Their story, in their words…
We thought an appropriate adventurous challenge for our group would be to hike Mount Snowdon: The tallest mountain in Wales. To successfully complete this challenge, we had to camp by ourselves which originally was for 4 days and 3 nights, had to be shortened to 3 days and 2 nights due to the train strike on the 29th July.
We arrived at London Euston on Wednesday 26th July in time for our first train journey at 07:45 to Llandudno Junction, which unfortunately wasn’t a direct train. We had a very tight change at Crewe in the middle of the 3.5 hour journey which went smoothly. From Llandudno Junction we had time to do our big shop of groceries for our trip before taking a more chill half-hour train journey to Bets-Wy-Coden and from there we waited for a bus to drop us of at our campsite.
Our campsite scenery was so gorgeous and the fact that it was raining only seemed to make the setting seem fresher and the colours more vibrant. It also meant we had to set up our tents in the rain and resulted in us getting very wet and some of our possessions getting a bit soggy. Luckily the rain stopped overnight so when we woke up bright and early for the hike up Mt Snowdon, we had the weather on our side.
Our hike started with a short bus ride and a debrief at the bottom of the mountain to double check the route. We aimed to take around 3 hours each way up and down and, in the end, hustled to around an astonishing 2 hours and 40 mins each way. There was still quite a lot of fog we had to hike through and the moisture in the air resulted very slippery rocks which made it more challenging than we anticipated but we managed to stick to the route, and we made sure to take plenty of water and snack breaks as well as a big rest at the top of the mountain.
Exhausted from the previous day’s activity, we slept in before packing up our belongings and heading back to Bets-Wy-Coden in time for our first train. Once in Llandudno Junction due to last minute rebooking after the train strike was announced, we had an 8 hour wait for our next train at 20:36 which was an indirect train to London with a change at Wolverhampton. We used this unexpected wait time to go for a very long walk around the entire area as an attempt to familiarise ourselves with the area and to use our time efficiently. However, with just under 20 mins to go before our train arrived, we received an email telling us it had been cancelled due to an incident onboard. Luckily, the train operators were very helpful at offering up another solution and we took a different train and switched at Chester onto our original second train a few stops earlier than planned. In the end we arrived in London Euston at 01:30 and made our way home.
Overall, this trip was a success as we accomplished our goal of climbing Mt Snowdon. However, it could have been improved if we didn’t have to alter our plans due to the train strikes which shortened our trip and limited the time we had to accomplish activities. If it were possible, we would plan in order to ensure that we didn’t have any bad weather and had a clearer view at the top of the mountain, however it isn’t possible to see weather reports months in advance and we did have to plan around members in the group schedule. Altogether, the unexpected setbacks pushed us to make quick decisions and helped us develop the ability to adapt to new scenarios quickly and highlighted a sense of unity in our determination to complete as much as possible of our original goal.
