Snowdon via the PyG Track

Snowdon summit was pretty much as busy as I'd ever seen it today. It's been a blisteringly hot sunny Sunday, so there was no chance of parking the mini bus at Pen y Pass by the time we got there. I dropped off the group I was working with, then went back down the pass to find somewhere to leave the minibus. As luck would have it, as I was parking up, a bus was coming up the hill, so I quickly locked up and hailed it was it went past. The driver very kindy pulled over and ten minutes later I was reunited with the team and ready to head off.

The photos of the day make it hard to believe, that it had been raining heavily all morning, until  gone10am! As we set off up the PyG track, the clouds parted and the temperatures soared!

Even later, when a high level haze started to move in from the south, the heat remained, making us sweat.

We took our time so as not to over heat and had plenty of water and sun cream stops along the way.

Once up at the 'finger stone', the views out west were revealed. There was much less cloud out that way and the Lleyn looked fantastic.

We then followed the railway, the masses of walkers and a stream of litter up towards the crowded summit which was busier that Bangor High Street has ever been! Bonkers! I was genuinely concerned about losing one of my group in the crowd! It was a rather strange experience really.

We piled into the cafe on the summit for some refreshments. There is a huge window all along the side of the cafe/station, which would/should have provided a fantastic vista while sipping a refreshing beverage and a hot pie. However, for some inexplicable reason, the exterior blinds were pulled down, so everyone was essentially sat in the dark almost unaware of the panorama outside. 

Despite some emotional calls for purchasing a train ticket back down, we returned the same way. From Pen y Pass, I managed to thumb a lift back to the minibus, then finally returned for the weary group. It had been a long hot day, but the summit had been achieved! Even later in the evening, when I got back to the van, the temperature was still in the twenties!