Walking boots: £20.00, Combats: £8.00, View from Mount Snowdon: Priceless

yes, yes i know it's been a while.....

I think the most fitting place to begin this post is the, incomprehensibly early start, 2.00 in the morning…..having only had two hours sleep I pondered how I was going to get to the top of Snowdon as I crawled out of bed on Saturday morning. Feelings of excitement, apprehension and of course lethargy rushing through me left me feeling slightly nauseous. Yet as I was battling with my headscarf in the bathroom mirror, I heard my mum coming down, I had to smile…only a parent would wake up at such an obscure hour to see their child off.

The plan was to meet at Ymiss’ house at 3.00, where a minibus would be coming to pick us up. After spending about 10 minutes parking, and having to double check I had actually locked the car, I finally got to her house. After picking us up the minibus’ next destination was Oldham and then on to Manchester. Once at Manchester however a long wait ensued, where we waited for over an hour for not only the coach but a few stragglers, who it turned out not only lived down the road but had had a pretty much full nights sleep ( although we weren’t complaining that much as we were entertaining ourselves perfectly fine :))

The coach journey lasted about 2 hours, excluding a random stop in the some scenic Welsh countryside (pictured to the right), where our guides met us, the coach driver drove off without us and then came back to pick us and the guides up to take us to our final destination. (it was here we also learnt that crocs are extremely trendy in Wales as not only was one of the guides wearing fluorescent green ones but a baby being pushed past in his pram was wearing some too)

We finally got to our destination and by now we were itching to get started, so much so that myself, Ymiss and the two other members of our little entourage made our way to the group that was to make an immediate start. Having been sat down for two hours, trudging up a steep mountain was abit of a shock to the system. The first section was quiet rocky, however it opened up to what I felt to be one of the best parts of the day. Everything that could be right was right, the sun was shining, the sky was a brilliant blue offset with cotton wool clouds, the views were absolutely astounding and the path ahead of us was perfect in every way. Looking behind us we could see shimmering lakes settled between the vastly magnificent mountainsides, to our right we could see a sheer, dark grey, rock face hidden in a cloud which gave it a sense of doom, we learnt from our guide that having had the most falls and deaths it was the most dangerous route, …it certainly looked it’s part.

We stopped for lunch (some delicious pasta cooked by Ymiss) on a little ledge type thing, which was surprisingly crowded. It was after lunch that the most gruelling part of the hike started, which lasted for about an hour, it was at this point that the incessant lying also started….. Not only had our guides made “we’re nearly there” as their mantra, but every other random stranger we passed was supposedly reassuring us by saying “only a bit more left, girls” or “not long to go now”. I can see that it was primarily for motivational purposes but it puts a dampener on the whole thing when that supposed half an hour left has still not been reached…an hour later!! And it’s bloody annoying too!!

However as soon as we reached the summit all was forgotten, almost suppressed even, as everybody was on a high (literally!!). At first it was slightly disappointing seeing as the only thing we could see was clouds, clouds and more clouds, but then the fact that we had done it had finally sunken in and everybody was bouncing about. The icing on the cake was when the organisers pulled out a make poverty history banner and we all posed for a picture…you don’t see that everyday on Mount Snowdon.

And so the descent begins, everybody was still buzzing from having reached the top and having passed the hardest part of the hike, me and Ymiss were enjoying teasing “THE tart” (for valid reasons of course!!!) and there was general laughter and merriment in the air. The only downer was that we were engulfed in a cloud, which contrary to popular belief wasn’t fluffy and soft, it was cold and damp, which meant it was time for the waterproofs to make an appearance. However the high was to become a low, as we were trundling down hill we heard a voice saying there’s been an incident, we could just about make out a hijabi in the mist, it wasn’t clear who but it was definitely one of our lot. At first we thought it was a joke, nothing major, but as we drew closer we could discern an immobile figure lying on the ground. A mixture of blood and sand masked her face. A hush descended on the group and the only voices that could be heard were of the guides and a few of the girls who clearly knew what to do (we later found out that one of them was a nurse and one a medical student). The girl who had fallen was responsive and was aware of her surroundings which was a good sign so after a while the rest of the group continued while a few stayed with her, to wait for the train.

Up until now me and Ymiss had mingled with the other girls as it was an excellent opportunity to bond, however after the incident we clung on to each other (now that I think about it I don’t think we left each others side until we got to the coach….). Pretty soon we were on flat (albeit rocky) ground once more, and we could actually see the blue sky again (as opposed to being IN the sky). Again our guide’s time estimates weren’t entirely accurate, When questioned about his time telling ability his reply was firm ( “but you wouldn’t have carried on if I had told you the truth”), okay maybe that would have been true but we’ll never know now will we….

After about an hour ambling along at a pleasant pace we reached civilisation, we entered a little villagey area which was cute, and truly signalled the end of our “quest”. Eventually we could see our coach and we knew we had done it…

The next morning I woke up with a goofy grin spread across my face , despite my achy legs, despite the fact that I couldn’t move an inch without wincing and grimacing, despite the fact that my face was smarting from the sunburn, despite all that.. I was glad that I did it, every bit of it…but most of all I’m glad I’ve done something to help those who need help the most, those who are less fortunate and aren’t as privileged as us….

The random countryside we stopped at

The sign at the random village place

Scenic view

A little waterfall trickling down

Another scenic one

The cloudy summit, i quite like this one...

View from the top, plus ymiss's boots

The piece de resistance :) ( said in a french accent of course)