Our first stop in Wales was at a campsite right on the edge of Bala Lake, or to give it its proper name, Llyn Tegid. It was a change to be actually staying by Bala as in the past this had always been a place for a quick stretch of the legs and a picnic before carrying on to our intended holiday destination on the coast.
The campsite that we had booked for the first four nights was larger than the campsites that we usually chose and with our arrival coinciding with the Jubilee weekend it meant that it was full to capacity. The reason for us chosing this site though was that it was situated right on the shore of the lake and had its own launching beach – perfect for a bit of paddling in our canoe.
The main event that we had planned for this leg of our stay was to climb Mount Snowdon (number 2 on the bucket list – that’s one thing that I can now tick off!). Snowdon or Yr Wyddfa to give it its Welsh name is the highest peak in Wales and England only topped in the British Isles by Ben Nevis in Scotland.
We’d planned our route before hand and had chosen the Pyg track for our ascent and the Miners track for the descent.
The PYG track is both the shortest way up Snowdon, and the one that involves the least amount of ascent. Despite this, it’s not the easiest path up as it can be steep and rocky in places but the paths are reasonably straightforward to follow. It is 5.5km in length and involves around 800m of ascent. It’s said that the views of Snowdon are among the best of any route up.
We set off in light rain and were amazed by the sheer number of people who had also planned a bank holiday climb.
The gradient soon picked up and the path got rockier.
Soon we were rewarded with our fist view of the summit.
At the summit we were rewarded with one of the best mountain views in Britain, it was truly awe-inspiring and made even better as the cloud lifted offering us a panoramic view of North Wales.
The descent along the Miners Path started off as a steep scramble downwards towards the lake but soon the path widened and levelled out to make an enjoyable walk back to where we had begun.
We made our way back wearily with a quick stop in Bala to pick up fish and chips then time for a relaxing paddle on the lake to finish the day.
