Llanberis, Snowdon and the fairy rings

At midsummer we paid a visit to our friend C who is currently training to be a climbing instructor in Snowdonia. On midsummer eve we went for a gentle stroll around Llanberis, a climbing village of some fame and colourful home of equally famous Pete’s Eats, a climbers café renowned for the fact that after you’ve climbed your fill in the landscape outside, you’ve yet to conquer the gigantic servings that emerge from their busy kitchens.

The day was hot and vivid, and as we planned to make a night climb of Snowdon in not so many hours we limited ourselves to a slow meander around Llyn Padarn towards the slate museum and up into the woods beyond it. At the foot of Elidir Fawr, the horribly ruined mountain from which the slate was torn, we found a beautiful and secluded spot where a quarry pit overgrown on all sides by tall shady trees was filled with the most beautiful clear water, coloured vividly by the raw blue green stone that made its sides. The scarred flanks of the mountain reared up all around us raw naked and exposed, and inexplicably, a small rusty freight truck that must have been used to transport the quarried stone hung midair on rust reddened cables. The still majesty of the spot was sublime, but we were not alone, nor was it completely silent. Deep below us in the turquoise waters, members of the local sub-aqua club were exploring, and fairy rings of bubbles danced in the water as the divers shoaled below. After our quiet appreciation of the cool air and gorgeous water we left Vivian pool to explore the path up into the woods of Padarn country park, skirting the lower flanks of the mountain to eventually rejoin the lake and make a return to Llanberis. This view of the Snowdon massif was worth the walk, and reminded us of our aim to hike to the summit for sunrise.Llyn Padarn was glassy calm, and gave us another fabulous view.But would the weather hold up well enough for us to see the sun rise?

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