Here we go again, Nuttals round 2! Well, technically it's round 3 including the Welsh 3,000 challenge that we completed in March the previous year (see April 2024 entry) The weather however was somewhat different to when we were here earlier in the year (see July 2025 entry) It was forecast to rain all the week and it wasn't wrong! We arrived on Saturday and Sunday was supposed to be 100% chance of rains so we had already accepted that we wouldn't be able to get out that day. We're by no means fair weather walkers, you only have to read back over the 10 plus years we've been doing this to see we've hiked in mostly wet and cold conditions! Mrs F found a golden nugget cottage based in Nant Gwynant, Caernarfon, which is exactly where we needed to be for what we had left to do...
The confirmation said we couldn't get in until 4pm - standard - however we've always managed to get in a couple of hours beforehand and the cottages are always cleaned and ready for us. However...after stopping off at Betws-y-coed for a steak bake and sausage roll, we continued onto our cottage just after 2:30 and although we were able to get in, it still hadn't been cleaned with only now an hour to go before we could officially rock up! The beds were unmade from guests who had left that day and dirty towels still on the bath and shower and the place clearly hadn't been cleaned. We called Mr & Mrs S who were not far away and said we'd meet them in Beddgelert for a drink to allow the place to be cleaned first...
It had been almost a year since we had seen each other, the longest we've ever gone! The last we saw each other was the previous year in October for Mrs F's 40th 1940's dress themed birthday party, showcasing photos below!
So anyway, back to Wales, we met for a drink and a brief catchup before heading back to the cottage as we needed to make sure we were there for when Tesco turned up with our shopping. For the first time in the last 3 times Mrs F has ordered a Tesco shop for our holiday cottage, it actually turned up! We arrived back at the cottage at 4:45pm and not surprised at all to find that all the cleaners had did was change the bedding and gave us clean towels!! The place hasn't be cleaned at all, there was still a dirty cup in the dishwasher, toothpaste splash marks around the sink, cobwebs everywhere, there was something under the bed of one of the bedrooms, the shower handles on both showers weren't fixed on - which Mrs F fixed - the bathroom handle was hanging off and eventually came off and the place just smelled like all they did was give it a big spray of air freshener!
Didn't take pictures until towards the end of the week, hence the mess of trekking clothes and alike! The original layout had the TV in the open kitchen area by the seating area, but the seats weren't comfortable nor the setting in the kitchen very cosy, so we moved the TV and chest to the back room and rearranged the sofas. Photos were taken so we could move it all back! The only downside was the damp, musty/mould smell in the back room, especially when it had rained and the walls were clearly damp. So much so that it made Mrs F cough!
No one wanted the room with the en-suite due to it being quite cramped and the view from the window wasn't great and it just felt quite dark and small, so Mr S made the en-suite his own private bathroom and the room as his place to store clothes! Although we were on the main road, we didn't hear any cars coming by as it was actually really quiet at night and not a problem at all for sleeping. Once we had unpacked and rearranged the rooms and furniture and moved all of the scented stuff outside, we were then ready for Tesco and subsequently ready for our dinner. Mr F took the lead on making dinner on our first night, fish chips and peas. The weather initially didn't look great the next day but it shifted and looked 'ok' so we planned to head out...so a planning session commenced and a plan was hatched! 😊
Although the weather wasn't as tragic as initially predicted, it still wasn't great and the rain had held off the majority of our time out, but we still copped it about 2 hours from the end of our hike and came back pretty wet!! We headed just up the road to Beddgelert where our route started from, with the boys traditionally checking the Satmap to make sure we were heading the right way...there are many photos of the boys checking the Satmap 😊We headed past the Beddgelert train station which looked like time had stood still from the 1930's and really lovely. We connected up to a path that wound up, leading onto the mountain floor where the path narrowed and eventually disappeared through steep grass banks...
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| Standard Boys Checking The Satmap |
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| Beddgelert Train Station |
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| Heading Up There Somewhere! |
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| Mr F Fully Kitted Up! |
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| Heading Onto The Mountain Floor |
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| Stopping To Breathe & Admire Our Surroundings |
The difference between the Lake District and Wales, is the Lakes mountains are set quite deep into the valleys and so the walk out to the start of the climb for any mountain (unless it's a low one) is quite a hike and a nice, kinder way to stretch the legs before the start of the climb. Wales, however, the mountains are all big boys and literally sit next to or very close to a main road, so the straight up climb starts quite early in the day! We had a bit of a climb upwards, using footholds dug into the ground as little helpful steps and in other areas it was just a case of making your best way up. At the start of the walk onto the valley floor, we walked through a gate where some local looking farmers were standing with dogs and other farmer looking type folk scattered across the mountain. Mr F asked if they were gathering the sheep in, to which the reply was simply 'no' As we heard the dogs and the very familiar sound of a hunting horn, we released they were most likely fox hunting!! As we made our left hand turn at the signpost for Moel Hebog and upwards, we came across a couple of the guys and Mrs F asked what they were doing and the young farmer very quickly gave what sounded like a rehearsed reply about laying trails 🤔
Unconvinced of their story, we carried along our way. Now Mrs F had forgot her custom made insoles for the first time ever when hiking and was tempted to ask her Aunt and Uncle who were looking after the cats to send them. However it was too risky for them not to get lost and by the tie they arrived we would have had a couple of days out on the mountains anyway. She did pop into a walking shop in Beddgelert the day before and looked at some insoles but nothing would have helped. So she came up with a bright idea to order some supportive heel gel pads she had ordered and used before from Amazon and could collect them from the post office in Beddgelert the next day...genius! In the meantime, today was the first day with no support and was feeling it on her heels from her boots rubbing. So we stopped so she could tape up her heels to prevent monster blisters, which worked a treat and was able to hike in comfort the rest of the day...
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| Making Our Way Up |
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| Admiring The Views When The Views were There! |
We then had a bit of light scrambling to do through a little gully, which we always love and welcome. It was good to get the boots and fingers back on some rocking 😊 Once we had all safely scrambled to the top, we were able to see Moel Hebog directly ahead of us t the left and the next two bums to the right, which were a nice ridge walk, but rather annoying that we had to lose a bit of height to gain it again which is the case majority of the time, even if the next ones are lower. The temperature had dropped a bit at this point being so far up now and the weather was closing in, so we layered up and headed into the wind and summit...
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| Mr F Ahead of The scramble |
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| Sitting Waiting Like a Little Gonk! 😄 |
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| Looking Ahead to Moel Hebog |
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| The Gully Scramble |
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| Moel Siabod |
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| Looking Over to **** |
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| Getting a Photo With the View While We Can |
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| We Had a Good View of The Coast |
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| Quick Review of the Route |
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Mr F At The Summit Cairn
We didn't hang around too long on top as the weather had closed in, the wind picked up and the predicted rain for the day had started. It wasn't too long before the rain covers went on the rucksacks and Mr S stopped to put his rain proof over trousers on. Whilst Mrs S was helping Mr S with his trousers, Mr F analysed the route at the point where we planned to carry on with the planned route through a gap in the mountain and onto the next one/two or call it a day and head down and off from where we were currently standing. The group decision was unanimous and decided that even though it was raining, we were already wet and carrying on with the day by ticking off more or heading down wouldn't make any difference...plus weren't not quitters! 💪
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| The Gap ahead & Mr F Consulting The Satmap |
We still needed lunch and our bellies were letting us know it! We decided that we could settle somewhere in the gap and be shielded by the elements. However the gap wasn't so much of a gap as it looked from a distance, it was another scramble through a slightly enclosed gully that opened out not too long after you were in it and no where to sit for lunch until we were back out in the open! So we picked a spot by the rock, sat on our rucksack rain covers and had lunch...we've had many a lunch in wet conditions!
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| Our Pitiful Lunch Spot |
Needless to say we didn't hang around as we were getting cold, although had no other reason to head back out into the wet other than aiming for the end and to get warm from moving. The rain was a very consistent flow and so Mrs F had to put her phone away, hence only a few photos from this point. With **** and **** in sight, we made careful haste to get them ticked off. I say careful haste because everywhere was either slippery, boggy or both, especially on the rocks on our descent which we had to take great care with and were some ropey bits not to slip. Mr F had a couple of falls landing on his hand and Mrs F had a nasty fall landing on her arm on the slippery rocks 😖
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| **** & **** |
Slippery descent skillfully navigated to a pause point by the wall we were aiming for and an extremely deep quarry hole in the ground, we still had a way to go to walk back to the car in Beddgelert, but the height was mostly lost at such a sheer drop. We still needed to be careful of the route as a safe looking foothold that looks like it has a good grip can be very deceiving and be like ice and catch you out! Safely back on the route where we saw the farmers and their dogs almost 8 hours ago, past Beddgelert train station and eventually on the main road where the care was parked, we were glad to be done with the day! The rain doesn't overly bother us as long as we have decent waterproofs, but after a while, you do get a bit fed up with with being rained on and having wet clothes even if you do manage to say dry!
DAY 2: BREAKFAST & MOOCH IN BEDDGELERT
EAGLES VIEW POINT
As promised, we woke up to rain. Lots of rain. We didn't have any sugar for Mrs F to make her legendary pancakes as she always does on a chilled morning when we're away, neither was any bacon in the shopping order as it usually is (massive fail on both parts!) so we decided that going out for breakfast would be a nice thing to do as we have never done this before. Mr F had a look at what cafe's were around with the best reviews etc and decided to head to Beddgelert to the Caffi Colwyn café. We parked the car in the same spot we did yesterday by the pizzeria place - Mrs S went inside to use their toilet and said it looked really nice inside. We did plan to go in for tea on the end of our walk the day before but by the time we got back it was closed. Mrs F had to go into the Post Office to collect her gels for her feet and Mrs F bought some sugar and other top ups for snacks and the boys went to the café to get a table. It was one of the only places open on a Sunday and a good business plan on a rainy day because it brought in people like us who would normally be on the mountains but staying low due to the weather. Mrs F and Mr & Mrs S had the full Welsh breakfast - basically a full English but couldn't call it that, obviously! Mr F had a bacon and egg bap. The has browns on the breakfast were really greasy but it was a nice breakfast and Mr F enjoyed his bap 😋
Breakfast consumed, we had a mooch around the shops; the fudge shop and wood craft shop by the river. Mrs F bought a couple of wrist bands from the Wood Craft shop that was exactly what she had been after for a while, so was happy with that. In fact, she gave the lady behind the counter a wrist band that had unravelled so it wasn't included in the bowl of options and she gave it to her for free to go with the other two she bought! We then took a walk to the apparent grave of the legendary Gelert the dog - the story goes:
One of the best known, and loved, folk-tales in Wales is
the story of a faithful hound. The story goes that in the
thirteenth-century, Prince
Llywelyn the Great had a palace at Beddgelert in Caernarvonshire, and
as the Prince was a keen hunter, he spent much of his time in the surrounding
countryside. He had many hunting dogs, but one day when he summoned them as
usual with his horn, his favourite dog Gelert didn’t appear, so regretfully
Llywelyn had to go hunting without him.
When Llywelyn returned from the hunt, he was greeted by
Gelert who came bounding towards him …his jaws dripping with blood. The
Prince was appalled, and a horrible thought came into his mind …was the blood
on the dog’s muzzle that of his one-year old son. His worst fears were realised
when he saw in the child’s nursery, an upturned cradle, and walls spattered
with blood! He searched for the child but there was no sign of him. Llywelyn
was convinced that his favourite hound had killed his son.
Mad with grief he took his sword and plunged it into
Gelert’s heart. As the dog howled in his death agony, Llywelyn heard a
child’s cry coming from underneath the upturned cradle. It was his son,
unharmed! Beside the child was an enormous wolf, dead, killed by the brave
Gelert. Llywelyn was struck with remorse and carried the body of his
faithful dog outside the castle walls, and buried him where everyone could see
the grave of this brave animal, and hear the story of his valiant fight with
the wolf.
To this day, a cairn of stones marks the place, and the
name Beddgelert means in Welsh ‘The grave of Gelert’. Every year thousands of
people visit the grave of this brave dog; slight problem however, is that the
cairn of stones is actually less than 200 years old!
We had a bit of fun with the various hats in the Wood Craft shop!...
Some nice things to buy too...
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| Gelert's Grave |
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| Famous Beddgelert Bridge |
We then headed home where we spent the day chilling out in the backroom we had created, reading. Al four of, well, apart from Mr F who was like a little boy who had been told he can't go out and play because it was raining! Eventually he chose a book from the cottage book shelf to read, The Thursday Murder Club. It was a very odd and different thing for us to all be away together, reading! Mrs F set herself up on the big window with some cushions, as she likes a window seat and read her and prayed with the mountain in view which was really lovely and something she doesn't get much of a chance to do when being away...or indeed when at home, so even though it was different, in that regard it was nice to just 'Be still' (Psalm 46)
Towards the end of the day, the rain eased and was an opportunity to get out and Mr F was by this time like a Labrador puppy that hadn't been walked all day! In the visitor book, there was recommended walk nearby to an eagle view point just up the road, so Mr & Mrs F and Mr S put our walking gear on and headed out for it. It literally was just up the road and through the woods behind us. In the field just opposite the cottage, a farmer was gathering his sheep in with a sheep dog that is always lovely to witness. The footpath we needed took us off of the main road and up through the woods and up onto some chunky and very slippery rocks. At this point, the rain picked up again and instead of making the sensible decision to retreat and head ack, but not us! We made the stupid decision to keep heading up the wet rocks with the sheer drop of the edge and kept going up, with the full knowledge of needing to come back down which would have been even riskier!
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| Walking Through The Woods |
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| Wet But Gentle Rocky Steps Heading Up |
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| Getting A Bit More Tricky With The Moss |
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| The Sheer Drop Off The Edge!! 😦 |
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| Great View Point |
We safely navigated the first lots of steep wet rocks and steps, some of which were really quite narrow with a sheer drop just to the side of them and were on level ground with a great view. There were lots of dead wood around on a slight slope with lots of potential for them to be eagle nests and Mrs F headed up to towards the top to see if she could find a nest but to no avail. We were then faced with the perilous route back down, now in the rain, although it wasn't heavy rain thanks Goodness! Mrs F was feeling quite on edge, literally! Mr S made a comment about never feeling more alive when you feel so close to death!
The narrow steps with the drop...
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| Mr F Showing How Narrow The Wet Steps Are |
We didn't go back via the steps down through the forest, we took a different route that actually caused us to trespass through someone's property; a house literally in the forest with it's own (potentially illegal!) three large water butts supply of rain/mountain water supplying the house...if they did say something to them we'd let them know we'll soon be off their property as quick as we arrived on it, but wasn't heading back down the wet steps! As we made our way through the forest, we could hear the promise of a waterfall nearby which is what we were aiming for and hoping to see but we never did and wondered if it was just the trees flowing in the wind which can deceivingly sound like a waterfall, but Mr F insisted there was one nearby. Nevertheless, we never came across it. We eventually cut down a bank onto a road that took us to the main road and had an element at that point of not actually knowing where we were! There strangely was a football pitch nearby however...
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| Great Views From The Ground |
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| Map On Post Nearby |
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| Football Pitch...Vaguely Seen! |
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| Mr S Examining The Map |
Mrs S was on dinner duty, pork loins with potatoes, carrots and green beans...lush! Mrs F also had an ever increasing bruise on her arm form her fall which looked mightily impressive! Mr F's thumb pad had swelled up but didn't stay swollen for long. After dinner, Mrs S was in the war room (what we call the area where map route planning takes place) for our planned route the next day whilst Mrs F left them to it in the sitting room. The planning ended with the conclusion that we needed to be out by 9am, which Mrs F is never a fan of but understand that at this time of year, daylight disappears earlier and always against the weather. So on that knowledge and the fact we were all tired anyway, we were in bed by 9:30pm!
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| Ouchy!! 😖 |
DAY 3: So today we were up earlier as we had another big day ahead of us. Rucksacks packed and dried clothes on, we headed for a car park in Llwybr Cwellyn opposite a Youth Hostel by the Snowdon Rangers Path, which is the path we needed to start our trek. It was quite chilly and so made sure to layer up, however once we had made our way up and along the Snowdon Rangers Path, the blood flowed and needed to delayer! It was a nice clear day with no rain in sight which made a very pleasant surprise and welcome...
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| Loved this Mill Wheel By Someone's House |
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| No Chance To Miss The Path Here! |
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| Good Looking Rams |
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| Making Our Way Along The Path |
The path went on for quite a while until we reached more grassland sloped areas that lead up towards the mountain summits at a gradual incline. A farmer drove past on his quad bike looking for sheep with his sheepdog and Mr F asked as he drove by if he could give us a lift to the top! 😄 Once we were off the path, we walked over a stile to the right and headed up along a fox fence, which seemed to go on like the long road in Labyrinth! Mr & Mrs S had their boiled eggs before heading up; we historically always had boiled eggs when out on long day but for some reason stopped doing this. But today was that day; Mr & Mrs F didn't have their eggs until half way up the long bank when they were running out of puff!
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| Lovely Photo of The Girls 👭 |
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| Our Easy Path Heading Out |
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| Our First Planned Mountain For The Day |
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| Getting Closer |
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| Making The Turn For The Fox Fence |
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| And So It Begins... |
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| Mr & Mrs S Stopping To Breathe! |
We reached the top of the fence and the boys took a moment to check the route to see if we needed to head over another stile. I do love these moments of seeing the boys deep in their Satmaps, making sure we were on the right route and more importantly heading in the right direction and the girls just trust them...mostly!
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| The Girls Getting In On The 'Where Are We Heading' |
From here, we had a ridge walk with a mixture of no footholds, the type of walking where your feet are in the back of your boots the whole time with your ankles at a bent angle and footholds kicked into the ground. Either way, it was a huff and puff up...
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| Heading Up There |
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| Mr F Being Clear of The Route |
Foel Goch & Foel Gron (the first two points along the route) with Moel Eilio in the distance...
As we were gaining height and a clear enough day, the views were becoming more beautiful; we had a stunning backdrop behind us. It's easy to focus on the slog and the journey to the summit and forget to soak up and appreciate your surroundings...
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| Mr & Mrs S Giving The Mountain Scale |
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| Looking Back |
Mr F had researched the route and knew about a wind shelter up on top and was certainly incentive to get us moving for lunch! We still had quite a way to go with Mr F keeping us up to date and in check with how many metres we still had to go, showing Mrs F on the Satmap (which always looks a lot further on there!) But the views along the way were great. The drop down away from the path from the angle approaching it was very picturesque and not very often seen. Needless to say we didn't venture too close to the edge! We also lost a bit of height along the way, which sadly isn't avoidable, even though the next mountains along the route are lower, most of the time you need to go down to go up...
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| The Beautiful Ridge Drop |
It's always a little soul destroying when you look up and see a looong way up still to go, especially when you're belly is shouting at you! Mrs S needed a little boost at this point and so held Mr F's hand a little while as we made the trek up...
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| Little Hand Hold 😊 |
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| The Quarry Below |
The wind shelter literally came into view almost without warning, before we knew it, we were on top of the wind shelter before seeing it a distance, which demonstrates how steep the route up was. It was an impressive wind shelter, tall with plenty of space that really did shelter from the wind and elements. In the past we have had to make do with wind shelters that look half completed and just about enough room! We walked around to the entrance where there were already a couple having lunch but still enough room for the four of us and fully embraced it. When the couple headed ff, Mr F busted out a couple of miniature whiskey bottes which absolutely lit up Mr S's face! 😃
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| The Impressive Wind Shelter |
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| Muggles & Buggles Loving It! |
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| Look At That Happy face!! |
From the wind shelter it was now a case of making our way off the mountain and back to the car, as we were done for the day ticking off the planned mountains. The boys had already planned to head towards a wall that connects up to a fence that lead off over the top of the mountain and down. The only thing with that, is the although the Satmap contours and route made it look quite 'do-able' and Mr F had read a blog of some guys who did it, doesn't necessarily mean it's the best or easiest way....as we were about to discover!! The wall we initially followed lead us to an old sheep fold/shepherds hut where Muggles & Buggles had a photo 💙🩵 Mr F showed Mrs F where we were heading and there was still quite a way to go, a couple of miles at least. We turned left at the hut and then needed to make our way down a mountainside of dried bracken with no clear route, but had to keep checking the Satmap to make sure we weren't going massively off course. As always, Mrs F took the lead heading down and Mr S called out to say we needed to head for a big rock (and two sheep!) near the bottom that connected up to a path that we could see running along the side of the mountain directly opposite, but getting there was a bit of a pig!!
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| Setting Off From The Wind Shelter |
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| It's All Happy & Smiley Now!!... |
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| The Girls Always Have a Cute Photo 💖 |
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| Lovely Photo of The Boys |
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| Making Our Way Down Through The Bracken |
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| The Path We Needed On The Mountain Opposite |
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| You Can Just About Make Out Mr & Mrs S and Mr F |
Once we got the the bottom and end of the horrid bracken, there was a small stream to cross on rocks and Mrs F sat and waited for the gang to catch up. We walked a little further along the path before having a little sit and munch and had a brief chat about whether to stick to the planned route of making a sideways walk along the path that ran along the side of the mountain or whether we could simply make our way down to the main road. Mr F was very keen to stick to the route, saying that he knows this is a way off whereas he doesn't know if we can even get across the fields and onto the main road. So we stuck with it. We did however manage to be about 5o feet down from the fence that we planned to walk along further up and was on a sheep track and loose/faint path that was a real ankle twister and horrible! We stuck with it but when we came across a wire fence that prevented us going any further, Mr F went further up to see if we could get over further up, but alas, we couldn't and just had to get over where we could. The mood for the team at this point was low. Tensions from the route we had committed ourselves to were high and annoyed that at the point where we met the fence, we were on a pretty steep slope and making our way over the fence was really difficult and making out way up to the top-line fence was just almost impossible with it being through really thick dry bracken that just stopped you taking any step forward, like fighting against a strong current. Mrs F was pretty miffed that this was the route that had been chosen and made a rather aggressive leap over the fence as Mr & Mrs S helped each other over a little further up and we then made our way to the fence-line. It wasn't much easier form here! Mrs F and Mrs S's feet were hurting and felt like we had blisters from the constant sideways angle walking. Once we made our way over a stile, we decided to just take a breather...a much needed breather and finish off the whiskey bottles!! Feet were checked for blisters and thankfully there weren't any, they just felt like there were from the relentless friction. Mr S took his feet out of his boots and socks just to air them out and let them feel the cool grass. Sadly, we had to boot up and move on as we still had quite a way to go and the atmosphere wasn't getting any better...and I'm not talking about the weather! 😑😒😠😶 There was however the beautiful sound of the steam train running just below us that was lovely to hear and see...silver lining!
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| Last Smiles Waiting For The Team |
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| Mr F Checking The Route |
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| Steam Train |
Needless to say, there weren't anymore photos taken! In almost silence, we made our way back to the track where the farmer on his quad bike and sheep were and ran into a couple who were heading into the mountains. By this time it was in the later afternoon and after stopping to talk, realised they were lost and heading to **** as recommended by someone they had met on ****. We strongly recommended they didn't head that way as they would be miles from where there car was parked by the Watkins Path (a car park literally up the road form our cottage) They wasn't even too sure of the name of the car park and path where there car was and so o that basis, we suggested they came down with us and at least get a bus back to their car, so they did. They walked with us for about half an hour-40 minutes before we were back at the car park where our car was. If we had the room we would have taken them back with us and the boys did suggested that if they couldn't get a bus, that they would leave the girls in a pub and drive them there and come back for the girls. The man said he would have given us £30 for doing so but we would never have taken it; we just enjoy helping people, being the good Christian folk that we are 😇 Once back at the car, there was a bus stop directly outside the car park and the couple noticed another couple they had seen in the mountains earlier in the day who had also started at he Watkins Path, so they asked if they were heading back there and joined up with them, so in the end it all worked out well! 😊 We all shock hands (very formal!) and they headed onto the bus and we headed to the car...but couldn't get in!! For some reason Mr F's car wouldn't open; he tried his alarm and then tried opening it manually but to no avail. At this rate we were wondering if we too needed to get the bus back! Eventually he got the car door open and needed to reach around and open the other doors, but the boot still wouldn't open, so we had to have rucksacks on our laps. This bothered Mr F and so looked at it when we were back at the cottage and managed to get it opened and closed manually but still couldn't use the key fob 🙁
Tonight's dinner was lasagne, joint effort by Mr & Mrs F which is always a favourite. We decided we would watch a film tonight with some snacks and the film of choice was The Ugly Truth with Gerard Butler, which was a humorous rom-com and was very funny!
DAY 4:
Today, we decided to head up **** via the Llanberis Path which lead onto the Snowdon Ranger Path, which ran directly alongside the Snowdon train track that took people up to Snowdon. We drove in Mrs S's car in case we weren't able to get in or out of Mr F's car! We drove to Llanberis and looked for somewhere to park, initially parking in what looked like a safe place to park but then saw the sneaky sign that cars couldn't park beyond 'this point' Sadly, we were beyond that point and so needed to give up looking for somewhere free to park and used the car park nearby. The car park was over the road and a little further don from where you can get the train up to the summit, for which the prices were extortionate!! An adult return was £45 and one way was £35. A child return was £35 and one way £25. When we saw the train going by with a carriage full of people, Mr F would calculate the cost of that one trip and it was always circa £2,000 each time!! The Llanberis Path that started next to the Snowdon train station was steep and went on for quite a while with no let up of steepness! Mrs F did wonder if it would be like this majority of the way and let out a 'phew!' when she was told it wasn't...
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| Step Start |
The weather was the best we'd had all week with the sun shinning and quite ironically, we'd taken our sun glasses out of our rucksacks only that morning thinking we'd not need them...how wrong we were! It was warm enough to only have one layer on. We eventually connected up to the Ranger Path which was less of a brutal steep path and quite pleasant to make our way along. The railway ran to the right of us and have to say, the train noise did ruin the fantastic views we had with what sounded like a drone when the train was in motion. One carriage came by and everyone on board waved to us vigorously, hoping we'd wave back which seemed to give them quite an excitement which made them waved all the more whilst taking pictures of us hikers. I can only imagine it was to show the crazy people who decided to hike up rather than take the train. Mrs F gave them a big thumbs up to include in their photos for added experience for them! 😄
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| The Path That Keeps on Giving |
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| Views Across The Valley |
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| Snowdon Train |
At times, the path levelled out which was a welcome break for the legs and lungs. We saw a few people heading up in jeans and shoes fit for a stroll around the local park, but I guess if they stuck to the path it didn't warrant too much of a mock! We eventually reached a café, not 'the' café at the top but was too early for a lunch stop, so instead had a little snack. We were joined by a very friendly sheep who was keen to see what we were eating and Mrs S shared some of her biscuits with her and then we joined in with giving her bits of banana and cereal bar...all bad things a sheep should never eat but she was too cute to ignore...well, Mr S did! Mrs S names her Flo and quickly became her friend 🐑 Better putting a couple more layers on to continue to route upwards, heading off on a sheep trial and path towards where the rail bends around to the left of the café as you reach it, crossing over and heading up the other side. We had reached the cloud like and the wind had certainly picked up!
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| The Track Running Alongside Us To The Right |
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| Looking Back Down The Valley |
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| Train Coming! |
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| Heading Off Over Across The Tracks |
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| Cloud Covering As We Made Our Way Up |
The summit from where we were wasn't actually too far away, but the lack of visibility made it hard to navigate and make any reference points, so was at the mercy of the Satmap. As we got nearer to top, there was a boulder field to navigate and simply just had to pick the best route but without heading too far off course. Mrs F went up ahead to find the best route as there were a few steeper rocks to climb, sometimes needing to zig-zag our way up. Mr S shouted out to her at one point to keep her on track and to warn her that there is a sheer drop at the top!! 😧
We reached the top where the sheer drop was and the scary thing about it, is you had no idea it was a sheer drop or what was even right in front of you or beyond it...very dangerous and the only reason Mr S knew it was a sheer drop was because the contours on the map were exceptionally close together!
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| The Boulder Field |
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| The Wind Lifting Mrs Fs Hood! |
Looking back towards Dinorwic Quarry below the ridge behind
us, which is a large former slate quarry - now home to the Welsh National
Slate Museum - between the villages of Llanberis and Dinorwig. The wind really
had picked up and was almost impossible to hear or understand each other and
more attention was needed when navigating up a rock that lead to the ledge
where the big drop. The boys being boys of course had to venture near the edge
to see if they could see anything which made the girls nervous and they told
them off for doing so! We just about managed to get a group photo near the
summit, which was close enough without climbing right on top in the high winds
and drop behind! Although it was really windy, it wasn't very cold We
didn't hang around too long and started to make our way back down through the
boulder field towards the railway track, taking care not to be blown over by
the wind in the process. We headed left of coming down where the railway track
was, not too far from the station stop at the top where people get off. We
actually saw a train leave the station to come down 🙂
We followed the track down for a little while, like a scene from stand By Me
before diving off to the left along on the footpath across the grass towards
the café.
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| Looking Towards The Quarry |
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| The Lake Faintly Seen Below |
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| Photo attempt Number 1 in The High Winds |
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| Great Photo! |
On our way the cloud cleared for a moment and we were able to get a couple of group photos with the view behind us before it disappeared again. We did plan to walk further up the ridge to see the view of the lake and quarry but as soon as we had the idea to do so, the clouds had other ideas! So we just headed back along the route we from the café for lunch. When we got there, Flo was there with what looked like her Mum, waiting for seconds! They're obviously very tame due to many people feeding them over the years, which isn't good for them really...but we still gave them bits of our lunch that were slightly more inline with their natural diet. Flo's Mum became very drawn to Mr F and his ham and salad thin, literally climbing on top of him to try and get to it!! Mrs & Mrs S were in fits of laughter, all the while, there was a rather annoying young seagull nearby constantly crying which sounded like an airbed being pumped up!! Mr S told him to stop being pathetic and to go and catch a worm! 😆
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| Quick Photo With The View |
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| The Drop Off The Top! |
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| The Boulder Filed Route |
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| Our Railway Route |
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| Lunch With The Sheep |
Some screenshots from the video of the hungry sheep...
We were hoping to sit on some chairs with a table by the café with the view of the mountains, but the café was closed (most likely for the season) and so we headed up a few steep steps directly opposite and sat on the bank. Lunch consumed - by us and the sheep - we headed ack down the exact same route we came up. Mrs S walked and chatted with a young guy who was with his two friends further along down the path who clearly wasn't waiting for him, poor guy! Mrs S put the idea of ice cream in Mr S's head which gave him incentive to move a bit quicker to get down!🍦
We had the sun in our faces on the way down which was a really nice welcome and break from the rain we'd had all week. In terms of weather, today was most definitely the best day and able to get some great views along the way. The route wasn't at all hard, just a slog to the top and the boulder field to navigate but all in all not a hard trek at all, just enjoyable 😊 Sadly for Mr S who was now on an ice cream hunt mission, the place where we thought would have ice cream were either closed or didn't sell it. So Mr F very kindly stopped at a local shop on our way back to get a box of chocolate cornetto's for everyone. Mrs F never eats anything efore dinner, but after everyone demolished theirs, she decided too join i n to save it melting. W had great views of Snowdon on our route back through the valley, which was a different way to the way we came and a great drive and way back to end the day 💞
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| Looking Back Towards Snowdon On Our Way Back |
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| Last Photo of the Snowdon Train Up Close |
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| Kind, Smaller Stepping Stones on Our Way Back |
Mrs F had just missed the train set off from the station to get a photo...
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| Llanberis Snowdon Train Station |
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| Photo of Snowdon From The Car |
Our dinner that night was Enchiladas, a joint effort made by Mr & Mrs F and another film. We did try to watch another rom-com that wasn't quite doing it for anyone and think Mr S was all rom-com'd out, so we decided to watch Conclave, which was a fantastic film with Ralph Fiennes. We didn't manage to finish it all due to us all falling asleep, so decided to put it on hold until the next day. Although the cottage wasn't clean, the beds were comfortable and managed to have a comfortable sleep 😴🛌💤
DAY 5: PORTHMADOG
Today's weather was set to be poor, so we decided a mooch about Porthmadog - or Patmadog as Mrs S likes to call it. We had a lazy morning with Mrs F's pancakes as we always do on our mountains holidays, however due to the very ropey cooker and a pan that was 4 times bigger than the rings, they weren't actually all that at all and ended up sacking them off....first time ever which was a sad moment! We made our own breakfasts and watched the rest of Conclave before heading out, this time in Mr F's car. We parked in Tesco that gave us 2 hours. We headed over the bridge and stopped off in a couple of shops on the high road. First impressions weren't that great; not sure what we were expecting, perhaps a more timely high street like Cockermouth, but it looked like Cleavleys high street! We then headed to the harbour and looped back to the high street to come along the other side...
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| View Over The Bridge |
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| By The Harbour |
We had a look in a model and figure shop where they had a very impressive scene of Zulu, which the boys naturally loved. We asked the little old lady behind the counter which one was Michael Caine and she seems she gets asked that question a lot and made a point of letting us know if only she had a pound every time someone asked that! 😐
On our way back along the other side, Mr S and Mrs F went to look in an antique shop as they always like to do if they come across one and directly opposite that was a garage that had a big sign outside saying they specialised in VWs, so Mr went to ask about his car fob. The guy didn't have the batteries he needed but took it out and gave it a good wipe and the red button was back on when it was pressed. Magic! Mr F had already bought batteries and had to delivered to the Post Office in Beddgelert but could keep those as spares now 🙂
We were always going to stop somewhere for a hot drink, it was just a case of where. We came across a café on the corner of a road which looked nice and popular, so we headed in. Mrs F noticed the sign on the door had a Christian fish symbol and wondered if it was a Christian café. Then as we queued by the door, she noticed there were shelves with free bibles and so solidified what she suspected! Then as we looked around, it was quite clear this was a Christian café with reference to scripture everywhere; on the napkins, signs on the wall, vinyl's and the staff shirts had a bible verse on the back, the same as what our own church has when we have our Hib Café. It was so lovely to see and instantly felt warmed by it 😇
We ordered our drinks and apart from Mr F, we had the red pepper and tomato soup with a choice if bread from the basket. The soup was more like a tin of chopped tomatoes than soup! We sat at a table around the back, just past where they prep all the food where there was even more reference to the bible which was great! Mrs F read more about it and found out it was opened and run by a Christian couple and they hold holiday clubs and bible studies there too...you can read abut it here:
thebigrock.co.uk
Mrs F took some photos for inspiration for our own Hub Café as we'd not long had a meeting and sprucing up the church was something we spoke about...
Once home, we decided that after dinner we would finally play some games that we bought with us that we hadn't managed to play all week! Our dinner was a combined effort of using what we had left and change the planned dinner of chicken and jacket potatoes into making them into chips, with pan cooked chicken, ham, eggs, salad, roasted peppers and some of the leftover enchiladas chicken mix from the night before...and it was lush!
We played a few varying games of dominos which is always a good laugh, especially Honest John which we introduced Mr & Mrs S to which they really enjoyed. Then we played Yahtzee which was slightly complicated for Mrs F dyslexia brain with all the numbers 🥴 But after the first game she got the swing off it and managed to get a good score. We also made our way through the remaining miniature bottles of varying alcohol that we bought with us that Mr F got as freebies from work and each one had it's own reaction, some good but most bad! 😆😝
We then had another film night with snacks, Back In Action with Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz which was quite funny. Mr S wasn't so impressed and nodded off a few times! We didn't have any major late nights the whole time we were away, which you would argue goes against the whole point of not needing to go to work, but in our cases, it was work that made us so tired to get to this point of burn-out and with the added edition of up early, climbing in the rain for long days, it does make one rather tired!
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| Dominos |
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| Honest John |
DAY 6: CRAFLWYN AND LLYN DINAS WATERFALL WALK
We realised that we should have made the most of the weather the day before, which was supposed to be too poor to head into the mountains but actually wasn't too bad at all and had a chilled out day today because it was raining non stop!! We had already decided that we would head out for a short walk nearby and as we had really good heating to dry our gear ready to head home the next day, we would head out regardless. As we sat in the cottage looking out at the constant flow of fine rain, the sort that really soaks you, we didn't feel overly inspired! As we drove towards Beddgelert in Mrs S's car to do a walk above the river that Mr F recommended, Mrs F looked online to see if there were any waterfalls nearby, as they would b good to see with all the rainfall we'd had. She found a National Trust walk literally up the road from where our cottage was and didn't even realise there was a National Trust car park there, had driven past it loads of times! We parked in the Craflwyn Centre and although Mrs F had tried to access and download the route to her phone, there was a big sign with the route on anyway so just took a photo of that. Mr F found a big Gandalf type stick nearby and was happy about it. Less happy about forgetting his boots! 🙈
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| The Red Route |
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| Mr F Happy About His Stick |
The rain hadn't eased off at all but at least it wasn't cold. The path lead directly from the route sign just by where we'd parked the car and into the forest. You'd think that the trees would give you cover form the rain but all they do is drip big splodges of rain from their leaves on you! It was actually a really nice trail walk with some interesting features, such as tree roots from fallen trees, bamboo trees (which Mr S quite liked) and a fallen tree trunk carved into a bench shaped like a dragon which was incredible. We came to out first waterfall about 20 minutes into the walk...
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| Fallen tree roots |
After the first waterfall, there were some steps upwards that lead us deeper into the forest, past a field of sheep and cows with one very smart sheep who took shelter under the feed trough. It was then about another 20 minutes before we saw the next very impressive waterfall which was quite fierce from all the rainfall, which is what we expected with it running straight off the mountains and great to see...
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| The First Waterfall |
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| The Field of Sheep and Cows |
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| The One Very Smart Sheep! 😄 |
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| Our Second Waterfall - Mr F Getting Creative With The Shot! |
We were under the impression that we still had another waterfall to go and hadn't yet reached Llyn Dinas ruins at the end. We carried on through more open areas of the forest, heading over a stile and then into a few boggy areas before we were completely out in the open, following a very narrow path up through some bigger rocks we needed to take large steps up onto. We eventually we on an open area with no obvious way to continue without dropping down. There was a group of men who very weirdly were all just standing around not saying anything, perhaps trying to figure out where they also go from here and maybe a little of 'why the hell are we out in this!' The rain had picked up again and by now were pretty wet, on the outside anyway, the waterproofs were doing their job well. The whole walk was 2 miles and when Mrs S checked her watch at just over 1 mile, we realised this was all there was, but couldn't see any ruins. We made a U-turn and retraced our steps. We stopped along the way for some snacks and hot drinks, Mr S and Mr F decided they would eat their rolls but the girls were happy with a lighter option. We had some group photos by the big waterfall and realised we should have just turned around at this point on the way, but we weren't to know. Maybe on a clearer day the end view will be obvious, but not today.
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| Mr F Very Happy with His Hot Drink On A Wet Day!! 😅 |
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| Mrs F Happy With Her Babybel |
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| As Is Mr S With His Roll |
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| The Very Impressive Dragon Carved Bench |
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| Mr S Exploring a Hidden Path |
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| An Old House Overgrown With Moss |
We decided to head to the pizzeria place for a hot drink. When we got there, Mrs F saw they did soup and bread and chose the mixed bean option, whilst Mr & Mrs F shared chips and a sausage roll. Mr F just had his usual Americano. The soup was the best soup Mrs F had ever had and has since recreated it at home. It had all sorts in; peppers, carrots, butter beans, kidney beans, broccoli, tomatoes...it did look like all the leftovers form the kitchen but it tastes phenomenal! Having seen the pizzas that people were eating, we decided to book a table to eat there that night. We always eat out on our last night and had the place picked out. Mrs F saw a mighty fine looking pizza delivered to the table next to ours and so asked the lady what one it was so she could order it later 😋🍕
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| Soup Options |
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| Mrs & Mr F in Matching Harrier Coats! |
We then headed back to the cottage for operation pack. We left rearranging the rooms back how we found them until we were ready to go to bed, so we could at least enjoy them how they were for one more night. There is always an air of sadness about packing; your holiday has come to an end. Mrs F used to pack as she went along during the week but Mrs S made a comment years ago that stuck with her, so now always leave it until it's actually time to go home, which was 'It's like you're getting ready to go home already!' We had a joint effort of washing up, putting away, cleaning, tidying and general stuff as we always do. To be honest, we probably left it in a better state than when we arrived! There wasn't much food to divide as we also normally do, as we'd got through majority of what Tesco brought, the rest was stuff each of us had brought from home.
Once we'd got ourselves sorted and played another game of Yahtzee and bellies starting to rumble, we headed out ready for our table for 6:30pm. We needn't booked a table as we were literally the only ones in there! It must have been busy with takeaways though as there were still pizza boxes leaving, but then it picked up with people coming in to eat a little later. We sat by the window on the big round table and went up to order our pizzas with chips and drinks. The drink that Mrs F wanted as out of stock and so picked another kind of beer that she didn't like, so Mr F had that! The pizzas were really good and again, one of the nicest pizzas if not the nicest we've had. Fresh and delicious and we demolished them. After our meal Mrs F had a hot chocolate which eventually came (the lady forgot to make it after ordering!) and was an actual chunk of chocolate n a stick with cream and added marshmallows as a way to apologise for forgetting. It was worth the wait!
We headed back to the cottage for one final film which Mr & Mrs F recommended, Escape From Pretoria and enjoy our final night together...😔 We then had to work out where everything went and good job Mr S took a photo of the rooms before we moved them as it was like solving a puzzle!
Early the next morning, we were greeted by the sound of Mrs S shouting 'Urrrrggghhh!!!' Then explained that she had trod on a slug barefoot!! Slugs had made their way into the cottage and left an evidence of this behind with huge slime trails on the carpet and other areas!! Each day we had to check our boots before putting them on. But it was dark and Mrs S clearly didn't see one in the kitchen and when turning the light one, saw there wasn't just one, but three massive white slugs in the kitchen...gross!! 😝🐌🐌🐌
Mrs & Mrs F planned to travel to Manchester to see Mr S's daughter and grandson, so they didn't need to leave until around 10am, whereas we were headed straight home and so left just after 7am. Car loaded and hugs of goodbyes were said with the plan to meet again in Bluewater in November - halfway for both couples - they waved to from the window as we set off for the long road back in what started out in the rain. Quite a fitting start to our journey home and end to a fitting week I'd say!
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| Rain As We Set Off ☔ |
When we arrived safely back home and gave God the thanks for doing so, we started unloading the boot of the car and Mrs F noticed the same looking slug slime on the side of the boot and on Mr F's rucksack...and then saw the hitchhiking culprit!! A slug had obviously made it's way onto the rucksack and we didn't notice and it came back with us to England!! 😄He spent all that time in the boot, bless him, being smuggled across the boarder as an immigrant. Hope he's adjusting to his life from Wales...
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| Big Slug Making Him self in His New Home...and Country! |
VERDICT OF WALES SEPETMEBER 2025
Mr F:
Mrs F: The cottage was great for location and even though we were on a main road, the traffic was not a problem at all and had comfortable uninterrupted sleep throughout our week. There was constant hot heating and constant hot showers with a good amount of pressure, which is quite rare on both occasions and very much needed for the week of rain we had. The weather was the most disappointing aspect of the week, unlike the week we'd had earlier in the year where it was glorious hot sunshine everyday (see 2025, July entry) We're not fair weather hikers by any stretch of the imagination you only have to read through the blog to know that! But there does come a point where being out in the rain all day, being wet with no views does take it's toll, even though it is simply just good to be out. You really have to balance ticking off the ones you need to do and it just being a 'completed' exercise and actually enjoying it and getting the most out of it as you're doing it. Nevertheless, we had 3 days in the mountains - the least amount of days we've ever had on a hiking holiday. I think the closest the such a wet holiday was when we stayed in Braithwaite in the Lakes and was wet all week (see 2016, September entry) but still got out everyday...unlike this time! I think there was definitely a different feel to this holiday, almost forced to slow take a take it easy, instead f killing ourselves everyday. Mrs F embraced it a bit more than Mr F and really enjoyed afternoons of sitting on the window, reading my bible and praying, spending quality time with God and just overall decompressing from work which had been utterly manic and a bit stressful. And maybe this is what this holiday was all about, for all of us, learning to do exactly what the bible says in the Psalms, 'Be still' But, on the days we weren't so still, I really love being out in the mountains regardless, even when it's wet. I liked the second big day we had until the last 2 miles which spoilt it somewhat and the day we walked up the Rangers Path in the sunshine was great, but not very strenuous, more like an enjoyable walk and one people were doing in shoes and jeans, so not much of a challenge! I really enjoyed the first day where we had a bit of rocking to do and thankfully wasn't too wet for it to cause any mishaps. The minor injuries were thankfully all there were and could have been a lot worse in the conditions we hiked, praise God and clicked, especially when we did the eagle view point climb, which in hindsight wasn't the smartest decision we'd made! All in all it was disappointing not to make the most of spending the time and money to come and do what we love to do, but at the same time it did allow us that downtime we wouldn't have had otherwise. It wouldn't be on my top 10 or even 5 of memorable mountain holidays...but that's the unpredictable Welsh weather for you!
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