Day: July 3, 2025

We did an 8-mile hike today up Mount Snowdon and down. Chris and I held firm to the plan to do the whole thing. Edwin told us about it back in the planning stages in January, and we had been looking forward to it. It’s why we brought camelbacks, hiking shoes, and even granola bars and dried fruit from Trader Joe’s.

As the day got closer, Edwin started to backpedal a little: you know, the shorter hikes are just as beautiful, we can take the train to the top and/or back down, etc. I started to wonder if this had a been a bait-and-switch situation: lure the parents to Wales with promises of grand hikes and then wear it down to a nub. Too bad. We did the whole thing without the help of a train ride.

We took the Pyg trail up, which is a rocky path mainly like climbing big stairs the whole way up. Sheep dot the jade-green hills, little white dots that become fluff balls as you climb higher. A lone lamb was crying for his family at one point, and we were happy to see that he reunited with them once we rounded a bend and looked down from above.

When we got to the top of the mountain, we could see the towns far in the distance and the peninsula we walked out to yesterday. All of a sudden, the clouds rolled in and shrouded the entire vista. We were literally inside the cloud and could only see our immediate surroundings. We figured now would be a good time to warm up with some coffee and eat our sandwiches.

Once we emerged from the toasty lounge, the clouds parted and once again revealed the valleys and sea below us. Now I think I understand the idea of the Lady of the Lake and the mists of Avalon myth. Some claim these lakes in Snowdonia are where the lady dwelled. If you have magical powers or are accompanied by the lady, you can break through the mists on the lake and enter Avalon. This myth almost becomes believable when the gray that completely envelopes you breaks apart and reveals shimmering blue water surrounded by vibrant green hills and majestic mountain slopes and peaks.

Chris and I left the flat at 8:00 yesterday morning and let the kids sleep in. We are savoring our time with them, but it’s sure easier to slip out the door without having to wait for them to be ready. We drove to Newborough National Nature Reserve and Forest, just across the Menai Strait that Caernarfon looks out upon, but you have to drive north, cross a bridge, and then head south again to get there, about a 30-minute drive.

We were one of the few cars in the lot when we arrived and headed off down the path through the woods that took us to where the strait empties into Caernarfon Bay, which opens into the Irish Sea.

We learned about Dwynwen, the patron saint of lovers. She established a church, later known as Llanddwyn, on the small tidal island of Ynys Llanddwyn, near Newborough, after retreating from court life (she was the daughter of King Brychan Brycheiniog). This island became a site of pilgrimage, particularly after Dwynwen’s death in the 5th century, because of her association with love and her holy well on the island.

Dwynwen was betrothed but fell in love with another, Maelon Dafodrill. When Maelon found out, he was so angry that he attacked her and was consequently frozen in a block of ice. This broke her heart, and she promptly ran away to a forest to pray. She was visited by an angel who granted her three wishes: to unfreeze the angry lover, to allow her to help those unhappy in love, and for her to never want to be married. In thanks for having her wishes granted, she became a nun. Oh, and she also had a well of enchanted eels who could tell the fortunes of lovesick travelers.