Off we go!!
On very little sleep, a 6 hour coach ride after a morning's work with 40+ year 5 - year 9s, a vomiting child, squeaky bunks and waterproof mattresses, buckets of persistent rain on a conservatory roof throughout the night culminating in very little sleep, I was obviously well prepared for my Snowdon adventure.
I do get a little bit squeaky excited about things like this and was a good girl guide/scout and had ensured that I and Issy were really prepared and well packed. We had the correct gear, we had the correct snacks and backpacks, I even had my whistle ;-)
Fortunately weather forecasters can be pessimistic and whilst we did have the rain, the poor visibility due to the low cloud cover, the expert leaders taking us up were not concerned that it was something we couldn't handle, so off we went.
It was bitterly cold!
The first train up of the day.
A few years back Richard and I did a five peak challenge in the Lakes, which ended with us summiting Scafell. The 14+hours we were out on the fells was glorious, painful, but glorious. The views were incredible, we didn't meet many other walkers, the climb at the end, however, was ridiculously hard. Once up there, you really felt you'd done something amazing.
Snowdon, I have to let you into a little secret, was a little disappointing....THERE! I said it!
We were doing the Llanberis path which I knew was nicknamed the M4 of Wales. But, what I didn't realise was that while the forecasters may be a little lenient with the truth, the serious mountain walkers are not...it really is THAT busy. The path is pathed all the way apart from a few precarious bit, you could be walking up steps and the summit literally has a staircase! Now, don't get me wrong, the uphill slog is a bloody hard challenge and I would not take that away from the achievement, but when you pass every half an hour, someone who has on a plastic tourist poncho and a pair of jeans and trainers, it kind of feels less of a challenge and more of a gimmicky tourist trap.
Obviously, the seriousness of the mountain and her weather and surprises is not being taken remotely seriously by so many...it's no wonder there are accidents there and it's one of the busiest places for mountain rescue.
I know there are less touristy routes too but obviously with taking a party of school children up, we needed a relatively straightforward route and the Llanberis path is the simplest of the routes up the mountain, and yes, I have been tempted to go back now and do Crib Goch!
However, rant over. The view were...oh, ha! Not there...we got to the halfway house...yes, there's a cafe at the top AND half way up, and then we gradually disappeared into the cloud and mist. Sadly there was no view to be had, but hey, that's the nature of the game I guess when you're climbing 1085 metres up into the Welsh skies! The summit was there...I felt it and stood next to it and touched it, but sadly no vista to be had.
Still, all it all, despite being able to wring out my gloves, create rivulets of water into my drinking bottle from the rain water I could catch on my coat and the nutters ascending and pushing past wearing nowt but sandals and a plastic bag, it was a really fun day. We walked for a total of around 7 hours, covered 15 miles and are still wearing our achievement smiles this morning!
 |
| Made it! I think my eyes show the tiredness and cold. |
Comments
Post a Comment