I Survived Mount Snowdon

This past weekend was probably the most productive one we've had so far...

On Saturday (8/3), I climbed the highest mountain in all of Wales and England (no big deal).

We (Maddie, Harriet, Alex, Emily [another American in our flat] and myself) woke up early and got a bus to Snowdonia National Park (which took about 30-45 minutes).

There are various different paths to go up Snowdon, but we decided to do the Llanberis one, as it is supposedly the easiest (that's debatable) and most pleasurable (if almost getting blown off the side of a cliff is your idea of pleasure). To the summit and back, it's supposed to take around 6 hours.

To get to where the actual Llanberis path starts, you have to hike up what I consider to be a relatively steep incline - upon going up said incline, I realized I don't work out (ever) and the idea of actually getting to the summit seemed comical. Earlier, we had joked that if we couldn't even handle Bitch Hill, we were going to have problems. This incline was Bitch Hill x10.

More and more I was thinking having an ambulance on speed dial seemed like a good idea (especially considering people have apparently died going up it before, yay).

About an hour or so in, it wasn't too bad. I didn't end up bringing my dslr out too much (so thanks iPhone for the pictures) because in the beginning it was raining and after it stopped, the wind was so strong that I was concerned about damaging another camera.

Speaking of the wind, we didn't reach the summit because it was too dangerous, with the winds reaching up to 115km an hour (what is that in miles?).

However, we did get rather close - to the point where the actual path stopped and we were climbing on all fours through icy snow. Good times (and by good times, I thought I was going to die).

Overall, we saw some pretty amazing views and Maddie's armband counter thingy said we hiked around 17km (10 miles ish). I think the summit is 1,085m and we climbed up over 900m.

We plan on going back again, as the trip was relatively cheap (£4 round-trip bus fare, free entry to park, and we just had to pack a lunch). In the Spring/Summer months, you can take a train directly to the summit.

On the way back down, we stopped into Pen Ceunant (a coffee/tea house). They claimed that they "probably" had the best hot chocolate in the UK - they didn't, but the cafe was really cute and cozy (so I'll rate it a 10/10 just for that).

In other news, I'm a grandma because on Sunday morning it hurt to move my knees (and move in general). I'm taking this as a sign that I should do more physical activity, even if it cuts into my Netflix time.

Sunday afternoon, a group of us went to the bar on the Halls site to watch a Six Nations rugby game (game? tournament? I don't understand). It was England vs. Wales. I was told that now that I have an English boyfriend, I have to root for England (and I did).

I'm not the screaming/cheering/chanting type, but I'll show my support by drinking cider and wondering why they are tackling each other in such short shorts. My support clearly worked, as England won 29-18.