Mountain rank by height: 1 out of 188
Height: 3,560ft | 1,085m
Region: Snowdon Massif
Grid ref: SH609543
The highest mountain in Wales, immensely popular, has a café and facilities on the summit and a train will take you to it. The routes up are well worn and on nice days extremely busy. I walked from the Llyn Gwynant Campsite, situated beautifully next to Llyn Gwynant lake, taking the Watkins trail up and the Pyg track down, completing a 14 and a bit mile loop.
I have done a lot of miles over the last few years, but nothing quite prepared me for the relentless ascent of Snowdon. My legs were extremely tired trudging the final third of the ascent and I could probably have done with lugging less camera gear up. Views were immense all the way up and down, the crystal clear and icy cold waters of waterfalls were great to swim in on the way up, and the dark and deep water of Glaslyn was also a welcome change of pace on the way down.
You can’t really walk Welsh mountains without ticking off Snowdon, but try and take a few days to enjoy the gentler walks available in this huge outdoor national park – you will find stunning walks in total isolation.