Wednesday 13 August 2014

Snowdon Summit with Lizzie

Daddy has said he'd take me up another mountain. When I was on holiday, I asked him, "Daddy, are we going up Snowdon?". Daddy hadn't actually thought about taking me up that one! So one hot, dry Monday, Daddy organised a trip.

Daddy wanted to park in the Pen y Pass car park, but we were on holiday and had bean having long lies in: This meant that all the parking here was full. Luckily Daddy knew of some parking down the road near the Pen Y Gwryd Hotel; unluckily, this meant a much longer walk to the start! And Daddy had made me wear my long sleeve base layer, so I was boiling hot! Not happy :(

Eventually we reached the Miner's Path and the lakes in the Snowdon Cwm. The water was so low! we walked around the path, and it started to go uphill again. I was getting hot and bothered, but Daddy managed to encourage me a bit by rewarding me with Tangfastics every so often when I reached a corner, or made it past a rock. Eventually, we reached another lake at the top of a big waterfall. At this point, Daddy asked if I wanted to walk, or to scramble. "Scramble, of course!" I said (I do like climbing!). We crossed the stream at the top of the waterfall, and Daddy led me up a scramble called 'Y Gribin' in Welsh ("Eeee Gribbin"!). I went first so that Daddy could catch me if I slipped. It was pretty easy climbing though, with lots of big flat shelves. Daddy is doing his Mountain Leader training, so I let him practice emergency ropework by belaying me up some of the steps. It's all good fun!


Eventually we reached a small lake at the top of the scramble. The lake had tiny froglets swimming in it. Daddy even managed to catch one in his hands.


The path upwards went into the clouds: brilliant, another chance to see if they still taste of Candy Floss!
As we went up into the clouds, I began to get a bit tired. Daddy said, "Come on, Lizzie, there's not far now. And when we get to the top we can have a drink in the cafe." "There's a cafe at the top of Snowdon? You didn't tell me that!" If I had known, I would've run up there!

When we got to the cafe, we went in side to warm up a bit, and the clouds cleared briefly to give us a view. Unfortunately they only had hot drinks or fizzy drinks, so I just drank my water. Even the vending machines were out of order so I couldn't get any chocolate. But I did get a badge that said "I made it up Snowdon the hard way"!

When we left the cafe, we went to the summit of Snowdon for a photo, then headed down alongside the railway line until a large stone showed us where the PYG track started. I prefer walking downhill to up. I could look at all the nice views.


As we passed through the Bwlch y Moch (Pig Pass) a mountain runner passed us. I thought, "that looks fun," so decided to run most of the way back to Pen Y Pass Car Park. Daddy decided we should continue running on the road too. We were back at the parking in no time. Thank goodness tomorrow is a rest day and another lie in!

No comments:

Post a Comment