Snowdon by Ted Bruning
At 1085 metres, Snowdon is, as we all know ,
the highest mountain in Wales or anywhere
else in Britain except Scotland, for that
matter. But if Ben Nevis has the edge in terms
of height, Snowdon is unique in another way:
it's the only mountain in Britain you can walk
down without having first walked up.
You can walk up, of course, and more
than half of the 350,000 people who make it
to the top every year do. But it takes over
three hours even for the moderately fit, and
it's definitely a boots-and-kagoule walk,
Snowdon Summit Station
because no matter how warm it is at
Llanberis, it'll be freezing at the top. from the fact that before you is the brand-
Besides, after all the effort and new £8 million Hafod Eryri café and visitors'
investment that went into building the centre, Britain's highest licensed premises
Rheilffordd Yr Wyddfa or Snowdon and, therefore, another of Snowdon's
Mountain Railway, it seems churlish not to unique features.
take advantage of it. Actually, there has been a café here ever
The railway opened on Easter Monday since the railway opened. The first, a shack
1896, and such was the skill of its designers that served very welcome hot drinks was
and builders that little change has been soon replaced by a hotel and bar that lasted
needed since. The same Swiss-designed until the 1930s, when it was in turn replaced
double rack and pinion track still locks the by a modest concrete effort best described
locomotives in its firm embrace as they as a shoebox with views. But this glorified
shoulder their single 56-seat carriages at a bothie eventually proved unequal to the
steady 7kph up the improbable gradients. growing numbers of visitors and had to
If the technology is pretty much make way for the eco-friendly Hafod Eryri.
unchanged, the geology is even more so. And it has to be said that it's not a bad
Immediately after leaving the station on its building. Long and low and of dull grey slate,
hour-long ascent, your train heaves itself it wraps itself almost unobtrusively around a
over the viaducts through a screen of crag like a miniature Tibetan monastery.
scrubby oaks. Then the trees are gone, and Inside, of course, it's a café-cum-visitors'
all around you are the gaunt, naked flanks of centre much like any other, robustly built to
primeval mountains, their rocky bones withstand the impact of 350,000 pairs of
breaking through the thin soil in eruptions of mountain boots every season and not what
jagged crags, tumbled boulders, and slicks of you'd call cosy. But then it was never
scree. intended as a place to linger: if you're taking
At last your train puffs into the Summit the train back down you only have half an
Station, whose views are said to extend as hour here, and if you miss it you have a
far as Ireland. Don't feel cheated, though, if minimum two hours' hike ahead of you.
you can hardly see your hand in front of
* Snowdon Mountain Railway adult return
your face: you are, after all, over 3,500ft up
tickets cost £23 for a 2½-hour round trip.
and the cloudbase is often some way below
Booking essential – telephone 0844 493
you. You can always take comfort, though,
8120 or visit
www.snowdonrailway.co.uk
12
To advertise call 01590 643969 or e-mail
info@lymingtondirectory.co.uk
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