Around Scotland: SNOWDON

Saturday 31 August 2013

SNOWDON

naszych wakacji ciag dalszy, odslona druga -Snowdonia

poznym popoludniem opuscilysmy miasteczko Conwy I udalysmy sie na poludnie, do snowdonii. waskimi drogami dojechalysmy do bewts-y-coed a potem kierowalysmy sie na Snowdon. zatrzymalysmy sie na kampingu ktory byl chyba najblizej snowdona, w sumie moznaby isc z niego pieszo na gore... ale komu by sie chcialo :)

kamping byl dosc slaby jesli chodzi o lazienki, szczegolnie prysznice. ulokowany nad samym jeziorem, z praktycznych wzgledow -niestety, bardzo wietrzne miejsce...bardzo, ponadto nie bylo zbytnio mozliwosci ulokowania samochodu I namiotu blisko, jako ze do parkowania byly wyznaczone miejsca parkingowe jakby na obrzezach laki na namioty.. ale co mi sie podobalo, to, ze mieli specjalne metalowe konstrukcje (przenosne) na ktorych kazdy mogl rozpalic swoje ognisko (I nie wypalac trawy), drewno dostarczali w wielkich siatach (£4 za siate). rozwiazanie sprawy z ogniskami naprawde bardzo mi sie podobalo.

niestety, walia slynie z mokrosci haha wiec oczywiscie cala noc lal deszcz. rowniez rano (namiot jednak wytrzymal!) wiec po obudzeniu przyszlo pytanie 'co robimy?' mialysmy isc na Snowdon, no ale przeciez pada.. I gory cale zakryte chmurami... postanowilysmy wsiasc do suchego samochodu I pomyslec o opcjach. w koncu wiedzac ze pogoda nie ma sie poprawic nastepnego dnia, zdecydowalysmy isc na Snowdon. skoro juz siedzialysmy w samochodzie to ja odpalilam silnik I po prostu ruszylysmy.

na parkingu w pen y pass dojechalysmy 7.15 I to wtedy nam sie przypomnialo ze w sumie to 'wsiadlysmy I pojechalysmy' ... a cos do jedzenia, sniadanie? kanapki na droge? mapka?

to jest swietny przyklad na nasza spontanicznosc :)

na szczescie wszystko w sumie mialysmy w samochodzie wiec juz na parking przebralam sie z pizamy w normalnie ciuchy, zjadlysmy sniadanie, zrobilysmy kanapki itd.

parking w pen y pass jest dosc maly jak na popularnosc miejsca, rzeczywiscie trzeba byc tam okolo 7rano, nawet w deszczowy dzien zeby zalapac sie na miejsce. no I oplata za parking (£4 za 4godz, £10 za caly dzien)... nie dosc ze cale 10 funtow (za parking na jakims zadupiu!!!) to jeszcze oczywiscie trzeba je wrzucic do maszyny W MONETACH! warto pamietac I byc gotowym, kafejka otwiera sie dopiero od 8 wiec nie ma gdzie rozmieniac.

our holidays, continued - Snowdonia

late afternoon we left the nice town of Conwy and drove to bewts y coed, then further towards mount Snowdon. we stayed at the campsite which was nearest to the mountain, we could easily just walk up to Snowdon from the campsite (but who would bother to do that?!?!)

in general the campsite was ok, rather poor facilities, especially showers. practical points - located just at the lake -good in warm weather but we were not lucky and it was pretty windy. another practical tip -they want people to leave cars on the boarders of pitch area so in general people had their cars parked around and not next to the tents, which could be wee bit awkward sometimes. but what I really liked was the solution to 'bonfire desire'.

they had some portable iron constructions to light a fire on (without burning the grass around), also they had timber on sale (£4 for a big-big bag of timber).

unfortunately, wales is famous of its wet climate, therefore no surprises there -it rained all night.. and morning (tent managed it!! yeah!). morning came and question of 'what to do today' was heavy like clouds on the mountains' summits.

we decided to get in the dry car and think of the options. we knew the forecast was exactly the same for next days.. so finally we decided to stick to the plan and climb Snowdon. as we were in the car already, I just started the engine and we drove up to pen y pass. only when we got there I realised I was still in my pyjamas, no breakfast, no sandwiches etc

here is a great example of our spontaneousness :)

luckily we kept everything in the car anyway so I dressed properly at the car park and we made some sandwiches and stuff, we also had Snowdonia map in the car, so everything went well :)

pen y pass car park is rather small, especially thinking how popular the place is, so even arriving at 7.15 on a rainy day it was already very busy. parking is small but expensive - 4 hrs stay is charged £4, whole day £10! and you have to pay at the machine which takes coins only! think about it, as the café opens at 8am so there isn't any place around to get the change!

(map copyright ordnance survey)

na czerwono -nasza trasa

na niebiesko -planowana trasa (ale pogoda nie pozwolila)

x -kamping

naprawde to ja sie bardzo nastawialam zeby wejsc przez crib goch, ale zastana pogoda to raczej uniemozliwila (sliskie mokre wydeptane skaly oraz totalny brak widokow, eee nie warto ryzykowac)

kiedy pozniej bylysmy juz na szczycie snowdona przekonalysmy sie ze podjelysmy sluszna decyzje biorac latwiejsza sciezke. gran szczytowa snowdona byla owiana zimnym silnym wiatrem oraz widocznosc okolo 20 metrow... coz... nastepnym razem crib goch!

in red - our route

in blue -route we planned, weather permitting

x -our campsite

I really wanted to go via crib goch, but in my opinion the weather was too bad. slippery wet rocks and total lack of views, noooo, not worth the risk. when we reached the summit of Snowdon later that day, I was happy we decided to take easier path, summit ridge was a total whiteout with a freezing cold strong wind blowing. well... next time we'll get you crib goch!

poprzedniego dnia, widok na masyw snowdona

previous day, view to the area of Snowdon

kamping nad jeziorem / our campsite just at the lake

nie, to nie Snowdon (ukrywa sie w chmurze), to wlasnie slynny I straszny crib goch

no, it is not Snowdon (he's hiding in clouds) this is crib goch, the scary one, apparently

poranek nastepnego dnia I nawet crib goch jest w chmurze!

next day morning and even crib goch is hiding in clouds!

wchodzilysmy z parking sciezka pyg track, bardzo dobra sciezka, niezbyt ostro wznoszaca sie w gore, bardzo dobrze sie szlo

we chose pyg track to go up and I really liked it - taking us up the hill but not steeply, liked it very much

jako ze bylysmy w snowdonii pierwszy raz I nie bylysmy pewne czego oczekiwac, na parking zapytalysmy dwie dziewczyny ktore wlasnie wychodzily na szlak czy idac pyg track bedzie jakas sciezka, odpowiedzialy ze 'tak sobie' ... coz jesli nazywacie TO 'tak sobie' sciezka to zapraszam do nas do szkocji! to na zdjeciu to jest jak autostrada raczej niz sciezka!

as it was our first time in Snowdonia and I wasn't sure what to expect, I asked two girls at the car park (they were just leaving and going up).. so I asked them if there is any path easy to follow if we take pyg track. they replied 'so-so'... well, if this track on the picture is only a 'so-so' path for you guys then feel free to come to us, to Scotland, and see what 'real life' paths are like :) this on the picture is more like a motorway than a path!