I'm starting to plan our vacation for the upcoming year. We are looking for some easy to moderate day hikes. Has anyone been to either Snowdonia or Lake District in the UK?
Snowdonia and Lake District
- Thread starter ShaverGN
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I've not climbed Snowdonia, drove past it a few times but I have visited the Lakes a bunch of times cycling, such as Windermere, Keswick, Kendal and Sedbergh. All stunning places and all being roughly within 80 miles.
I couldn't give you specifics regarding hikes at those places but narrowing searches down to those areas will bring a bunch of stuff up.
I've hiked Mt Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), up the track from Llanberis. It is a beautiful hike, not a difficult hike if you're used to hiking in hill country. It is one of my favorite memories of my visit to Gwynedd.
The lack of trees really tricks your sense of distance. Almost got run over by a flock of sheep coming down the mountain at one point.
There is a building a the top with refreshments, as well as a narrow gauge railway that you can ride up to the peak.
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- #5
That's the one I'm considering. Did you have to do any scrambling? Any walks close to a cliff edge? My SWMBO is a bit afraid of heights.
Where did you stay in Snowdonia? Tried any other trails, kayaking, horseback?
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- #6
What town would you recommend as a base for weeklong trip to the Lake District?
I live on the edge of the Lake District and walk there several times a month, and used to visit North Wales on most weekends to climb or walk. I love both areas, but would probably put the Lake District a touch ahead of Snowdonia in terms of variety of scenery. I must say here that Yr Wyddfa (please, not "Mount Snowdon") would not be my top choice of a mountain to climb in North Wales. While it does have some very interesting ascent routes, including by way of Crib Goch (a rather exposed scramble) the top boasts a visitor centre and railway station, which rather spoils the wild feel as far as I'm concerned. The Glydders, just to the north, are more dramatic and interesting, at least to me. If I was staying in that area, my recommendation for a base would be Betwys-y-Coed, which has a couple of grocery shops, a few pubs and any number of walking gear outlets.
As far as the Lake District goes, two good bases are Keswick and Ambleside, both of which have pretty good shops, pubs and other facilities, and a welcoming feel about them. Nearby mountains I would recommend include Blencathra, Helvellyn, Fairfield, Great Gable, Robinson and Hindscarth. All offer a variety of routes, taking anything from three or four hours to a full day, and some include quite difficult scrambles (Striding Edge on Helvellyn is a classic one, but quite exposed). However, there is only one mountain top in the Lake District which absolutely requires a scramble to get to the top, and that is Pillar Rock.
I don't feel I can recommend any specific routes at this point, because I don't know what represents "easy to moderate" to you. I would consider the routes to most Lake District mountain tops to be easy for me, but then some of my friends will go over eight such summits in a day and still say they'd had an easy trip.
Somehow I don't feel I've given any adequate answer here, but then I could probably go on writing about these areas for several days. PM me if we have any questions.
As far as the Lake District goes, two good bases are Keswick and Ambleside, both of which have pretty good shops, pubs and other facilities, and a welcoming feel about them. Nearby mountains I would recommend include Blencathra, Helvellyn, Fairfield, Great Gable, Robinson and Hindscarth. All offer a variety of routes, taking anything from three or four hours to a full day, and some include quite difficult scrambles (Striding Edge on Helvellyn is a classic one, but quite exposed). However, there is only one mountain top in the Lake District which absolutely requires a scramble to get to the top, and that is Pillar Rock.
I don't feel I can recommend any specific routes at this point, because I don't know what represents "easy to moderate" to you. I would consider the routes to most Lake District mountain tops to be easy for me, but then some of my friends will go over eight such summits in a day and still say they'd had an easy trip.
Somehow I don't feel I've given any adequate answer here, but then I could probably go on writing about these areas for several days. PM me if we have any questions.
The hike is relatively easy, bearing in mind you're hiking uphill/downhill. You only have to get close to a cliff's edge if you want to (toward the top of the climb). The day I was there, we had a 90% solar eclipse that made the hike even more interesting. There are other tracks to the summit that are more challenging.
As someone else mentioned, the summit feels a bit commercialized. If you're a hardcore hiker, that may be disappointing. If you're a casual hiker, you will probably appreciate the facilities and the chance to grab a bite to eat.
I stayed with someone I knew in Colwyn Bay (no longer living I'm afraid). I also did some hiking around Llyn Ogwen and the Ogwen Valley which was absolutely gorgeous, and I visited Anglesey (Ynys Mon) and Caernarfon. If in the area, you must also visit Betws y Coed. The various castles in the area (Caernarfon, Conwy, Beaumaris) are well worth a visit.
I loved visiting Gwynedd, and hope someday to bring my family back to visit. Wales and the Welsh will always have a special place in my heart.
Here's a pic of the climb up to the summit of Yr Wyddfa (The Giant). This is maybe a third of the way up, looking back toward the starting point in Llanberis. This is a scan of a photograph. As you can see, this was in 1999.
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And here is a picture from Ogwen Valley. It had been a rainy day, and the sun burst through suddenly, creating a scene straight out of a story book.
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