Setting off in the late afternoon, you are not expecting to conquer the summit of Snowdon, as the trecherous darkness can fall very swiftly. Instead, you can cherish having a little piece of this most beautiful mountain to yourself, away from the tour buses and crowds, just as the sun begins to set and the low cloud bank descends.
We hiked with our four young children (ages 11 down to 5) from Pen Y Pass to just before Crib Goch, using the Pyg Track, for a several thousand foot high picnic tea with a view.
Pen Y Pass is already itself rather high, and very quickly we were rewarded with far reaching views out towards the lakes Llyn Peris and Llyn Padarn.
The Pyg Track winds its way steeply up the mountainside. Large slabs of rock cross tiny streams and, in places, the path disappears entirely and we picked our way up over the boulders.
As we near the Crib Goch junction (where if we were to continue with the children on a sunny day, we would rejoin the miner’s route) the path becomes suddenly easier; an ancient stairway of mossy stones.
We found our spot, just beyond here – with the sharp peak of Snowdon in the distance.
We watched the grey clouds sweep across the valley, until the tops of the mountains disappeared from view, and then made our way safely back, under a glimpse of remaining blue sky.
Beautiful! My boys would love those rocks!
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Funny you should say that, I was just looking at a photograph of my 9 year old, ten feet high than the rest of us up a large rock face … right after I had said “be sure to stick to the path!” 🙂
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Beautiful post. A lovely little read. I love Wales and it’s haunting beauty. Merci.
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Thank you! 🙂 I have some photos of the Welsh Coast (the first time I have ever seen giant purple mountains meet the sea) – which will hopefully go online soon. I write a lot more once the weather gets colder and I’m not spending all my free time in the garden or hiking! Hope all is going well at your lovely French farm.
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Beautiful place. I like that everything was so green. What a great way to introduce children to hiking, little by little.
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Thank you Keng. I’m trying to get them to love walking for the view and fresh air (as opposed to hitting a target … because then you are always looking far ahead at a peak, and not around you.) 🙂 Hope all is going well with your travels! x
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Wonderful, atmospheric, shots of a trek I once did. (my youngest daughter completed the three peaks challenge a couple of years ago)
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Thank you Derrick … we’re just planning our trip to Scotland next year so that the children can see some very very big mountains. They’ve added an extra electric car supercharger to Scotland’s Cairngorms, so we can now -just- make it to Thurso, without me having panic attacks about running out of fuel 😀
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Hi 🙂 It looks mysterious and beautiful! Thank you for letting me come along with all of you on your hike. Big rocks for little legs. 🙂
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Thank you Sarah x Yes – although weirdly, our youngest gets up them faster than the rest of us! He’s like a little mountain goat.
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Hiking Mount Snowdon could not have been easy, but those shots, they are beautiful and moody. xx
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Thanks so much! We were there just before an absolutely huge storm, which made for terrific photo ops. Back at the campsite, we were lucky that our tent was on a wooden platform, a lot were washed away in the morning (!)
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Sheesh. That sounds icy…a storm and Snowdonia must surely be challenging.
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How beautiful. And how lovely that you weren’t concerned with getting to the top.
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Thank you! I’m just keen for the little ones to learn to enjoy looking around them and soaking it all in 🙂
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This reminds me of when we took our two young children part way up for a picnic. The youngest daughter completed a sponsored walk to the summit later in life, we provided base camp!
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Ha – brilliant that you did that with your children too! You obviously gave your daughter a love for fell walking, I hope it has the same effect on my lot 🙂
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What a wonderful climb. You have captured it beautifully. 🌼🌼🌼
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Thank you 🙂 It was a really lovely day, I hope we get back there next year too.
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Some lovely photographs here. Looks amazing.
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Thanks for taking me with you, even if only virtually.
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You are very welcome 🙂 Thank you very much for reading, I’m glad you enjoyed the virtual climb!
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Beautiful!
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Nice to see the mountain, becasue when we were there, it was covered in clouds (fog)!
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