A trip down memory lane

Last weekend I spent a couple of days in Snowdonia. As I was going to be climbing Snowdon on the Sunday, we decided to travel on the Saturday and come back on Monday to make the most of the weekend. It's years (I feel ashamed) since I was last in Wales and I didn't realise just how much I had missed it till I returned. We (my Mum and Auntie came with me) stayed in Betws-y-Coed, which is itself a beautiful town set in the heart of Snowdonia, but travelled out to Beddgelert on the Saturday- having spent the majority of my childhood holidaying there, it is like a second home to me. The village itself hasn't changed much, except for the re-opened stretch of the Welsh Highland Railway which now runs again through the mountains and alongside the river. I was quite excited at the prospect of seeing one of the trains come past, not to satisfy some long-repressed urge to become a trainspotter, but because I have walked the stretch so many times over the years. Part of me felt a little disappointed that I could no longer walk through the tunnels that carve their way through the mountain above the Aberglaslyn Pass- I remember the thrill as a child of walking through the longest tunnel and not being able to see light at either end when the halfway point was reached- but it was great hearing the whistle of the train as it emerged from the mountainside.We didn't have that much time to spend in Beddgelert but we had a good stroll down the river and I even had a paddle (had to for old time's sake!)...it was freezing! We then walked back up to the new train station to see the diesel train collecting its next passengers- I felt a bit like I was on the set of Thomas the Tank Engine!I've posted a couple of photos of Beddgelert below, the rest are here, and a few of Betws-y-Coed are here.

I can climb any mountain....

.....well, maybe I won't be attempting Everest any time soon, but I have certainly conquered Snowdon. Last Sunday fifty of us faced the elements and battled through rain and strong winds (very strong winds!) to raise money for the North Staffs Special Adventure Playground (I won't start raving again about what a fantastic charity it is). Despite having spent the majority of my childhood holidaying in North Wales and spending three years at university in Bangor, I had never climbed Snowdon before so was really loooking forward to it. I love walking and can go for miles on the flat, but I have never been very good on hills (and Snowdon is definitely a very big hill!) so found the steeper stretches a challenge, especially when also trying to contend with gusts of wind which were determined to set you off balance. One thing I had been really hoping for was that we would be able to see from the summit, but from all the years of driving past Snowdon and it more often than not being covered in cloud, I knew we would be exceedingly lucky to be afforded these views; and starting our ascent on Sunday, with thick cloud coverage from about half way up, I resigned myself to the fact that we weren't going to see very much at all. When we reached the summit, which was bitingly cold and, as expected, completely hidden in the cloud, our first port of call had to be the loos! The summit cafe is a stunning building from the outside (I can't really comment on the inside as it was so packed you could hardly move); I find it amazing how they managed to build it at the top of the highest mountain in Wales, especially considering the extreme weather conditions they would have faced.
I can't pretend that, although I had a great sense of achievement from having successfuly climbed Snowdon, I wasn't just a little disappointed that we couldn't see anything from the summit, so imagine my excitement (I was a bit like a child at Christmas) when we emerged from the cafe half an hour later to find that the cloud had lifted and we could see for miles. It was breathtaking. It wasn't the clearest of views, it was still very hazy, but after seeing nothing but cloud for the previous couple of hours I was elated! I still can't believe how lucky we were as an hour later when we were on our way down the cloud started to come back over again. We certainly experienced the full wrath of Snowdon and just how changeable the conditions can be.
I had a fantastic day, I would love to do it again (maybe without the rain!); I just hope now that we have raised a good amount of money for our charity.

A few photos from the day are below, you can view the rest here.

The team ready for the off

Clouds on the way up

I made it! The summit once the cloud had cleared.

Views from the summit- the photos really do not do justice to how stunningly beautiful it was.

Looking back at the summit on our descent

The Highland Railway train- my mum and Auntie took the easy route!