We awoke to to our fabulous view and immediately got dressed, made a brew and went outside to admire the view in total peace….not something you get anywhere nowadays. We were on the road before 9am even though we had no rush. We tried to interpret the weather forecasts over the next few days as we had decided that we wanted to climb Mount Snowdon or Yr Wydffa as I should now call it. I had chosen Wednesday because today was forecast for later showers and Thursday was looking like a wash out.
I wanted to see the delights of Holyhead whilst we were up here….we may never get back and I can’t imagine using it as a ferry port (other ports will be more convenient). We had a brief stop in the harbour area and a walk. It was pleasant in the sunshine but the town was fairly functional really.
We then drove south and onto the mainland again. Caernarfon was the next stop. We have both got vivid memories of the investiture of the Prince of Wales in 1969. I have visited the castle as a child and again as an adult and it remains impressive. It still wasn’t open….not because of COVID but because of some renovations.
The old part of the town had character and the views of the Menai Strait were lovely but the main town centre looked a bit run down.
After lunch we moved into Snowdonia proper, to the town of Llanberis. This had been the home of my Mum’s cousin Robinson (his real name was John Robinson Riley). He was Mum’s Mum’s Sister’s Son….just thought that would make the relationship clear. I had met him at least once in my life as far as I remember but I also remember that my brother Peter and I were called upon to represent the family at his funeral in Llanberis in 1983 as my Mum and Dad were away on holiday. When we arrived at the church, just on time, we got roped into carrying the coffin….I’ve never seen anyone so pleased at the arrival of two strong young chaps. They must have saved money on the undertakers! Brother David checked up on his previous address in Llanberis and I fancied finding where it was. Having since checked with Peter he is sure the funeral was in Colne, Lancashire (where he originated from)….so my memory of the location is not so good….but the other details are still correct, honest.
Peter’s account must be correct because went we arrived in Llanberis it didn’t look familiar in any way.
The lake is Llyn Padarn and one of the mountains to the left is Yr Wydffa at a height of 3560ft. The weather looked a little cloudy but we didn’t get the showers forecast and in actual fact it brightened up again. I’m not too sure what the relevance of the sword is…..but it’s bloody big!
We went to find our CL for the night at Llanrug about 4 miles back towards Caernarfon. After setting up I went for a bike ride on the higher back roads to Llanberis….rather steep too but the views were superb.
I found Cousin Robinson’s old house, it was high above the town with quite a bit of land. It wasn’t a pretty house but it had wonderful countryside. It’s a good job I didn’t go looking for his grave in Llanberis!
We went out for an evening walk, limbering up for tomorrow. I think the forecast is still looking good but I won’t be counting my chickens or even putting my eggs in the same basket, I will be taking waterproofs and will be expecting to get wet.
Just as an aside I took this photo of sheep in the adjacent field….
I wondered why the lambs had a target painted on their backsides, then I remembered…..we are in Wales after all!
Wed 19th May 2021 - CL at Llanrug.
We had a mid-morning walking start from Llanberis. We had a fight with the car park machine. Most car park machines take either cash or card and some allow payment online. Whatever the offering it is usually designed to be as confusing as it can be and most machines have a queue of pensioners staring at the instructions in total bafflement. We didn’t have the right coins….and let’s face it who uses coins currently. I tried the internet method as credit cards weren’t allowed on this machine. You have to go through the process of registering and creating a password (another password to forget) then selecting the duration and the registration and eventually using the credit card details to pay….what a carry on! Even then you have doubts about the process because you don’t have a ticket to put in the windscreen and have to hope that any wardens can check electronically that your registration is paid for. Hasn’t the internet made things sooo much easier?
We had chosen the ‘easy’ route up Snowdon. It was described as a 5 mile route to the top, so 10 miles in total and estimated to take 3 hours to get to the top. Guess what, we did it in 1 hour 45 mins. It was a proper path all the way and had some rather steep bits. There were lots of people doing the route….I was just glad that we hadn’t chosen a busy weekend day to do it. Most importantly, it was dry all the way and sometimes sunny although it was always a cool breeze and the summit was covered in cloud.
Here’s a selection of photos.
We had a 15 minute queue to get our turn on the summit. I expected to see a Welsh Government sign at the top saying a ‘maximum of 6 people or 2 households’ but not here.
Climbing the highest mountain in Wales and the second highest in Britain is a decent effort. I still haven’t climbed Ben Nevis (although Janice has) so I will have to get that one ticked off soon. But to put it in perspective, I can remind you of my cycling ascent of Mont Ventoux in France….and that is almost twice the height of Yr Wydffa.
We enjoyed our relax once we got back to the bottom. The sun was glorious but we still had a chilly wind. Many of our photos show lovely blue skies but we haven’t had any real heat yet but we won’t complain when it is sunny and dry. We are expecting a downpour and high winds tomorrow so we will enjoy this weather whilst we can.
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