Since my first couple of weeks being here, I have wanted to take a weekend trip to Wales. As I’ve mentioned before, I really wanted to get to know the UK before jetting off to other countries on the Continent like most people tend to do. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I’ve kind of already done those trips and really wanted to be knowledgeable about the area that I was in! I don’t think a trip to Northern Ireland is happening during the rest of my time here, but I’ve now officially been to all of Great Britain! (Great Britain is England, Scotland, and Wales. The United Kingdom is those three plus Northern Ireland.)
I knew that my trip to Wales would have to involve some sort of hiking. I love the city, but nothing beats a good hike out in nature. And Wales provides so much opportunity for all kinds of outdoor adventures! I was torn for the longest time about where in Wales I actually wanted to go, but when you have a cousin who showers praise on North Wales, it kinda makes up your mind for you (hey Joe 
). I settled on staying in the village of Betws-y-Coed (I don’t think I pronounced it correctly once) right on the edge of Snowdonia National Park. There was a train from London that went right into the village which made transportation easier, and I figured that with the proximity of the National Park, there would be lots of nice and scenic walks to do close by (here they call hikes “walks”). It was also fairly close to a couple places that Joe had told me that I HAD to go visit.
). I settled on staying in the village of Betws-y-Coed (I don’t think I pronounced it correctly once) right on the edge of Snowdonia National Park. There was a train from London that went right into the village which made transportation easier, and I figured that with the proximity of the National Park, there would be lots of nice and scenic walks to do close by (here they call hikes “walks”). It was also fairly close to a couple places that Joe had told me that I HAD to go visit.
I think the hardest thing about this trip was the transportation inside of Wales. Ideally, if you visit Wales, the easiest way to get around would be by car. I’ve been spoiled by the fabulous public transportation here in London But I had figured out that there was a bus system that could get me from place to place. However, it was kind of difficult to find information on where the actual bus stops would be, even though there was a wealth of information about all the different timetables. Oh well, I did get it all figured out!
But I had figured out that there was a bus system that could get me from place to place. However, it was kind of difficult to find information on where the actual bus stops would be, even though there was a wealth of information about all the different timetables. Oh well, I did get it all figured out!
I got into Betws-y-Coed around 2pm last Saturday (Nov 18th) (it was about a 4 hour train journey) and then I needed to head to my hostel. I had previously emailed them to figure out how to actually get there from the train station without a car, but she told me it was only 2 miles away which isn’t horrible to walk. What I didn’t know was that the village itself wasn’t even 2 miles long so it ended up being a lot of walking along the road/river to get there instead of just walking from one end of the town to the other. And it was all uphill! However, I was rewarded with the beautiful scenery on the way there – I literally just kept saying “wow” and stopping to take pictures.
When I finally got to my hostel I checked in, dropped off my stuff, and went for a little hike/walk further down the road. The early sunset forced me to call it a day, and I grabbed a pint in the little bar (my hostel was operated by the hotel right next door) before heading back to the room. At this point I was just kind of twiddling my thumbs because I couldn’t really go anywhere easily (I should mention that I was the only one in my room the entire time, and it was like me and 2 other older men in the hostel for the entire time.) Instead I used this time to plan what I was going to do the next day. I had gone back and forth about doing this pretty intense hike up to Mount Snowdon, which is the tallest mountain in England and Wales (which at 1085m isn’t thaaat tall, but if you start all the way from the very bottom it’s quite a hike). Apparently if you’re in the vicinity it’s THE thing to do, and I love a good hike that really makes your body hurt a little bit and appreciate the ability to be able to climb like that, with a nice view as a reward. Butttt. It was winter. And I had no idea what the weather was going to be like. A week before, the forecast was saying that it was just going to be cold, foggy, rainy and windy all week, which doesn’t make for a good hike, especially if there’s not good visibility. And especially if it’s estimated to take 6 hours for a “reasonably fit person.” And I kept reading things like “only walk it in the winter with the proper equipment” and “have a compass with you;” things like that don’t exactly inspire confidence. But when I checked the summit weather again the night before, it had completely changed. It was supposed to be sunny with great visibility, and the cold and wind weren’t projected to be that bad. When I had previously convinced myself I was going to do it, I had figured out the bus route to get there so I pulled that up again to confirm, and suddenly had convinced myself that this was very much happening. I made a sandwich for myself, and threw that plus an apple and a Clif Bar into my backpack for the next day, and hastily went to bed so that I could be well rested.
Here’s where the bus stop issue comes in. The bus that would take me to the car park where that path started left Betws-y-Coed at 9:10am. That was a 40 minute walk away. So I needed to give myself enough time to get down there and figure out where the actual bus stop was because if I missed it, there wouldn’t be another one for 30-45 minutes. And if I was giving myself roughly 6 hours do this the lil hike, the last bus that left the car park to come back left within a little under 7 hours of me arriving there so I was already pressed for time. Needless to say, I was kind of worried about the whole thing, and no one could give me great information about the reliability of it/where the stops were because virtually no one comes without a car. So I’m sitting down at the bus stop in the village and it is dead. None of the shops are open yet, no one is really out, and I can hear nothing that would indicate a bus coming. However, at 9:08, a bus rolled around and I was just about as relieved as you could get. I hopped on, paid my 1.50, and we whisked off to the car park.
I should say that there actually was a bus stop right outside of my hotel complex. But because I had never ridden this bus system before and on the timetable the village stop was in bold but the one outside my hotel was not (there wasn’t much else around us so it wouldn’t have been a main stop) I wasn’t too trusting of it. Plus, my bus driver wasn’t stopping at any of the bus stops on the way to the car park, (I don’t know if he was doing this because there weren’t people at them or because the next bold stop was the car park so it was the next obligatory stop) which just made me even more nervous about trying to live from the hotel one. In hindsight I was really working myself up when I didn’t need to be, but it was my only method of transportation. Plussss I was already kind of anxious about what the conditions on the mountain would be like. Just because it was sunny didn’t mean there wouldn’t be snow, in which case I would have to turn back. Regardless of all of my worrying, I made it safe and sound to the car park and set off down my trail, the Pyg trail, that would take me to the top.
I thought that the summit you see here was Snowdon. I was wrong. It was much further, and higher. But this gives you a sense for what the majority of the path looked like; just a bunch of stones put together that kind of make stairs. A large part of the trail seemed like I was just walking up stairs that were slightly too tall for me… my glutes reallyyyy hurt the next day!
You can see that the valleys are really pretty, and it’s shaping up to be a really sunny day!
I should also mention that even though it looks like a barren trail, I strategically took my pictures to avoid having people in them I always had people within 20-30 feet of me (I would often hike with a couple, or a family), and when I got closer to the top, it got quite busy as more of the paths joined together. I was really appreciative of this because it’s always nice to have other people nearby on a hike!
I always had people within 20-30 feet of me (I would often hike with a couple, or a family), and when I got closer to the top, it got quite busy as more of the paths joined together. I was really appreciative of this because it’s always nice to have other people nearby on a hike!
That summit, with the tiny bit of cloud cover, is the Snowdon Summit.
At this point, the trail became a lot rockier and you had to use some strategy and planning in choosing exactly which pile of rocks you wanted to scamper up. You kind of get a sense for that in the picture above. You could also pretty much always see the path, but sometimes it was a little difficult to connect where you were with where the path 10 feet ahead of you was haha. We worked together a lot here.
More rock climbing you can see people all the way at the top, and then we turned left and walked along the ridge until we got to the summit.
you can see people all the way at the top, and then we turned left and walked along the ridge until we got to the summit.
This was the amazing view from the top of the ridge looking down on the other side. Once we got up here it got significantly colder, probably because the side of the mountain had been blocking the wind up until this point. You can kind of see a railway track; in the non-winter months they have a train that comes up here in case you don’t want to walk all the way up/down. The easiest trail up also follows this track.
Visibility from the top. Wow check out those views right?? Yeah you could say it was a little anticlimactic. Plus it was super cold so I didn’t stay up here long at all. No snow on the ground, but you can see a little bit of ice on the moss; it didn’t make the ground slippery though. I wish I had gotten a picture of myself at the top because it kind of looks cool with a foggy background but I was too preoccupied with the cold and wanting to get down before the fog moved further down. The fog actually wasn’t an issue once you got 20 ft down, it was just that little cloud sitting at the very top. However, as the day went on it did get progressively cloudier so I was glad I had gotten up earlier rather than later. And speaking of getting up there early, in classic Team Gerth style, I made it up in 2 hours instead of 3 This gave me some space to take my time getting down and also allowed me to take an earlier bus back to the hostel, and not have to worry about making the last one.
Yeah you could say it was a little anticlimactic. Plus it was super cold so I didn’t stay up here long at all. No snow on the ground, but you can see a little bit of ice on the moss; it didn’t make the ground slippery though. I wish I had gotten a picture of myself at the top because it kind of looks cool with a foggy background but I was too preoccupied with the cold and wanting to get down before the fog moved further down. The fog actually wasn’t an issue once you got 20 ft down, it was just that little cloud sitting at the very top. However, as the day went on it did get progressively cloudier so I was glad I had gotten up earlier rather than later. And speaking of getting up there early, in classic Team Gerth style, I made it up in 2 hours instead of 3 This gave me some space to take my time getting down and also allowed me to take an earlier bus back to the hostel, and not have to worry about making the last one.
I decided to take a different trail, the Miner’s Trail, back down so that I wouldn’t see the same thing all over again. Plus, it can be just as hard if not harder to go down a mountain than it is to go up it, and although the Miner’s Trail was a little bit longer with a very steep part to go down at the beginning, it was overall much flatter, and made my knees much happier!
I made it down to the base, which is occupied by Llyn Llydaw. Joe tells me that this is the lake it is rumored that King Arthur threw Excalibur back into. You can see it’s getting cloudier now, but it’s still beautiful. I feel like I really haven’t made that point enough. Every bit of this hike was stunning, and the weather aside from the top, was perfect.
The Miner’s Trail gradually makes its way along the outside of the lake (and it’s flat thank goodness!) until you actually cross over it and wrap around the hills back to the car park.
And I made it! Only took me 4 hours instead of 6 because I am a speed demon mountain goat. The stars really seemed to align for me on this one with the weather working out and there being so many nice people on the trails (A family I was walking with stopped for a fuel break – Mars candy bars haha – and offered me one! Definitely gave me the extra push I needed I also got quite a bit of the “Oh you’re a long way from home” upon hearing my accent; it always gives me away!!! ) The sign above kind of gives you a sense for what the paths were like. I took the all red one up, then took the other branch back down to the yellow.
I also got quite a bit of the “Oh you’re a long way from home” upon hearing my accent; it always gives me away!!! ) The sign above kind of gives you a sense for what the paths were like. I took the all red one up, then took the other branch back down to the yellow.
I still had about an hour before a bus was supposed to come by and I was WORN OUT so I popped into the little cafe at the car park and ordered a large hot chocolate WITH whipped cream and marshmallows because 1. that is the only proper way to do hot chocolate and 2. I deserved it. I also thought I would go ahead a buy a bag of chips too. It ended up being a little expensive (like 2 pounds for a small bag of chips) but I just figured that it was because we were in a remote area and went over to select my flavor. The girl at the cashier had headed towards the kitchen but then stopped and headed back to tell me she was sorry she had overcharged me. Guess what guys, I made THE rookie mistake and forgot that when I said I wanted CHIPS that actually means FRIES. It was all fine and we all just laughed about it but I was a little mad at myself because I am madam local of London and should have known better
When the bus showed up, I told the bus driver that I would liked to be dropped off at the hotel bus stop so I would not have to walk all the way back up to the hostel and he did. This confirmed for me that it actually was a real bus stop hahahaha and I ended up using it the next day with no trouble at all.
I got back to my room, cleaned up a bit, and decided I wanted a hot and hearty meal so I went back to the little cafe/bar and ordered a lamb hotpot (basically like beef stew) which definitely hit the spot! (Those are scalloped potatoes on the top, so yum.) I don’t know why people don’t like British food more, it really is the best!!
Moving onto my next, and final day in Wales (it is now Monday the 20th). Today was the day I was gonna check out Bangor and Caernarfon, home of Caernarfon Castle. Figuring out bus routes was even trickier this day because even though I knew where the stops around me were, there wasn’t a route from where I was that took me directly to either of those 2 cities, so I needed to make a connection, and line it up with the timetables of the other routes to make sure I wasn’t waiting an hour for the next one to show. It actually all worked pretty smoothly and I ended up buying a day pass for the bus that saved me a little bit of money. Now I could have just taken the train from the village to Bangor and then a bus into Caernarfon and back, but even with all the different journeys, taking just the bus was still half as expensive and as a savvy college gal I opted for the cheaper option. So I really can’t complain about the buses anyway (Which *disclaimer* ended up being very reliable and easy to use!!! Very grateful for this and for having all the information accessible online because otherwise it would have been a lot harder for me to see all of these cool things! So while a car in Wales is preferable, it’s not a must!)
Moving onto my next, and final day in Wales (it is now Monday the 20th). Today was the day I was gonna check out Bangor and Caernarfon, home of Caernarfon Castle. Figuring out bus routes was even trickier this day because even though I knew where the stops around me were, there wasn’t a route from where I was that took me directly to either of those 2 cities, so I needed to make a connection, and line it up with the timetables of the other routes to make sure I wasn’t waiting an hour for the next one to show. It actually all worked pretty smoothly and I ended up buying a day pass for the bus that saved me a little bit of money. Now I could have just taken the train from the village to Bangor and then a bus into Caernarfon and back, but even with all the different journeys, taking just the bus was still half as expensive and as a savvy college gal I opted for the cheaper option. So I really can’t complain about the buses anyway (Which *disclaimer* ended up being very reliable and easy to use!!! Very grateful for this and for having all the information accessible online because otherwise it would have been a lot harder for me to see all of these cool things! So while a car in Wales is preferable, it’s not a must!)
It took me about an hour and a half to get to Bangor which I soon discovered had nothing of interest. Plus this day was just really wet and dreary so it really wasn’t a nice day to be out exploring anyway. In an effort to do somethinggg I walked towards the Menai Strait just to see it. Had I had more time and not been carrying all my stuff (I had checked out of the hostel that morning so that I could just go straight to the train station from my last place) I would have wanted to cross the bridge and check the other side out because it looked kind of nice! But instead, I caught the bus to Caernarfon – it took about 30 minutes to get there.
I immediately liked Caernarfon so much more than Bangor. It just looked nicer overall and there seemed to be more to do and see. However, I directed all of my efforts towards this castle, because as you know, I’m a castle girl 
The next million pictures are from different areas inside the castle. I LOVED it. I think I ended up spending up over 2 hours there and went through every single passageway and up every single tower. It is absolutely amazing to be that 800 years ago people lived here and that it is still so intact today. History was shaped here (England and Wales were seemingly joined under the same ruler and the first Prince of Wales was crowned here, as well as the current one!) It’s amazing to think of all that went on there, both battles and just daily life. Although it’s pretty crude, it offers a wonderful look into the past, and it’s just plain cool!!
The spiral staircases were so tight and soo steep; I’m glad they had ropes along the side of the walls. Between all my climbing at Snowdon and all my climbing of each tower here, my legs were WORN OUT.
I also really enjoyed the accessibility of the castle. Of course not every single part of it was open (mainly rooms that would have been bedrooms or stuff like that were closed off) but I wasn’t expecting to be able to walk to the top of each tower and walk through little passageways between them.
With my remaining time before the next bus for my way back, I just poked around the rest of Caernarfon a little bit. It definitely retains the history well! 
When I arrived in the Betws-y-Coed village I actually had about 3 hours of downtime. It’s a pretty tourist oriented village, so I just took my time looking through the shops. I actually caved and bought a little stick of clotted cream fudge because I feel like fudge is a thing here… but it just tasted like caramel haha. Time was still going by really slowly and I ended up being enticed by a coffee shop/cafe that advertised all day breakfast. Nothing beats a traditional English breakfast (even if it’s 4:30pm) and it was actually priced really well compared to what I’ve seen elsewhere… and for all the food I got! It filled the hole in my stomach I didn’t know I had The train station was right next door and I ended up getting into London around 9:30 and was home by 10! Quite the busy weekend (I definitely slept in late the next day), but I was so glad I got to get outside (both physically, and just outside of busy London) and be active, and see an awesome castle!!
When I arrived in the Betws-y-Coed village I actually had about 3 hours of downtime. It’s a pretty tourist oriented village, so I just took my time looking through the shops. I actually caved and bought a little stick of clotted cream fudge because I feel like fudge is a thing here… but it just tasted like caramel haha. Time was still going by really slowly and I ended up being enticed by a coffee shop/cafe that advertised all day breakfast. Nothing beats a traditional English breakfast (even if it’s 4:30pm) and it was actually priced really well compared to what I’ve seen elsewhere… and for all the food I got! It filled the hole in my stomach I didn’t know I had The train station was right next door and I ended up getting into London around 9:30 and was home by 10! Quite the busy weekend (I definitely slept in late the next day), but I was so glad I got to get outside (both physically, and just outside of busy London) and be active, and see an awesome castle!!
As always, thanks for reading 
-Katie
Katie, a senior Biology major, is spending the Fall 2017 semester studying Health & Society at King's College in London through Arcadia University.
Read more from Katie at https://katientheuk.wordpress.com/
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