Last weekend I randomly decided to walk up a Mountain with a friend of mine also called Dan. It was a spur of the moment thing, not much planning was involved. We decided to walk up Snowdon, the tallest Mountain in Wales & England. The tallest one for the of the United Kingdom is Ben Nevis. The peak of Snowdon is 1085 meters (3,560 ft).

The plan was simple, camp in Wales and walk the mountain and chill out. So I packed all my camping gear and the tent, and we set off on a long 5 hour car drive to Wales, stopping off for food in Birmingham. We had chosen to use my mate Ben’s Diesel for the trip. Mostly because he was sunning it up in Spain and Diesel is very good for long journeys, saved us a lot in fuel costs! Got to Wales on £30 of Diesel! Our destination was a campsite just off the A498, near a lake. It was within walking distance of the route we where going to take. The campsite was lovely, in the valley with a big lake next to it. The only downside was it got really windy, but at least they had showers!

The path we had chosen to walk was called The Watkin Path. Now this is a very advanced path, and can be quite challenging and hard. We decided to do it, as we did not want to do any of the major tourist paths and we wanted a challenge. The route is a 5 hour overall hike. Notable points on this route are scree at top is an accident black spot. It’s one of the hardest walks there, as you start at only 80 meters above sea level and have to walk the 1000 meters which is a steep walk. Before walking we stopped off in the Cafe next to the starting point of the path and grabbed a nice Welsh breakfast and some tea.

The starting point of the walk was only a slight gradient, was smooth to walk and started on a forest path which eventually opened to fields of green. The path then slowly got steeper, as we approached some waterfalls the path changed to rugged stone and so remained throughout the walk. We we finally reached the top, as usual the stupid Cafe happened to be closed, so nowhere to fill up with water and use the toilets! The wind was blustering like made, with speeds ranging from 40-50mph at the peak. However a lovely plaque at the peak was there and lovely views as well.

At about 20 meters before the peak of Snowdon, I took this panoramic photo. It shows the route we basically walked. The route started out on the right side, and snakes to the left side. A shot of the scree slope from the top.

Overall an enjoyable trip, next stop will have to be Ben Nevis!