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26 Oct 2008 Snowdon Hike October 2008

[Misc]

If you can't watch the video above I said:

So what does a guy do when he's got a week off work and doesn't have much to do? Why he goes off hiking up the tallest mountain in England and Wales apparently. Last Thursday I got a spontaneous invite from a work colleague, J, to go hiking and camping up Snowdon, in North Wales, for the weekend. I thought "Yeah, I'll give it a go. Good exercise. How hard can it be?"

On Saturday morning, after a hearty breakfast, we all drove to our starting point at the foot of the mountain. But the car park was full and they were not letting anymore people in. So we had to pull over and quickly rethink our starting point (which incidentally worked out in my favour because it meant us starting on the easiest hike route, rather than the hard bastard route that J had in mind).

Once we reached the foot of the mountain and did our final check of our camping gear we began our hike up Snowdon. And man, it was hard.

Still it was a sunny day, we got to see the sights (which included sheep, grass and the train that ran up and down the mountain), and we were heading to the top of the mountain, which was deep in the clouds.

We stopped by a cafe that is about halfway up the mountain for a quick snack and to check on the map exactly where we were.

Then we continued with the hike. By this point my rucksack full of camping gear was getting very heavy, my legs were straining under the pressure, and I was lagging behind.

Then we actually walked into the clouds [show video] and the nice weather was gone, to be replaced with low visibility, cold winds and spitting showers. But the bastard hard part was stepping up those bloody stepping stones, the ones that made you lift your legs and knees up on every step, for what felt like an eternity. Suffice to say Grax was tired.

Mind you I did find it odd that there were various people walking down the mountain with less clothes than us. Even people with shorts! Not to mention all the crazy people mountain biking down the track in the wet, cloudy weather. One thing that did make me chuckle was watching this little girl bawling her eyes out as her dad took her down the mountain.

In the end we made it to the top of the Snowdon mountain. And there is photographic evidence of us at the top. We rested our hands on the sun dial thingy that was at the top.

We shortly found a quiet spot to rest up and began digging into our rations, which had a surprizingly good spread of food. I tell you Solid Snake has the good life if his rations were as good as what the MoD provide their troops. We took the time to reflect upon how the hiking has gone so far.

Feeling temporarily recharged we made our way back down the mountain, [show video] through the dense fog and with me lagging behind again. One disappointing aspect of the hike was there wasn't enough time to stop and admire the scenery and the views (even though there wasn't exactly much to see). Despite looking like a scene straight out of Silent Hill I felt strangely calm and tranquil and I just wanted to sit down, relax, and take it all in. Even if it was spitting.

But no, I was to be denied this luxury because we had to reach the bottom of the mountain before nightfall to set up camp. We all pressed on through the cloud. Quite literally; when we came out the other side we found out that the weather for all the people at the bottom was still the sunny day we had at the start of the hike. Bugger. But we were still only halfway until we reached the foot of the mountain. Bugger.

Anyways, we made it to the foot just as it was getting dark. We then drove to the nearest campsite, set up camp, finished our rations for dinner and stayed up late drinking rum and whisky whilst playing this cool dice game. I think it's called Hot Dice, but I bet it has many names.

Despite all the strain, sweat, panting, and aching muscles (my calfs are still aching a bit) it was a bloody great hike. It was me first proper hike and I'm quite looking forward to me next hike, wherever it might be.

Posted at: 16:40 PM

Your Thoughts

Suzie said on Sunday 26th of October 2008 at 05:35:34 PM

Gravatar Well, what a nice round up of the day!!! I love how enthusiastic your comrades were! Its a very amusing video... xxx

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