Snowdonia and North Wales

Going on a road trip around North Wale’s Snowdonia National Park is a perfect reminder that the journey is as important as the destination.

This is the land where the myths and legends of Wales all come true in the backdrop of its towering mountains and delightfully varied landscape of steep river gorges, waterfalls and green valleys with thick woodlands scattered throughout the area and sandy beaches stretched along its 23 miles of coastline.

We went there in June 2012 and stayed for a long weekend in a quaint little cottage at the heart of the national park. The weather wasn’t very accommodating, typical of a British midsummer. We travelled across the Snake Pass in less than favourable conditions with a raging storm behind us that after the exhausting five-hour drive from Sheffield, we stayed indoors for the first night.

The next day was pleasant enough, cloudy with occasional showers, but it was better than the gloomy forecast so we headed for the foot of Mount Snowdon in hopeful spirits that we would be able to conquer Britain’s highest mountain outside of Scotland. We’ll we cheated, we’ve booked a roundtrip ticket to the summit on Snowdon Mountain Railway, a steam train that’s been operating for more than a century.  While waiting for our departure time, we explored Llanberis, a little village that originally grew around the slate quarrying industry but also boasts of numerous tourist attractions including a castle ruin, the National Slate Museum, a lake railway and a country park.

We got back on time and boarded the steam train and despite earlier warnings that the unfavourable weather condition might cut our trip short, we managed to reach the visitor centre near the summit, passing by groups of walkers who have braved it to reach the top. The short walk to the peak of Mount Snowdon itself was a challenge, albeit a fulfilling one.

Later that afternoon, we drove northwards crossing the Menai Bridge to the Isle of Anglesey to see Britain's most technically perfect castle in Beaumaris, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, still perfectly intact and imposing from the outside. We headed back passing through the alpine-like village of Betws-y-Coed (“Prayer house in the wood”) and visited the tourist trap of Swallow Falls, a multiple waterfall system that is visited by thousands annually. Our way back to our cottage went past the historic town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, with its impressive mountainside slate quarry towering over the surrounding homes. This site used to be nothing more than a pasture land before the industrial revolution, a transformation so dramatic and so haunting.

We headed for the coast the next day, starting off with the dreamlike Italianate village and conservation site of Portmeirion which was built over 50 years from 1926, a perfect example of how new developments need not destroy its natural surroundings. Then we made a quick trip to the busy port town of Porthmadog, the southern terminus for two of Wales' finest narrow-gauge train journeys.  We drove further on to Borth-y-Gest to eat our sandwiches as we admired the candy-coloured houses overlooking the sandy bay. 

After lunch, we drove southwards, along the A496 driving alongside the trains following the Cambrian Coast Line route. We passed by the mighty grey-stone towers of Harlech Castle propped up in a hill, another UNESCO World Heritage Site and made a sharp turn to one of the secluded beaches along the coast for a break. 

We carried on our coastal drive towards the seaside resort of Barmouth, a town that felt like it has seen better days but nonetheless filled with summer tourists drawn to the chip shops and the amusement centres along the harbour. We took a photo of a train crossing Wale's only surviving wooden rail viaduct which spans the Mawddach Estuary, an impressive bird habitat. 

We turned left after leaving the town and found the village of Dolgellau where time almost stood still with its old-world feel.  The town centre has not changed all that much since its 18th and early 19th Century heyday when most of its 200 listed stone buildings, the highest concentration in Wales, were built. 

We followed the A470 on our way back to our cottage, taking another detour to Betws-y-Coed where we spent a relaxing evening amidst its picture perfect setting by the river engulfed in the verdant leafiness of the Gwydyr Forest.