A week after climbing England’s highest peak, I drove through to Snowdonia to tackle Wales’s highest peak – Mount Snowdon. Or at least, that’s all I thought I was getting myself into…

I had booked a private guide with Seren Ventures to take me on the Snowdon Horseshoe. Being a novice, I didn’t fancy taking the path alone and figured I might as well hit a few more peaks along the way. The Horseshoe is named so after the 4 peaks that resemble the shape of a Horseshoe. A really big Horseshoe. It is just one of the many routes you can take that will lead you up to Snowdon.

Location: Snowdonia – Betws-y-Coed

Snowdon is unsurprisingly situated in Snowdonia National Park in North Wales. It is a beautiful part of the World and again I found myself in awe at this relatively close by wonder.

As I was booking last minute, I was fairly limited on my accommodation choice. I chose to stay in Betws-y-Coed (which I butchered by calling Betsy Co-ed for days before my mountain guide gave me the proper pronunciation! Betus Y Coid.

Betws was quieter than Keswick – where I stayed in The Lakes – but it was lovely in it’s own way. It was scenic and had some of the best pizza I have ever had… Which might seem irrelevant to you but is an important factor for me. Each evening I found myself in a lovely pub garden & spent my evenings happily sipping on red wine with my Kindle, perfectly at ease.

Disclaimer: Before I ventured on this trip, I wasn’t even nervous about the climbing, it was dining alone that freaked me out. But alas, at no point during the trip did anyone point and laugh at me sitting alone.

The Horseshoe Route

Crib Goch

The walk entailed traversing Crib Goch (which is Welsh for Red Ridge) & Crib y Dysgyl, then summiting Snowdon, walking along the Watkin path & finally climbing to Y Lliwedd.

I posted about my upcoming journey on IG & promptly received a message from one of my old Uni housemates. He said he hoped I packed a spare pare of underwear for Crib Goch. I laughed it off. I am fine with heights so a simple ridge walk wasn’t going to put me off!

When I thought of a Ridge Walk, I thought of this. The only ridge walk I have ever done in my life. This beautiful, scenic, gentile walk in Ubud Bali:

Just. Lol.

It was less of a ridge ‘walk’ and more of a ‘cling on for dear life and try to keep moving your feet’ type of situation. The official term for this among the seasoned climbers is that it’s ‘scrambly’ or entails ‘scrambling’ which makes it sound rather nice and in no way death defying.

But it was amazing. Terrifying. But amazing. I felt really proud of myself for doing it and felt it was more of a feat than Snowdown itself. I tried my best to completely ignore the couple in their trainers (the horror) bouncing along Crib Goch fully upright in the opposite direction as if it was just a normal everyday thing that they do.

Snowdon

I didn’t go to the official Snowdon summit because there was a 30-minute queue, so I just walked by and sat down to enjoy the ‘view’ and eat sandwiches whilst simultaneously trying not to get attacked by seagulls. Just your everyday British public place experience really.

Similarly to Scafell, the clouds were about giving us just the most wonderful view, if you’re super into clouds.

Watkin path & Beyond

After, it was onto the Watkin path and beyond. And, lo an behold, there was more scrambly climbing to be had but by that point I was so over it being scary that I just cracked on. Thank God we did the walk in the direction that we did because ending on Crib Goch would have probably broken me. I’d actually have probably said no and gone down from Snowdon. On that note, if I’d known what I was getting myself into full stop, I would have probably said no. I’m glad I went in blind (albeit prepared).

When you’re on this route you have the most perfect view of where Edmund Hilary (the first person ever to summit Everest – along with his Sherpa Tenzing Norgay who we mustn’t forget to mention) trained for Everest. In the winter, the mountain face would be so icy that it made for perfect Everest training. Sounds like a shit way to spend a Saturday if you ask me but it worked for him.

It blows my mind that I covered the entire thing. After that last peak, the rest of the walk and the decline seem so tame in comparison that it’s a bit of a blur. Perhaps the adrenaline tuckered my out. Perhaps it was the 39,000 steps I did, the most I have ever – and probably will ever do – in one day.

Snowdonia

When I arrived for my guesthouse for breakfast the next day, I said to my host ‘I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into there’, she laughed and said ‘well I did, but I wasn’t going to be the one to tell you’. She did send me off with a packed lunch bless her, so she made up for it. She also sent me on a much tamer walk the next day where I got to see the beautiful Swallow Falls.

I only spent a couple of days here but I’m sure there is far more to be explored. At the Adventure Park you can ‘Surf Snowdonia’ where there’s a man-made wave so you can practice your skills with the perfect wave every time. You can also zip line over a quarry on the World’s fastest zip line. If you’re adventurous or raising adventure kids, this is the perfect UK holiday spot.