The Highest Woman in Wales

I've recently returned from a lovely fortnight's holiday in Wales. I won't fill this blog with accounts of everything I got up to; suffice to say that many happy hours were spent on steam railways. However, I was determined not to ride on one particular railway - the one that transports its passengers to the summit of Snowdon. No no... to my mind there's only one way to conquer Wales's highest mountain and that is on foot. 

The Visit Snowdonia website lists six routes to the summit. I chose the 4½ mile long Llanberis Path, which is the longest of the six, but also the easiest. However, 'easiest' is a relative term since all six routes are classified as Hard/Strenuous. A 3-3½ hour slog lay ahead of me before I could stand at the summit and proclaim myself The Highest Woman in Wales.

The first part of the 'path' lies along a quiet but quite steep country lane, but before long it leaves the lane and strikes out across open countryside.

Throughout the climb I rarely lost sight of the lovely Llanberis Lake (Llyn Padarn). A nice little steam railway runs along the far side of that lake.  I recall my late father-in-law describing how, as part of his army training, he had to walk underwater in Llanberis Lake, carrying full kit and breathing through a length of tubing. No wonder we won the war!

The Snowdon Mountain Railway keeps close company with the Llanberis Path all the way to the summit. Here the little engine propels another carriage-full of whimps up the mountainside. 

Dear me, that's dreadfully unkind of you, Angie! I'm sure they're really lovely people, though (if they haven't already realised it) they're in for a disappointment, despite forking out £45 a head for the privilege of climbing Snowdon the easy way. Read on.

For over 2 miles after leaving the country lane the path climbs quite gently and I made good progress. This was easy!

However, as it approached Clogwyn Station the path steepened and my pace slowed - 40 steps... rest... 40 steps... rest.  This was hard going!  High above me, the little train cautiously made its way back down the mountain. 

That's Clogwyn Station on the left, ¾ of the way to the summit and as far as trains are going in 2022. The final stretch is a victim of Covid, which prevented maintenance crews carrying out essential work during the winter months. Those travelling by train were thus left with the choice of either giving up over a mile from the summit, or walking the final steep section with no guarantee that there would be room on a train to take them back to Llanberis. 

The path from Clogwyn Station is both steep and rough. Unlike this guy, I felt no inclination to run it.

There's a welcome flat stretch of path before the final assault on the peak.  From here, the views are magnificent.

Looking back towards Clogwyn Station and Llanberis.

The steep path on the left is the Pyg Track. I seriously considered taking this route, but decided that it was just a bit too steep for my ageing limbs.

Here I am at the summit, looking understandably tired but also very, very pleased with myself. More than 600,000 people are estimated to make it up Snowdon every year, and I'm delighted to have been one of them in 2022.

For the record, the 4½ mile climb took me 3 hours, 10 minutes, and the return to Llanberis exactly one hour less.