Exploring North Wales & Snowdonia
Back in June we spent five days in North Wales, celebrating Chris’ 50th birthday amid the spectacular scenery in and around Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park.
It’s a region we’d long wanted to explore, especially as neither of us had anything other than very sketchy memories of our previous childhood visits. And it was well worth the five-hour drive from Wiltshire. Our trip coincided with one of the few cool spells amid the recent UK heatwaves, and the velvet-green mountains, rolling mists and gushing rivers were a wonderful antidote to the bone-dry fields and relentless temperatures of southern England.
We stayed on the northern edge of the national park at Hinterland Cabin – a cosy timber-built hideaway for two, booked through Unique Homestays. It’s done beautifully, with a top-spec interior, an alfresco hot tub, a sauna and an unbeatable location on a remote hillside overlooking the Conwy Valley. Best of all was the ever-changing view, and we loved sitting back to watch the big skies, incoming storms, hovering birds of prey and fiery sunsets. It was awe-inspiring even in the pouring rain, and we felt as if we had our own eyrie high above the world.
The cabin made an excellent base for exploring, and over the course of our stay we ventured up mountains, along the coast and even over the Menai Bridge to the island of Angelsey. Here are our highlights…
Snowdon / Yr Wyddfa
At 1,085m, Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa in Welsh) is the highest mountain in Wales, and heading to the summit is a must-do. You can of course hike to the top, and there are six trails of varying degrees of difficulty to choose from. But we decided to take the rack-and-pinion Snowdon Mountain Railway, which has been trundling up and down the steep slopes since 1896.
Tickets for the railway are expensive, starting at around £48 return per person, and it only operates from March to October. What’s more, trains fill up quickly, so you need to book quite far in advance and take your chances with the weather on the day. But in my opinion it’s worth doing, as the journey itself is an unforgettable experience.
The train starts in the village of Llanberis and takes an hour to reach the Hafod Eryri visitor centre, perched just below the summit. The line gets ever more dramatic as it rises, passing tumbling waterfalls, isolated lakes, sharp ridges and the ruins of an old stone chapel. There are jaw-dropping views in every direction, and in places the ground drops away from the trackside so abruptly that you almost feel as if you’re floating in the sky.
You only get half an hour at the visitor centre before the return train departs, but it’s just long enough to climb the 50 or so steps up to the actual summit (be aware that it can be busy) and grab a coffee in the café. The very top of the mountain was shrouded in cloud during our visit so we couldn’t see anything other than a sea of white, but it was still eerily beautiful – as was suddenly re-emerging from the clouds on the way back down, to be greeted by peaks and valleys stretching out beneath us.
TIP: Dress in layers, as it will be much colder at the top of the mountain than at the bottom, even on a warm day – and the train carriages themselves are unheated so often get chilly. If you can, try to sit on different sides of the train on the way up and down, so you can experience the views in both directions. Also, make sure you arrive at Llanberis station well before your allotted service departs, as you won’t be allowed to board the train until you’ve watched a short film covering safety and the railway’s history.
Dolbardarn Castle
After the Snowdon Mountain Railway dropped us back in Llanberis, we took some time to wander along the shore of nearby Llyn (Lake) Padarn, admiring the views of Dolbardarn Castle. Its solitary round tower dates back to the 12th century and stands guard over the rippling waters, with slopes rising to either side. It’s incredibly atmospheric even from afar, but if you want a closer look it’s open to visitors during daylight hours.
The Llanberis Pass & Pen Y pass
Eryri (Snowdonia) is ideal for a scenic road trip, and our favourite drive was the Llanberis Pass – a stunning stretch of the A4086 that winds southeast from Llanberis. It follows a narrow valley between the Snowdon and Glvderau massifs, with boulders and rocky crags on either side of the road and towering peaks all around. We then carried on along the A4086 through the Dyffryn Mymbyr valley to Capel Curig, with excellent vistas of Snowdon (by now entirely free of cloud) and the twin lakes of Mymbyr.
Cwm Idwal
The walk around the glacial hanging valley of Cwm Idwal was our favourite hike of the trip.
It starts at the National Trust visitor centre at Ogwen Cottage, where there’s a car park, toilets and a small café. From there, a stony path rises into the mountains, taking you past streams and waterfalls to the bowl-shaped hollow of Cwm Idwal itself. Sculpted by ice millennia ago, this natural amphitheatre is filled with the mirror-like waters of Llyn Idwal, with jagged rock formations and sheer cliffs all around.
The path circles the entire lake, before taking you back down the way you came. It’s easy to follow and not that strenuous, although much of it is uneven and strewn with boulders, so you’ll have to watch your step. It took us about two hours in total, but we stopped plenty of times along the way to take photos or just gaze at the scenery.
Newborough National Nature Reserve & Forest
We spent one day of our trip exploring the vast Newborough Nature Reserve on Angelsey, an hour’s drive from our cabin across the Menai Strait.
Spanning some 2,000 acres, the reserve is a beautiful mix of forest and coast, with wind-shaped dunes backed by swathes of tall Corsican pines. It’s also home to Yns Llanddywn – a narrow spit of land that’s only accessible at low tide, with a whitewashed lighthouse and the ruins of the 5th-century St Dwynwen’s Chapel at its tip.
We parked at the main Beach Car Park and followed one of the waymarked trails through the trees, emerging onto the sweeping sands of Newborough Warren. The incoming tide meant we couldn’t venture onto Ynys Llanddywn itself, but we found a vantage point among the dunes and admired it from afar over a picnic lunch, the peaks of Snowdonia silhouetted in the distance beyond.
TIP: If you want to visit Yns Llanddywn, make sure you check tide times in advance as it’s cut off for an hour or so either side of high tide. If you end up stranded on it when the tide comes in, don’t attempt to wade or swim back – instead, wait it out in the shelter provided.
Red Squirrels at Llyn Parc Mwr
Anglesey is one of the few places in the British Isles where native red squirrels still thrive (elsewhere, they’ve largely been wiped out by grey squirrels introduced from North America in the 19th century). Newborough is home to a large proportion of them, and there’s a circular ‘Red Squirrel Discovery Trail’ from the Llyn Parc Mwr car park.
It’s a lovely 3km walk through tranquil woodland and sun-dappled glades, but we didn’t see any squirrels – until we got back to the car park and found two of them in the tree right next to our car! We spent more than half an hour watching them scurry along the branches, squabble over access to a feeding box and nibble on the bounty inside – a real treat, and something I didn’t think I’d ever get to see in the UK.
All photography by Abi Dare
