Last summer Linnea and I recruited another couple, Charlie and Kaitlin, to join us on a backpacking trip in Snowdonia National Park in Wales over a long weekend. By backpacking I mean we hiked hut to hut with just medium-sized backpacks (30-40 liters) and without any camping gear. Despite being just a 4 night trip, it took a substantial amount of planning because we strung together several hikes that are typically done as separate day hikes. Without the option to call a taxi in a remote place without cell phone service, I had to be certain that each day of hiking was well thought out to get us from one hostel to the next. Early on in figuring out our itinerary I stumbled across this blog post and found it very reassuring that others had managed similar trips. Hopefully someone discovers this blog post and finds it equally useful.
Day 1 - drive to Wales
After work we drove from Bristol to Llanberis, a small town in Snowdonia, where we stayed the night. Not much to say about this straightforward drive, but here’s a fun detail about Welsh: Llanberis is not pronounced how you think it is. The “LL” sound in Welsh is pronounced like an “S” with a lisp.
Day 2 - Carnedd Llewelyn and Dafydd to YHA Idwal Cottage
We woke up to heavy wind and rain, which we saw coming in the forecast. This forced us to change our plans because our original itinerary had us spending a full day hiking from Aber Falls to YHA Idwal Cottage. Instead, we had a lazy morning at a charming local cafe (Mafon) waiting out the bad weather, adjusting our hiking plan, and figuring out where to park our rental car for the next few days. We considered parking on the street in the center of Llanberis or driving a little bit out of town to park it on a quiet side street, but weren’t sure whether either option would result in a ticket or getting towed. In the end we stumbled across Electric Mountain, a museum with a parking lot that allows overnight parking. Car sorted, storm over, and hiking plan amended, we called the taxi company (https://prsnowdoniataxis.com/, recommended to book in advance) and headed to the start of our trek.
Using AllTrails, which I highly recommend for finding hikes and planning trips like this, we guided the taxi driver to drop us off at the trailhead. Here’s what our hike looked like:
Carnedd Llewelyn and Dafydd to YHA Idwal Cottage. Click the image for a link to the map in AllTrails.
The start of the hike was a steady incline into sheep-covered mountains. Being a lightly-trafficked area, we saw barely any other humans. When we got close to the first peak, we ascended into a fog. For the next couple of hours, we dipped into and out of the fog, sometimes able to see only 50 feet in front of us, other times able to make out the surrounding scenery. Once we began descending, we were treated to a few gorgeous views:
Part of the reason that this view was so nice is due to the descent being very steep. I wouldn’t recommend the route that we took for most people; getting down was harrowing, including one spot that required a maneuver somewhere between scrambling and rock climbing. We made it down in one piece, breathed a sigh of relief, and checked into YHA Idwal Cottage. We stayed in the Anglesey Hut, a small building separate from the rest of the hostel that we had to ourselves. Since the hostel doesn’t serve food, we made dinner from some dry goods that we carried in our backpacks. They do, however, serve beer, so we treated ourselves to a pint before an early night.
Day 3 - YHA Idwal Cottage to YHA Pen-y-Pass via Devil's Kitchen
This was our first full day of backpacking, which meant we had to make ourselves breakfast. In our backpacks we carried powdered eggs, instant mashed potatoes, taco seasoning, cheese, and tortillas for some just-add-water breakfast burritos. Honestly, they were delicious. Similar to the first hike, this hike started with a steady ascent. We had the trail mostly to ourselves for the first half, but the second half was somewhat busy. Here’s what this hike looked like:
YHA Idwal Cottage to YHA Pen-y-Pass via Devil's Kitchen. Click the image for a link to the map in AllTrails.
As we ascended, the fog became heavy and the wind was gusting. When we got to Devil’s Kitchen, we began hiking through ancient-looking, moss-covered rock formations. While the weather wasn’t as pleasant as we had hoped, for about an hour it felt like we were on another planet:
Linnea adds a rock to the cairn, which is a pile of rocks used for wayfinding. These are extremely helpful on foggy days.
As we slowly descended, the fog lifted and again we were treated to great views. Once out of the wind and fog, we stopped for a lunch of ramen noodles before making our way down the mountain and along the road to YHA Pen-y-Pass. This hostel serves dinner, so we spent the afternoon and evening playing cards and enjoying their mediocre*, but hot, food.
Day 4 - Snowdon via Miner's Track and Pyg Track
Our last day of hiking turned out to be the most crowded and worst weather of the long weekend. Mount Snowdon is the highest peak in Wales, so people come from all over for the day hike. Despite crowds and scattered showers, 80% of it was lovely. The 20% that was not lovely was when we approached the summit. On a clear day, supposedly you can see for miles. On this day, the fog meant very limited visibility and gale force winds threatened to knock us over. Luckily, there is a visitor’s center near the top where we warmed up and had a snack before turning around. Any day spent hiking in the mountains is a good day, but I was particularly pleased to be done and wearing dry clothes when we got back to the hostel. If you’re curious, here’s the route that we took:
Snowdon via Miner's Track and Pyg Track. Click the image for a link to the map in AllTrails.
Day 5 - back to Bristol
After breakfast we borrowed the front desk’s phone to call a taxi to Llanberis to retrieve our rental car and begin the journey back to Bristol. Overall, this long weekend was fabulous. I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys hiking. The four of us had a similar backpacking trip planned along the SW Coast Path in England over Easter weekend which was cancelled due to the pandemic. We hope to get back out there as soon as things open back up.
*3 out of 4 people on this trip gave five stars to the Beanz and cheese on jacket potatoes dish at the YHA Pen-y-Pass. The author of this blog post gave this dish two stars.