Sunday was the day we climbed the highest peak in England or Wales, Mt Snowdon. It’s height, 3,560 feet, doesn’t sound that impressive, but Snowdon is where Sir Edmund Hillary trained for his climb of Everest. We were told it was ten miles and a six hour round trip.
There a number of trails to the top but we chose to go up the Llanberis trail, a trail the parallels the steam railway. Steffan, the owner of Pen Ceunant, let us park at his cafe. Not only did save the walk up a steep hill from the village but we also knew there was beer when we returned.
We were on the trail at half past ten joining a small crowd of hikers, runners and mountain bikers with the same aim in mind. Well, I am not sure about the beer part.
The weather was bearable, temperatures in the high 40s/low 50s with a mixture of clouds and sun. As we set off in the cool morning, I was reminded of what a hiker told us the day before at Cwellyn Arms; dress warmly because it is really cold and windy at the top. This then reminded me of the conversation Merideth and I had in the car on the way to the airport. Merideth said she forgot her gloves which I replied that I thought about bringing them but decided not to because it was going to be warm. Oops. I forgot to take the Snowdon climb into account.
The trail was very similar to Croagh Patrick. All rocky with smooth rocks towards the bottom and looser stone at the top. As the trail got steeper, which it dramatically did just past the Halfway Cafe, the number of hikers thinned out. The wind also picked up and the temperature dropped. We could have used the gloves right about now.
As we began the last great stretch uphill, we did meet an American woman who went to graduate school at Berkeley. She noticed my bear tattoo as she was passing us and we stopped and chatted for a few minutes. Besides being a much needed rest, she told us about a number of other hikes in the area including a 35 mile, 15 peak extravaganza that a hiker apparently does in one day. Judging by the speed in which she continued up Snowdon, the 35 miler didn’t seem to faze her as extraordinarily difficult. Only moderately so.
As we got a few hundred yards from the peak, our trail was joined by another and a traffic jam ensued. If our trail had been busy, the one that joined us, the Miners trail, looked like a single file line of hikers, one after another. Having so many people with the same goal wasn’t going to lessen our achievement, but we were dumbfounded by the number of people. If it was this crowded in April, granted it was a holiday weekend, what would it be like in high summer? We jostled our way up the last stretch pinballing off fellow hikers going both directions.
We reached the top, joining several hundred other hikers, first in resting and then checking out the pinnacle. Just like when we climbed Croagh Patrick, the cloud cover was thick. On a clear day, one can see Ireland from the Snowdon summit. We could barely see the next peak. The lack of gloves somewhat hampered our time on the summit as our hands were quite numb at this point. Plus, there was no beer so with pictures of our accomplishment taken, it was time to head back down the hill.
Four and a half hours after we started, we were back at Pen Ceunant enjoying Welsh hospitality; Homemade scones with jam and cream and Welsh craft beer. We were quite pleased with our accomplishment. All that is left is the highest peak in Scotland and we will have conquered the peaks of the British Isles.
After a series of uneventful flights, we arrived in Dublin early on April Fools Day. We’re familiar with the city and there is something very comforting about Dublin for us. It was a nice place to recover from a long day of flying and start a European journey. We left our bags at the hotel and went to get some coffee. Then it was off to meet our friends Ute and Wolfgang.
Ute and Wolfgang came over from Germany to meet us and they love Dublin as much as we do. Both Guinness drinkers, they surprised us and ordered Galway Hookers along with us. In the ten months since I last had the beer, I had forgotten how good it is. After a few rounds of beer and lots of catching up, we all moved on to the next pub.
After a number of beers at the Porterhouse, Ute and Wolfgang needed some rest and we needed to check into our hotel and shower. We decided to meet back up later at the Porterhouse to watch some football.
We finally made it to our hotel around 11pm, 12 hours after we had dropped off our bags. Tired from the jet lag and beer drinking, these are our favorite kind of days here in Europe… drinking with friends.
We are finally making our first big beer trip of 2009, a journey to Ireland and Wales. Originally, the idea was to go over to Ireland for St. Patrick’s Day but an 
But Wales, a short three hour ferry ride from Dublin, is virgin territory for us. If we spend the whole trip in Ireland, we can only add, at the most, three new breweries. But with six days in Wales, we will be able to add hopefully a dozen new breweries to 
Our time in Wales overlaps with the National Cask Ale Week in the UK. We have the opportunity to attend a kickoff event at Kilverts in Hay-on-Wye. While Merideth is not too excited, any chance for a real ale event has me salivating.
The main event of our trip, Franciscan Well’s Easter Festival, takes place in Cork. And the festival is actually on Easter Sunday. It will be a good opportunity to sample Irish craft beer all in one place as well as hanging out with our Irish friends again.
“Belgians, Trappists & Kerstbier” is the latest Year in Beer episode of One Pint at a Time.