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<\/a>Wales and the Welsh Language<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
A quick aside if I may. We’re in Wales here, and it’s obvious from the fact almost every single sign is in both English and Welsh. We’ve only been here a couple of days but have heard Welsh being spoken out and about. It’s great, we feel like we’re properly ‘abroad’! The authorities here are currently pondering replacing the name Snowdon with its Welsh name<\/a>, Yr Wyddfa<\/strong><\/em>, roughly pronounced er with-va<\/em>. The wider area of Snowdonia’s called Eryr<\/strong><\/em> in Welsh, pronounced ee-rer<\/em>, and Wales as a nation is Cymru<\/strong><\/em>, kum-ree<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Given how iconic the name Snowdon<\/em> is, it seems likely a double-barrelled convention could be adopted – Snowdon Yr Wyddfa<\/em><\/strong> maybe (or Yr Wyddfa Snowdon<\/em><\/strong>)? Either way it seems to me adding the Welsh name for the mountain would give the native language a real boost. It’s got me looking up pronounciation guides anyway, we’ve been working on our Ll <\/em>sound this morning, not easy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n There’s a good selection of motorhome and camper van campsites in and around Snowdonia. Here’s a search for stopovers in the area on searchforsites.co.uk<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n We opted to first head to the Llanberis Touring Park where we’re currently parked. We joined the Camping and Caravanning Club the other day which gave us a discount at this site, but you don’t need to be a member to stay here. It’s still around \u00a330 a night to stay, so top end for our budget (justified by my birthday!), and it is a beautiful site with fantastic showers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s in a great location for hiking up Snowdon. There are numerous paths up to the summit of the mountain at 1085m, and the longest path starts in the village. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Llanberis Path is just over a mile from the campsite, and a return hike to the summit is around 11 miles. Several of the Snowdon paths are described here<\/a>, listed from hardest to easiest, and there’s a graphic comparing some of the most popular routes below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We’re hearing reports that British sites in such iconic locations are very busy at the moment. We’ve booked in for three days, and were lucky to get a space. Yesterday, a Tuesday outside school holidays, the weather was good and the site was full. Today it’s raining and a few spaces have appeared in the ranks of motorhomes, campers and caravans but the site is still full tonight. We’ve chatted with a few fellow campers and it’s obvious lots of folks who would be abroad in their vans are (understandably of course) staying in the UK. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are several other options for camping in your motorhome and hiking Snowdon, with sites at:<\/p>\n\n\n\n One option is to get the Snowdon Sherpa bus from any of the above sites to the start of your chosen path. You could then hike up and down another path, getting the bus back to your site from there. The popular Pyg and Miner’s tracks both start at Pen y Pass, accessible via several bus routes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Sherpa bus runs the routes mapped out below (more details about the Snowdon Sherpa bus<\/a>):<\/p>\n\n\n\n We came to Snowdonia from our home in Nottinghamshire (having returned from Carsington Water<\/a> to pick up my trail running kit). Using our budget truck satnav<\/a>, we plotted a route here, then asked the satnav to show alternatives. It came up with one labelled ‘Easy’, which was a few miles longer than the ‘Fast’ route. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We checked the Easy route against a paper map and could see it followed fast A roads and motorways almost all the way here so we picked it (the 171 miles route above). It brought us into Wales via the M56 and the A55, pretty relaxing roads. Only the last few miles were on relatively narrow routes, but no problem for our 2.2m-wide van, except when we met a static caravan coming at us at one point, when we had to breathe in a bit! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although Llanberis is a very well-worn route, it’s still going up a mountain. It’s not an easy day out, but it is a magnificent one, especially in good weather. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I’ve been training for three and a half years now, running long distances including some mountainous terrain, so I didn’t have any fitness problems. That said, my thighs don’t half ache today! Once we’d decided to come here we drove home and picked up more kit for the hike. I took the following steps to try and be safe, bearing in mind this is the middle of summer. I don’t have the kit or skill to go up in snow or ice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you fancy heading up Snowdon, the Llanberis Path proved to be a wonderful way up there. From the start of the path it’s 948m of ascent. I ran some sections and hiked others where it was too steep to run. The path is very clear, pretty much impossible to lose in clear weather. The surface starts out as tarmac but quickly changes to gravel and rock and later there are sections where large stones seal the path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The views become increasingly spectacular as you get higher, passing under the train line a couple of times on the ascent. The train isn’t currently running all the way to the top, and was fully booked during our visit. If you did plan to use the train to hike one-way, it would be worth planning and booking ahead (snowdonrailway.co.uk<\/a>). You can’t currently use the train both ways and get to the top, they don’t allow enough time before the train returns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The summit itself isn’t visible as you head upwards and I saw quite a few disheartened-looking folks who were in the final half mile of hiking. When you do eventually get close to the summit though the entire world to the east opens up. A magnificent, stomach-churning bowl of mountains cradling lakes appears, dragging you off the path to admire before the final steps to the top. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you’ve cranked your thighs on those giant stone steps, the highest point in Wales and England still awaits, a few more steps and you’re on the top. A brass plaque installed for the 2000 millenium bears lines pointing at every direction below you. On a clear day you can see four countries from up here. At 7:30am it was dead and I stood up there alone. When I came back at around 10:30am it was pretty busy, with a queue of about 15 people waiting to go up. I’ve read thousands of people arrive during some summer days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can see the Pyg and Miner’s paths up Snowdon to the bottom left of this panoramic photo taken from the summit. They both run along the lower flanks of Crib Goch, which itself is topped by a magnificent and terrifying ridge path. Incidentally, Crib Goch is the wettest place in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From the summit I went down the Pyg path<\/a> to the car park\/bus stop at Pen Y Pass and then back up the Miner’s Path<\/a>. Both are fantastic routes, but Pyg was my personal favourite, staying higher up the side of Crib Goch for better views. Miner’s is relatively flat for a while, running lower down the mountain and gets you alongside the lake seen in the photo above. It then takes a pretty strenuous leap up the mountain and is a bit sketchy in places. Finally it joins Pyg and both take a final leap up a long section of steep stone steps to the ridge near the summit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have any of you been to Snowdon and hiked up? Which path did you prefer? Did you do any other paths in the area you enjoyed hiking? Please use the comments box below – we read ’em all and appreciate your help and info.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cheers, Jay<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n New to motorhome life, The Llanberis Motorhome Campsite in Snowdonia<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>Other Snowdon Campsites and the Sherpa Bus<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Getting to Snowdonia in a Motorhome<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/a>Preparing for the Snowdon Hike<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/a>Hiking the Llanberis Path to Snowdon Summit<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>Hiking Snowdon the Pyg and Miner’s Paths <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>Over to You Folks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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