weather – The Three Musketeers

Hiking up Mount Snowdon

As a family we have hiked up Mount Snowdon a handful of times. The first time we did it was about 9 years ago with our two children. We took the Miners Track back then and have since done the Pyg Track and Llanberis Path.

Hiking up the mountain with three young children, I would definitely recommend doing the Llanberis path.

Llanberis Path

Llanberis path is the longest route to take up to Snowdon’s summit. The distance is 9 miles there and back, with an ascent of 975 mtrs and offers some amazing views of the surrounding mountains. As it is thought to be the easiest path to take it can be popular with families and leisure walkers and can get quite busy at times.

The route

The path climbs along the Llanberis – Snowdon railtrack and is simple to navigate. It starts just behind the Snowdon Mountain railway station, at the end of a road you reach a cattle grid and the information boards.

Llanberis path map/route up Mount Snowdon

As you head along a steep road you reach a cafe and just beyond that you will take a left through a gate, this is where the terrain begins to change and you clearly note that you are at the foot of the mountain.

The track becomes a little more rocky and can be unstable under the foot causing you to trip. It can be quite slippy when wet too.

The hike up can be very tiring and you will work up a sweat so I would advise you to carry extra clothing so you can layer up later on when you are closer to the summit.

It was quite a cloudy day, not so cold and the rain stayed away for us. It was ideal hiking conditions but not so great for the camera. We managed to get some clear photos on the ascend to the mountain, but it was too misty up at the summit to see anything clearly.

The Llanberis path leads along the railway and it’s a beautiful sight to see the steam train run along side you

The Snowdon Llanberis train
Full steam ahead
A spot of train watching

The boys were particularly happy to see that the sheep were all around, not just on the low level ground but also over half way up the mountain you will spot sheep grazing behind the rocks

Just before half way the train line runs along to the right of the pathway but you will need to walk under the track. It’s not long after that you see a building far in the distance. This is the halfway house, where you can buy some refreshments. On previous visits, there has always been a toilet here to use but it seems that they may have closed it as it is no longer available for customers to use.

Mount Snowdon Steam train on way descending down the mountain

The path steepens

Once you have had a well earned break at the cafe, the ascend becomes a little more trickier and the path steepens. Is it as this point where you begin to feel the legs become a little tighter and start to ache. It was here when the visibility began to get pretty poor and we just knew it was going to get worse.

Holding hands — Giving me a helping hand up the steep path

The pathway runs under the Snowdon railtrack again and as you come out from under the bridge on the other side, you may well notice a few hikers coming along from the left hand side. These are the braver few that have just walked along the Crib Goch ( I did wonder why someone was asking the way to the summit, i thought that maybe they had gone to find a toilet somewhere but my son corrected me)

The Summit is nigh

You know you are near when you notice a huge rock in the middle of the path. This is where five pathways meet – Pyg Track, Llanberis, Miners Track, Snowdon ranger and Crib Goch.

We didn’t get much of a view at the top as it was so cloudy. I believe we were within a cloud as the air was very wet.

Visibility was poor and it was much colder at the top.

It was also very busy. We decided against battling with the other hikers to the Summit, as you can see from the photos it was too busy to take the children to.

Once we had visited the toilet in the cafe at the top, it was time to get our legs working again and take the path back down.

The Descent

Obviously the descent is much easier than the ascent but you still have to be careful especially when the visibility is poor. The stones under the foot are wet making them slippery. We did notice someone had a fall and was nursing a bloody face and a sore foot.

It took us a total of 5 and a quarter hours from top to bottom, including a few little breaks. Not bad going! That was 3 and a quarter hours up and 2 down.

Before venturing on the Mountain You will need

Strong ankle supporting shoes/boots
Waterproof clothes
Gloves and hat ( sunglasses- the snow can be blinding with the sun)
Extra layers of clothing in a rucksack
Mobile charger
Food and drink
Check the weather conditions
Maps are available

The more active side of the family

Before we set of the two oldest and Dad had decided that they were going to run up the mountain. We had agreed that they would go ahead and the youngest and I would meet them on our way up. We saw them coming from behind the fog just over half way up, just as the path was steepening.

Dad and the middle boy decided to carry on running down and would wait for as the bottom, the eldest stopped his run and wanted to go to the top again with his brother and me.

I think they suffered a little as they couldn’t wait to get into a hot bath with some salts to soothe their aching legs. In fact, I think we all needed it!

This morning was icy cold, but it was strangely satisfying.

We have eagerly waited for snow down here in the south but unfortunately all we have received was a few sprinkles throughout the night, which when we woke up had all but disappeared apart from the odd dusting on the garden shed.

My normal route to work on a week day is through the streets of my home town, which isn’t very pretty. But today was different. I wasn’t going into work, I was going on days training which meant taking a different route to the centre where it was being held.

Once I had dropped the boys off into breakfast club at school, I took a 10 minute stroll through the park. It was bitter cold which bit at the end of my finger tips. But as I stood in the middle of the park and looked around me at the early morning frost floating along the grass, I strangely felt warm.

It was a beautiful sight.

It made me smile.

It made me feel warm

Unlike, normally looking at the muddy mess that has been left behind from the many feet that has passed over the ground, I was looking at frosted green blades.

As I walked over the icy ground, it crunched beneath my footsteps. The ground was hard and bumpy, from where the mud had frozen and the frost had covered any mess that is normally laden on the floor.

What could’ve been a miserable dark morning, instead it brightened my day. No we haven’t received any snow, but this has to be next best thing for me.

What’s the weather like where you are?

Thank you for reading 🙂

Tag: weather

Mount Snowdon via Llanberis Path