Llandudno and Snowden

Last weekend I took the train up to north Wales to the seaside town of Llandudno, which sits just outside Snowdonia National Park. Snowdonia is a mountainous region that has the highest peak in Wales (which is also the higher than England's highest peak that I already hiked, Scafell) at 1085 meters.

To see pics of my journey, click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/bbergey/Snowden

My trip started on Friday afternoon when I left work and took the tube to the train station. I was able to pack a bit lighter this time since I had booked a hostel instead of camping. The train ride took about 3.5 hours and I finally got to the town of Llandudno and my hostel. Since it was already pretty late, I walked around the center of town for a little while and then went to bed. I was the only one in my room of 10 beds the first night! Some of you have asked what the hostels are like, so I've included some pics of mine this time. It was in an old Victorian row house and was pretty nice. It had a large common room downstairs with a TV, a few shared bathrooms, and a dining room downstairs where they served a free light breakfast. They had dormitory rooms, which is where I stayed, and a few smaller rooms with just 2 or 3 beds each.

The girl I met a month earlier in the Lake District was in the same town for the week with some family and we had planned to hike Snowden on Saturday. Her uncle gave us a ride to the trailhead, which was about a half hour's drive from town. Unfortunately the weather wasn't clear, but it didn't rain that much on us. It was pretty windy on the ridges and summit, and there was a definite point where we were in the clouds instead of under the clouds, so the view from the top was non-existent.

Snowden is quite touristy since it has a small rail car that takes passengers up the better part of the mountain. We hiked up the back-side which was less crowded and very nice. We passed a couple lakes as we gained elevation and there were a few waterfalls falling from the higher surrounding peaks. There was also a really neat ruin near one of the lakes. I'm not sure what it was, but likely just an old house. Once we approached the final ridge to the summit, we were surrounded by many other walkers, most of whom likely got off the train and were walking the last part. The top of the mountain itself was extremely crowded and windy. We reached the top, took a pic, and then walked down a bit before taking a break for a quick snack. There was a small group of guys who carried up a keg of Guiness and were selling pints for charity. They ran out just after we got there.

The hike down was a little less appealing. For the most part, it followed the train route and was also less scenic. Near the bottom, I twisted my ankle pretty bad, which was still weak from when I twisted it running a few weeks ago. I managed to slowly make my way down the rest of the way where we caught the bus back to Llandudno, a journey that took nearly 2 hours!!

When I visit Wales, I feel like I'm visiting a foreign country. It's so odd to me that the Welsh language is still spoken and used in daily life. Everything you see is written in both English and Welsh, and the hardest part is that it is impossible to pronounce! For example, look at the following sentance:

Dewch i ddarganfod Eryri dros eich hunain!

First, how do you even begin to say any of those words? Second, there is no way you would ever know that it actually means: Come and discover Snowdonia for yourself! The name of my town, Llandundo is actually pronounced klan-did-no. The double "L" has more of a "K" sound. Weirdness.

After getting back to town we chilled out for a bit and then met up for dinner. We found a Thai place that looked pretty good and decided to eat there. After asking what they had to drink, we were told that they no longer served alcohol but we were welcome to walk across the street to the discount liquor store and get our own. That was pretty weird, but Sarah got us some nice local beer to enjoy during our meal. After dinner, we ventured over to the main pub in town where we heard loud German music coming from before. It just happened to be the weekend of the first annual Cottage Loaf Beer Festival at the Cottage Loaf Pub. It was complete with 20 kegs of local beers, a large outdoor covered seating area (despite the pouring rain) and some great live music. We decided to check it out, thinking that we'd have a beer and head home. Many pitchers of beer later, we were having a great time chatting with some new friends we met at the bar and wearing our festival t-shirts that were given to us free. I guess we met the right people! Unfortunately, the pubs in town shut down at midnight, but it didn't stop us from going to our new friends' flat and playing Play Station kareoke until 3am. Needless to say, it ended up being a long day and a very fun night.

The next day we woke up and met for some coffee and breakfast before strolling around town one last time and getting on the train. The train ride back to London was a bit longer and lasted over 5 hours. But I guess it was a relaxing way to end the weekend.