This isn’t a long hike, sort of a rest day. We needed a small number of supplies from the local Co-op, it is rainy, windy and cold. A welcome change from Atlanta where it is dry, hot (95F, 34C), and smelling of car exhaust.
There is a steam train, so we do get the occasional wiff of coal smoke. That’s a welcome change.
The local websites give the times for the Snowdon train, but we’ll do that trip under our own power. There’s a 35L ticket that lets you use this train and the busses all day.
We hiked first uphill and across the face of old slate workings. Originally I planned to go for a longer bit of the trail, but the soil is completely waterlogged. It is a normal Welsh summer.
The tracks, sans train, run uphill from the house we hired.
Blaenau Ffestiniog from the hill. Our feet were still dry at this moment.
The clouds cover the mountains in this weather. Serious wet-weather gear is a necessity in these mountains. This is a place where you can get in trouble quickly, and not for speaking English in the Y Tap (a Welsh language pub that’s only a kilometer away).
Welsh flags are everywhere. They did well in the EU cup, not so well in the Brexit vote.
R. Harrison, Creative Enterprises 