SNOWDONIA
At the foot of Snowdon… and Crib Goch… and Glyder Fach… and Glyder Fawr… and Carnedd Moel Siabod, sits an almost absurdly welllocated pub.
Peny Gwryd Hotel lives among so many of Snowdonia’s giants that Tenzing Norgay, Edmund Hillary and other members of the 1953 Everest Expedition used to use it as a base when climbing in the national park.
Astay here today gives the sense that not a lot has changed since the early 50s. Memorabilia from ‘Everest 53’ decorates the residents’ bar; breakfast is at a set time, as is dinner, where a gong calls guests to their tables. The landlords encourage you to share stories of your mountain adventures, and if you want to catch up on the latest episode of The Traitors, forget it – there are no TVs up here.
Leaving this cosy time warp behind, a gut busting, Himalayan-esque ascent leads up Glyder Fawr. Once at the top, you forget how much your limbs ache, as you enter one of nature’s greatest playgrounds. Piles of elongated rocks scatter the summit plateau, like collapsed Jenga pieces, each pile offering a different challenge to the would-be scrambler.
Possibly the most fearsome of the lot is a top on Glyder Fach, the next summit, called Castell y Gwynt. This overlooks you menacingly and provides a nerve-jangling climb.
Being, as the Glyder range is, sandwiched between the Snowdon massif and the Carneddau mountains, the views of both ranges are sensational. The shape of Tryfan continually changes form too, at times looking like a church spire, at others like a clenched fist.
Adescending ridgeline leads to the village of Capel Curig, where another walker’s pub, Tyn-yCoed Hotel, awaits with a meal, a drink and perhaps a few more tales from the mountains.
WALK HERE: Turn to Walk 20 for a linear route from Pen y Gwryd Hotel to Capel Curig.
