift and the sun showed us just what we hadn’t seen on the way up...
Amazing views...
Aren't they...Andy said the place was better than both the Lake District in Yorkshire and the Scottish Highlands. I can see why, even if I can't quite show you here...
Once down, we dropped into the little teahouse at the base of the climb and the qwerky little owner was entertaining in his own way (even if a little annoying), but his hot chocolates and welsh whiskies were excellent for more than just their taste!!
It was then just a short walk back to the hotel, for dinner followed by some time in the hotel bar with the pool table rounded out the evening.