Diary

Day 1: Lichfield - Llyn Gwynant
Two of our five trains were delayed today.  The first was the train from home to Birmingham so we got a lift in the car to Birmingham and caught the train with three minutes to spare.  Then the Crew to Llandudno train was delayed by about 15 minutes so we missed our connection to Dolyddelan.  Luckily the train service got us a taxi to take us to Dolyddelan station so we were not delayed by too much.  So finally after about five hours of travelling we started walking.  It was a fairly easy walk to our first campsite and took us about three and a half hours.  Good old pasta for tea then an early night ready for a long day tomorrow.

Day 2:  Llyn Gwynant - Nant Peris

We set the alarm for 05:00 today and were ready to go by 06:40.  The weather was good so we were hoping to get a good view from the top of Snowdon.  It took about two hours to get to Pen-y-pas from the campsite and the valley was quite steep in places.  After a quick break we began to walk up the Pyg track to the top of Snowdon.  The views were amazing on the way up and it took us just over two hours to get to the top, which was very good going considering we were carrying full packs.  The last mile or so to the top was very tough though and it was very hot at this point.  We had lunch in the cafe on the top of Snowdon and spent about one and a half hours on the top.  There were lots of people up there (most had taken the train) so it felt more like a tourist attraction than a mountain.  We went down the Llanberis path, stopped at a cafe near the bottom for ice cream then walked down into Llanberis.  In and attempt to try and make our meal of pasta more interesting tonight we bought some bacon in Llanberis then walked the last 45 minutes to the campsite in Nant Peris, arriving at 18:00.  The weather had deteriorated and we ended up having to cook in  the rain.  The bacon was defiantly a good move though.  We were both tired after a very long day and so we were in bed by about 21:00.

Day 3:  Nant Peris - Gwern Gof Uchaf
Another early start today as we had five mountains to cover.  It was a fairly easy start to the day but the path up the valley following the Afon Dudodyn soon turned to marsh land and walking got tough.  At the point where the path should have veered off to the left (following a 90° turn in the river - an unmistakable point) it completely disapered.  We had two options turn back or make our own way to the top of the ridge.  We chose the latter but it was incredibly steep and the parts covered in shingle were very dangerous.  It took us an hour and a half to cover a single kilometre at this point and we were reduced to climbing on hands and knees a points.  We finally made it to the top of the ridge (quite pissed off that the map showed that there was a path and there was not so much as an animal track to the top!) and clouds had come down over the top of Elidir Fawer so we decided to skip this peak to try and make up time.  The walk along to the top of Y Garn was n

ice and we stopped in the valley between Y Garn and Glyder Fawr to have lunch.  The walk to the top of Glyder Fawr was fairly tough but we kept a steady pace and made it to the top without too much difficulty.  We then walked along the rocky ridge to Glyder Fach, where where we began to climb the steep rocks to what we though was the top, only to be presented with a large drop the other side and realised we were not on the top.  With our full rucksacks on we had kind of gotten ourselves stuck on the top of these rocks and in the end we had to drop out packs and then climb down after them.  A nice adventure but not one that needed to be repeated!  By the time we got to the foot of Tryfan we were already quite tired and it was a hands on climb to the top (made much more difficult with the heavy rucksacs).  The path down looked way too dangerous to take with our rucksacks so we made our own way down another path that was not actually marked on the map.  Although this was slow going it was much safer and we finally made it to the bottom and then along to the campsite 11 and a half hours after we had set off in the morning.  It had been very windy for most of the day and it still was by the time we got to the campsite, which made putting up the tent fun!  Then one of the tent poles cracked and actually broke lengthways.  Luckily what was left of it managed to hold the tent up for the night.  Two other tents in the campsite collapsed during the night though due to the strong winds.  Rice with sugar roasted peanuts for tea then an early night.  We were too tired to even have a shower.

Day 4:  Gwern Gof Uchaf - Betwys-y-Coed
If the weather was good and we felt OK we were going to go up Carnedd Llewelyn on

 the way to Betwys-y-Coed but when we woke up the tops of the mountains were covered in cloud and we were too beat up from yesterday so we decided to take the flat, shorter route (still more than 10 miles though).  It was an easy walk and a good test of our navigation skills and we arrived at the campsite with enough time to have a decent shower, relax and then have a pub meal and a couple of pints before going to bed for the last time in the tent for a while.  The broken tent pole held so we got away without having to repair it.  The pub meal was a very welcome change from pasta and rice!

Day 5:  Betwys-y-Coed - Lichfield
We had plenty of time in the morning to look around Betwys-y-Coed (which has nothing but outdoor shops) and had a full English breakfast in a converted train carriage (very nice) and then caught the first of our four trains back home.