Last day's walk in a wet Snowdonia

Up early again this morning and it was lashing down. We decided to head to Beddgelert and do a fairly low level walk along the river Glaslyn and part way up the Watkin path which eventually leads up to the summit of Snowdon. 

Beddgelert is a beautiful little place. The name literally translates to 'Gelert's Grave' and, according to legend, the stone monument standing just outside the village marks the grave of Gelert, the faithful hound of Llewelyn the Great, a Welsh Prince. This is the story as written on the tombstone:

"In the 13th century Llewelyn, prince of North Wales, had a palace at Beddgelert. One day he went hunting without Gelert, ‘The Faithful Hound’, who was unaccountably absent.

On Llewelyn's return the truant, stained and smeared with blood, joyfully sprang to meet his master. The prince alarmed hastened to find his son, and saw the infant's cot empty, the bedclothes and floor covered with blood.

The frantic father plunged his sword into the hound's side, thinking it had killed his heir. The dog's dying yell was answered by a child's cry.

Llewelyn searched and discovered his boy unharmed, but nearby lay the body of a mighty wolf which Gelert had slain. The prince filled with remorse is said never to have smiled again. He buried Gelert here".

As we set off along the river towards Llyn Dinas just before 10am, the rain stopped. The river walk was lovely:

We left the river and started the climb and were soon in a beautiful valley of waterfalls and copper mines:

Spin the wheel anyone?!!

The rain started again at midday and apart from a brief respite of about 20 minutes stayed with us for the rest of the day, torrential at times. But I have to say it didn't spoil our enjoyment. To be honest if you're a hill walker in the UK and the rain does spoil your enjoyment, then you've probably got the wrong hobby!

The descent to Llyn Dinas was lovely:

Despite the rain, we decided not to turn back to Beddgelert, but to continue round the lake and then onto the Watkin path. 

Just before joining the Watkin path, I thought perhaps Dawn had bought me a new Land Rover and put a personalised number plate on it for me, but it wasn't to be!

We turned onto the Watkin path and who did we bump into within 5 minutes walking with who we assumed was his daughter? Yep, you've guessed it, Fat Boy!!

Arty eh?

After half an hour of climbing in torrential rain, we turned left off the path and headed back down a lovely valley, past a couple of waterfalls and back into Beddgelert. 

Once back in Beddgelert we stripped off our wet clothes, ditched the rucksacks and headed straight for a lovely little tearoom for tea and Bara Brith (which means 'speckled bread' and is a really tasty Welsh tea time fruit cake) - delicious and well earned!

We got back to Camp Talysarn at about 6, showered and went straight out for fish and chips which was brill and now I'm blogging with a glass of red beside me and......yeah, another night of cuddling up for Jacko and Tim watching yet another episode of Pacific. Jacko has just called Tim a 'naughty man' for some strange reason so I reckon it might be time for me to have an early night!!

One last thing, at the top of a beautiful valley today we came across a bench, placed in memory of someone who, from the dates carved into the bench, died far too early. Nevertheless, as their loved ones had gone to the trouble, we three sat on the bench for a while and enjoyed the view down the valley. This is the inscription on the bench....whoever you are I hope you don't mind me sharing it but I thought it was lovely. 

Russ