5/30, Tuesday, 7:55 bus 460 to Carmarthen. No rental car agency in Cardigan. Bought groceries at Tesco Extra on our way to Enterprise rental. Picked up a van (cheapest at ~$70/day), bought collision damage waver. 3/8 tank full. Fill diesel £54.76/Litre.
Drove to Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park. On the way, PS successfully maneuvered through a bunch of small towns. Betws-y-coed at the junction of River Conwy and Afon (river) Llugwy is bustling, especially at Pont-y-Pair Bridge. Quite pretty here. Stone bridge, stone houses decked with flowers. Many tourists. No gate to the park.
Drove to Ogwen Car Park (SW end of Lake Ogwen), along Afon Llygwy. Very small, full.
Had to park in the next lot east. Even that, it was an achievement to park our van.
We are here to do the Cwm Idwal walk, which has a short loop over Llyn (lake) Idwal and Ilyn Bochlwyd.
Very pretty, grassy, with a little bit of flowers.
Because we didn't start from the official TH, we tried to cut across to access the trail. Got into some boggy parts.
Since it's unusally dry this year, this was not a problem.
Otherwise, hiking here needs to be on established trail, at least at low elevations.
I continued past Lake Bochlwyd for Glyder Fach (~1000m).
There're surprising number of people on the rocky ridge, even though I only encountered one couple coming down when I headed up. Of course a lot less than by the lower lakes.
There's a long and more or less flat ridge walk, with excellent view.
I saw one couple with large backpacks.
Walked by the small pond Ilyn y Cwn, down to Lake Idwal.
Crossed over to connect to our initial trail that leads down to the car park.
Total steps 19k. ~2500', ~5.5 miles.
Pulled into Garth Campground on the way to Pen-y-Pass.
£8/pp. We were allowed to park the van here while out hiking.
£1 for a 5-min hot shower.
Easy-going camp host, very young. He said no pet, no music. Pitch tent anywhere.
WC and shower rooms are not the cleanest, but decent. No other facilities.
Met the couple in the van next to our tents at Newgale. Chatted with the husband. They are not hiking Snowdon, because his feet have some problems. We asked his tips as how to avoid midges. He said avoid wooded area with lakes.
5/31. Summit Snowdon (1084m) - the highest peak in Wales.
In a few days, there'll be a train going all the way to the summit.
Flagged the S1 bus at 8:20am (first bus) on the road. £4.5 return ticket. A German couple were there waiting before we arrived. The bus drops you right at the Pen-y-pass TH parking lot. If you park here, it's £20! It was full.
Minor's Trail up. You can see this relic on the way.
The trail is gradual, fairly easy.
There's a string of lakes on the way, then the grade picks up.
The view down to the lake and the valley we just walked on is very pretty.
There are a lot of people, of all ages and shapes.
There's a queue to stand on the man-made summit post, via stairs.
I didn't bother with the queue, and scrambled up from the opposite side.
The queue wasn't as bad as in this photo from Wikipedia. But it's still ridiculous.
PS arrived shortly after 11am.
We sat at the NW corder below the summit post for shade and lunch.
I took a different way down. A lot more peaceful.
Circled down over West Peak (2 of them) all on a trail. More rugged. A lot on the ridge. Great views.
Saw a father and daughter. He told me that I was the 2nd person he saw today on this trail.
Later I saw a family of 4 (2 toddlers), a young couple at the same time.
Reconnect to the Minor's trail at the lake (Llyn Llydaw). I waited here to time my exit with the return bus. Back to the TH at 2:15pm for the S1 bus at 2:30 (every hour). PS was already waiting there. There's clean WC here and a warden's office, and some small exhibit. A cafe and shop. A lot of hikers were waiting for buses. Took S1 for the wrong direction. I did ask the driver, and he waved us in. Our S1 bus (eastbound) came at 2:35pm. Dropped us off at a pullout near the entrance to the campground.
26k steps, ~8.5 miles, 3200'.
Took a cold shower, washed clothes, filled water. Saw the German couple returning. Not sure which route they did that took so long. They are faster than PS.
Headed out, towards England.
Planned to book another rental car, now that PS is confident in driving on the left side.
Stopped at a Starbucks for coffee and wifi.
Topped gas next door. £1.49/litre. £31.15.
Lots of traffic due to accident and rush hour, going through between Liverpool and Manchester. Wasted at least an hour. Slept at a highway pullout, because it was already past 9pm. Quite a few cars/vans there. The highway is busy. Whenever a semi flies by, the van shakes. Not a good sleep.
This is our route in Wales. The pink are the walks. The rest is bus or car.
