So this is what happens when you invite your sister for a weekend adventure.
Brecon Beacons was the original plan, a nice hilly hike around Llyn Y Fan Fach and Llyn Y Fan Fawr; lakes and mountains, what’s not to like right! I’d got parking up for the night in Florence sorted; somewhere remote where we wouldn’t be seen, and the sound of us pissing in a bucket wouldn’t be heard. Piss. In. A. Bucket!! Turns out my sister was having none of it, needed at least the comfort of a toilet near by {suck it up buttercup}.
She’s a bit more ‘classy’ than me shall we say {not that I’m Stig of the dump you understand}. She’s used to the luxury of 5 star hotels and all inclusive holidays to places such as Cuba and the Caribbean. Not pissing in a bucket even if it is pink {it’snot, but I thought it might sway her}………..so the search was on for a campsite.
Have you ever tried finding an open campsite in December? It never occurred to me that camping in Winter isn’t a thing, but yeah, who actually goes camping in December? Van or no van! My search expanded and I eventually found a site in Snowdonia {it’s still Wales}. Ah what the hell, we’ll just have to climb Snowdon instead. I wouldn’t tell her there were other mountains or hills we could climb in Snowdonia. Ignorance is bliss. It’s still just putting one foot in front of the other just on a grander scale. It’s been on my bucket list for so long, hers too.
Imagine the views we could get.
We might even catch sunrise.
This was going to be epic {i’d even started thinking about Summit conquered photo’s}
She accepted the new plan {I knew if I said it quick enough she wouldn’t realise what she was signing up for}. See……… I’m the bossy one apparently. She knew I wouldn’t let her say no so nodded and smiled like a good big sis should.
Staying on a bossy note, she was given instructions to go buy some kit; warm and waterproof. Or at least water resistant. She was fine she said, she had a HOODIE!!
A fookin hoodie!
I ask ya!
Did she think she was going for a stroll in the park? I still can’t get my breathe! Bullied some more by her little sister, she dutifully purchased a coat that would keep the wind and a bit of rain out. I still wasn’t convinced but I’d go with it. I’m sure there’s a Cotswold Outdoor on the way!
The weather got checked more than I can admit to leading up to the weekend, good job too as it was changing every hour. Would it be snowy on Snowdon? It was on Tuesday so we might be lucky. The weather can be good in the valleys but shitty as hell three and a half thousand feet up a mountain. Fuck it, we didn’t care! So long as it wasn’t going to blow us off our feet {cos that would just be dangerous right} Whatever happened, we WERE going to have fun! And a challenge.
A 3 hour drive on a Friday afternoon was all that stood between us. We loaded up the van and off we went. I was in charge of everything. Other than the hoodie!! Breakfast, coffee, tea and post hike fuel all packed. Along with Jelly Babies and protein bars for snacks en route. Oh and water!! Anyone would think we were climbing Everest. Honestly. Snowdon might be high but it’s actually not that long a walk. Roughly 10-12KM depending on which route you take. But it’s better to be over prepared ey!
You can’t beat a good road trip with good company and good music {thank god for all the tat i’d purchased for Florence} twice the phones to keep charged and twice the phones to play music from. Keeping our charge up became a military operation, leads all over the place, switching and changing and charging & arguing over who had the most charge!
Our bladders finally gave up at Betwys Y Coed {does this happen because your body know there’s a toilet in sight or is it actually real}. Plus nice food places and and…… and, a Cotswold Outdoor – we were like kids n christmas morning! So after purchasing mandatory kit – Rab coat and bobble hat for the sis and Kendal mint cake for me cos lets face it, is it even a hike without Kendal mint cake? You might as well just put your hoodie on and go for a walk in the park. And are you even outdoorsy without a down filled Rab coat! Fuelled by Pizza and the most incredible chips I have ever tasted, we piled back in Florence for the final leg of our journey.
It’s so freakin dark in Wales. Is it cos it’s Wales or just that it’s December and there is very little lighting on the roads. Full beam on, full beam off, on off on off and so it continued until we found our campsite. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love little Florence, but without power steering she is a bit of a beast to turn around and after having driven past the entrance, we were now looking for somewhere to turn around, in the pitch black. Preferable somewhere a double decker bus would easily be maneuvered! I get so anxious in such situations. A 3 point turn in a car ends up as a twelvety seven point turn in Florence. No cars following so we were all good and took a chance. Half hour later we were facing in the right direction {not quite half an hour but you get the jist}
Campsite was quiet
……….and very dark
but it had toilets for the precious one so we were winning.
It was windy and wet and being parked up by trees was not helping with the anxiety. We could of moved. I mean it wasn’t like it was busy, I’m pretty sure there was just us! I was going to make her use that bloody toilet every hour after the fiasco of finding somewhere, even if she didn’t want to I’d march her there under orders. I’m sure in the height of Spring and Summer this site is beautiful, and I can’t wait to go back and see it bustling with like minded people all eager to go exploring and start their adventures in Snowdonia. But for now it was spooky. Wind whipping through the trees and whistling around the van, knowing we were the only people there meant we would be first to be sacrificed if the zombie apocalypse was scheduled for December.
Strange how much of a laugh you can have in a van. On a pitch black campsite. In December, with nothing noteworthy to entertain you. The swivel seat was great entertainment for a while as were the fairy lights once i’d remembered I’d got them. We chatted and laughed, laughed a lot actually. Ate sweets and drank coffee. Forgot the beers & savoury snacks but don’t worry, it’s been noted! It’s a wonder we got any sleep, hyped up on sugar and caffeine, wind whistling around us and the thought of being taken by zombies. But we did. It was like a sleepover from our childhood and as we lay there snug in our sleeping bags, we still chatted and laughed. A lot.
We set off early the next morning to head to Pen Y Pass carpark before it got busy with mad idio……..I mean like minded adventurers like ourselves. We sat in the warmth of the van drinking coffee and eating bagels and porridge, whilst the daft fools around us set off in the hope to catch the sun rising between the mountains. It looked highly unlikely as I looked out the window of Florence into the gloomy damp morning. But, who knew what was going on three and half thousand feet up mountain.
Pyg track up, Miners path down, that was the plan. I didn’t want to go the motorway route {Llanberis path}, I wanted a bit of a challenge and variety. I knew it was doable but that there was going to be a bit of scrambling involved. Did I tell my sister…….nah, she likes surprises {honest}. So long as we didn’t end up on Crib Goch, we’d be fine.
It was damp, and very misty and I knew, the higher we got visibility would be poor. Did we even go for the views? Partly. But mostly to challenge ourselves and tick it off our bucket list, as well as a bit of sisterly bonding, and giggles. The path up disappears in places but luckily we were joined by a couple who were battling their way up too. Safety in numbers. We picked our way through the non existent paths and scrambled up and over the rocky sections, the whole time, the precious one saying ‘oooooh i don’t know if I can do this’.
Side note here – we are not useless females. We might not have much hiking or navigational experience between us, but we are fit. We both train at the gym and run, so fitness and strength was never going to be an issue. And this is what I had to keep reminding my sister.
I’m not sure I would’ve liked it had it only been the two of us. Not seeiing where the path you are taking is going to end up is quite unsettling. So long as we weren’t the only ones going that way I reckoned we were safe. It wasn’t difficult, just some tricky parts scrambling up {think we actually deviated from the ‘path’ at some points}. We met plenty of people who were on their way down all with different stories of what the weather at the summit was like. “Views for days”. “Hold on tight its blowy”. “Wet and cold up there.” God damn, I knew we should’ve taken the umbrella. Could’ve doubled as a walking pole too. On we trudged, then suddenly, it was like someone had opened a can of people.
a bit of scrambling 
pretty water 
excellent views behind us 
cloudy up there
Summit was in sight.
Actually no it wasn’t cos we couldn’t see bugger all. It was windy and very wet and there were now a fair few people battling the elements to get to the top so they could retreat to the calmness of the sheltered mountain sides. It’s the top of a mountain so I understand that it is exposed to the elements but jeez it was brutal.
Our summit photo wasn’t quite what I had in mind, neither was our celebration. A large group of men hogged the summit while we stood dithering waiting for them to move so we could get our moment of glory and self satisfaction. Some people are quite unaware of their actions aren’t they. As they passed around the beers and cracked them open, we just stood there hoping one of them would be polite enough to point out to the rest of the group that we were waiting to climb those final steps . At last!! They shuffled to one side so we could get our ‘we conquered Snowdon’ photo. I wanted a solitary moment of being the highest person in Wales & England, I didn’t want to share it with anyone.
A selfie stick and a soaking wet glove are not the best combination to try and take a photo with, especially when the rain and wind are battering you into submission. We weren’t hanging around, partly because of the elements and because of other folk awaiting their moment of being higher up than anyone else in Wales.
And so the decent started.
Cold
Wet
But feeling incredibly humble that we made it to the top of the highest mountain in Wales and England. Even if couldn’t see a thing around us.
Next time will be a right treat!
The miners paths is a long old way down and really hard work under foot until you get towards the bottom. We just wanted……i’d say the warmth of the van but its effin cold in there! No, we just wanted to be in dry clothes and get some warm food inside us. Stripping off soaking wet clothes in the confines of a VW T4, is not easy I tell you. Funny, but not easy. Not helped by the fact we were laughing so much. I’d laughed at the size of my sisters bag for one night away, but when she magically produced a towel I was very grateful! By now we were hopping around trying to remove wet clothes, not form puddles on the floor and not get the dry clothes wet. A logistical nightmare. I apologize now if anyone saw a boob or half a bum cheek……….doubt it was pretty!
So, Snowdon, we came, we saw {well kinda} we conquered. You were ace! Now to plan our next adventure!
fLoReNcE_T4 