'Climbing' Snowdon

Last time we holidayed in Snowdonia we somehow forgot to do Snowdon itself, and we weren't going to forget this time.  The mountain has a train all the way to the top, and a cafe on the top too, and we hummed and hahed about which combination of train and walking would be best.  In the end it was cold enough that a significant proportion of the party wouldn't have enjoyed walking at higher altitude, so we just got the train.

The train is a rack and pinion affair which crawls up the slopes, taking an hour or so to reach the top.  It pushes a single, large carriage, crammed full of people.  The views were great, and included some precipicial moments looking down into Llanberis pass.  Within a few hundred yards of the top it had started snowing, and we felt fully justified in our decision to use the train.  We dashed through the cafe to access the summit and climbed the few steps to the top.  There weren't any views, or I might have found the cafe-on-top-of-a-mountain thing a bit strange.  But Marisca loved being there, and the hot chocolate we got in the cafe afterwards before trundling our way back down.

The children have now 'done Snowdon' and next time they're walking.