We woke up and at 7am the sun was shining and we could see the mountains from our bedroom! Time to be spontaneous. If we hadn't already done the train yesterday we would have chanced the Snowdon mountain railway...except you can't really chance it as it really needs to be booked ahead for the steam rather than the diesel train as thousands of people hike up Snowdon. But we still fancy seeing the foothills of Snowdon and drive to Llanberis after poking our nose into Conwy Falls and Swallow Falls around Betsw-y-Coed both of which require tourists to pay a few old pounds to get through turnstiles. They were picturesque but did not feel wild enough to elaborate on in this blog. We admired all the Snowdon parkers and walkers then headed to the popular and touristy Beddgelert where a famous dog is said to be buried. We had inspired our oldest after reading him the rather descriptive version of the story at bedtime last night. It is a must-read legend and it breaks my heart to think of that poor dog slain by his unknowing master every time I read it.
The weather was still fine and we needed to hike! I let my husband choose the route as he was to carry our 1 year old plump baby all the way while I steered and encouraged our oldest two. I had convinced him 3 days earlier that every walker needs hiking boots not trainers to enjoy Snowdonia and thankfully he'd agreed to this as well as the 2 ordnance survey maps covering North and South of our cottage in case we just "felt like exploring". So, off we set on what appears to be an easy tarmac track beside the river at Beddgelert. It soon turns into a boulder trail with hand-holds drilled into the river cliff that greatly excite the children. This is when I ask my husband what grade walk we are doing and he says "strenuous". "Oh", I say and think ..."well if the weather turns we have snacks and can turn back this bit has not been too bad".
We get really high in the mountains and have views all around. We follow old miners tracks and amazingly find a stream glugging out of its source hole. This proves to be a valuable reference when we turn too early later on the track and need to re-think our route.
It was not a long distance but we had to go in a circle over a mountain ridge called Mynnydd Sygun so there was still some rocks to negotiate on descent (not climbing just hard walking). I was extremely proud of our 4 year old, who while has been out of a pushchair for a couple of years still finds even flat walks tiring at times. The boulders had given him and his brother a real sense of adventure.
So I could see why the walk was classed as strenuous but my husband coped very well with the backpack, never faltering...until we reached the kissing gate...the kissing gate on descent that no large people or backpack could negotiate. This is his expression as he climbs over the gate having failed to get through it!
After the train yesterday our 4 year old desperately wanted to "wear" a fox glove so here he is near the river walk poking one. We had all watched the said foxglove for 5 minutes to check no bees were hiding in it! LOVING 30 DAYS WILD.
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