How does a couple decide that they want to visit a national park? Or rather, how does one conclude that for the long bank holiday weekend, they are going to camp in Snowdonia instead of spending time with family and friends?
Oskar and I enjoy walking a lot, and for the past few months, we have been running out of places to go. Now that’s not to say that there’s nothing to see or do in London – sure there is. However, you do have to pay for most activities, eating out is expensive and as far as hiking in the city goes, we’ve been to most of the zones 1, 2 and even 3, mainly north of the river Thames.
And so, we have been using every opportunity we have to explore English towns and cities every other weekend, and taking long trips on bank holiday weekends, like our trip to Scotland last year.
Quick fact: The term “bank holiday weekend” stands for the weekends when you get an extra day off work and get paid for it in the UK (dear government, thank you).
Think Easter and Christmas – plus there are some extra ones during spring and summer. The bank holidays are usually on a Monday, so you get a three-day weekend except for Easter when you get one extra and have both, Friday and Monday off. And this Easter break, we travelled to Snowdonia National Park to embark on our first proper hiking trip where we would spend the night at a camping site and climb our first mountain.
A little bit about Snowdonia National Park
Snowdonia is one of the most prominent national parks in the United Kingdom, home to Mount Snowdon – the tallest mountain in England and Wales (Scotland is home to the tallest mountain in Great Britain).
Even though it’s a national park, it’s fairly accessible by car, so if you have one or think of renting one, you are likely to find it quite comfortable. You can also fly to a neighbouring city and rent a car from there OR you can also travel by train if you wish. We saw plenty of hikers who were travelling by bike despite the cold weather.
As far as nature goes, Snowdonia is stunning, and there are plenty of places to see. The main reason why we decided to go to Snowdonia was to hike and enjoy nature.
Hiking is walking in the great outdoors, off the beaten path.
Accommodation is usually quite expensive in or close to national parks, especially on long bank holiday weekends like Easter, so we decided to save some money and stay in a tent at a camping site instead!
To bring things in perspective, one night in a simple 3-star bed and breakfast hotel could cost you around £150 per night versus the £20 we paid per night at the camping site! We couldn’t have had a better experience as first-time campers as our camping site in Bala had warm showers, public toilets and even a place where we could buy last-minute BBQ supplies though we never used it. This was quite the experience, and we will be sharing our tips for first-time campers and hikers very soon.
Beautiful places to see in Snowdonia
Nature: We stayed near Bala lake
Only a 10-minute walk from our camping site, this lake took our breath away from the first day we were in Snowdonia. Advertised as a go-to location during summer with a lot of water activities going on, though we did manage to see the odd couple and person with a kayak or rowing boat. There were plenty of dogs too which of course, lifted our spirits as Oskar and I love dogs so much.
Another place we can recommend is visiting nearby green areas with forests, paths and hiking routes – Snowdonia does have a lot to offer, and most of it is free. Some routes less travelled can truly surprise you like we found out on our final day in North Wales.
Visiting small villages and towns
The cafes and restaurants are somewhat quirky and serve great food but do mind that the best places to eat according to Tripadvisor are miles apart, so we drove 30-50 minutes for a meal which isn’t too bad when beautiful sights surround you, but if you don’t have a car, the travel time will increase.
We were quite surprised to stumble upon the town of Betsy-coed which is the very same place where we went on our caving trip with Go Below Adventures! It’s so sweet to think that we returned to this place without being aware where we were going.
The market town of Conwy and Conwy Castle
On our last day in Snowdonia, we were catching the final hours of daylight, and we referred to Tripadvisor to see what other places we could visit. Apparently, one of the top things to see after climbing mount Snowdon is visiting the Conwy Castle. It’s a massive, medieval 13th-century castle situated in a walled market town of Conwy.
Located in the very north of Snowdonia, it does require a more extended drive to travel all the way up there. We spent a few hours walking around and taking in the culture. Right after, we packed up our things and started our journey back to London, which by the way, is about seven hours drive away.
Climbing Mount Snowdon
Standing at an elevation of 1085 m (3,560 ft) above sea level, it was the first proper mountain we attempted to climb. Our previous record was Arthur’s Hill in Edinburgh, Scotland which was only a quarter of its size with an elevation of 251 m (823 ft) so it was child’s play by comparison. The weather was quite windy and cold at Mount Snowdon, but we braved the weather and found it quite surprising that after walking for a bit we got really warm.
We chose the Miner’s Track because it featured three lakes and all of our expectations were exceeded. It truly is a beautiful route and we recommend it to anyone climbing Mount Snowdon.
Unfortunately, the clouds were quite low that day and there was a lot of snow as we approached the summit (about 850/900 m). It got so foggy, we couldn’t see past a dozen metres ahead of us and we had to turn back due to slippery conditions. After we descended we found out that it was a positive thing since snowshoes were highly recommended for this type of weather. We filmed our climb to Mount Snowdon and you can watch it on YouTube if you like.
Now, the most important question: Would we do attempt to climb this mountain again? Sure, but then again we did the best we could that day. And that brings us to the final bit we’d like to share about Snowdonia.
The stuff we wish we had done or would still love to see
All in all, it felt that we saw Snowdonia – we got a good sense of how people lived there, how time slowed down when exploring the nature and we took in the grounding tranquillity high mountains provide.
And sure, we could have spent another day climbing other mountains or had more lavish, home-made dinners instead of eating cold-smoked meats in our tent, but these three days plus the caving activity last year gave us a good feel of what Snowdonia National Park has to offer. Nevertheless, there are two other things we wish we could have done if we had more time and the weather was a tiny bit warmer.
Riding an old steam train
This wasn’t too comfortable with a car as we would have needed to buy return tickets and single tickets were already blowing our budget. We can always ride on a steam train in a different location though, so that’s not a big one.
Try water sports like kayaking
Snowdonia indeed is a gem, and it would have been fantastic to explore it by water. The weather was a bit cold for this during Easter without warm wetsuits. However, since we went on a caving adventure last year, it felt like our trip was complete.
Wrapping it up
The part that cemented this whole experience must have been us sleeping outdoors because when you go to bed, you realise: “I’m in this small tent, and I can hear the rain falling and the chirping of the birds”. Then you get the wake-up call in the morning because it’s freezing. Something to keep in mind is that it was -1C degrees during the nights and in the low single digits throughout the day during our trip. And this was a brilliant experience throughout.
Everyone should try camping in a national park as an adult. It teaches you to appreciate your comforts and makes you learn something new. All this helped us get a better sense of what we may need for our next big road trip to Norway.
1 comment
[…] I have a sedentary job and I’m not as fit as I would like, but the hike was still manageable for me. Our hiking experience was close to null when we hiked up this magnificent trail (the most we had done was attempting to climb Mount Snowdon when our trip to Snowdonia National park). […]