EXPLORING NORTH WALES
I recently visited North Wales for the first time and I completely fell in love with the place. It was just stunning. Despite the semi-shite weather, I couldn't help feel happy and at peace surrounded by infinite rugged mountains and untamed landscapes.There's so much to do and explore, but here's what we got up to on our trip:
MOUNT SNOWDONIA
We decided to take the train up Snowden and walk down. Bad idea. My knees have still not recovered! Walking downhill is feckin hard. But the views were just amazing. I would recommend taking the train up AND down, or if you're pretty fit, walk up and get the train down. The train does tend to book up though, so I would recommend buying tickets in advance. We bought our tickets the day before but we were very lucky as they were the only tickets left for any train that day. It's also worth noting that visabilty at the top can be pretty bad and it can be hard to see anything. Again, we were lucky and got a few minutes of scattered gaps in the clouds but most of the best views were from a little bit down from the top below the clouds.
ZIP WORLD
This was the main reason we went to Wales. My friend had mentioned the Velocity 2 zipline to me last Christmas and I became set on doing it. It is the fastest zip line in the world and the longest in Europe. I was so excited about it but I'm not gonna lie, I was shitting bricks when we finally got there haha! You do a "small" zipline first to get used to it and then they bring you up to the main event. It is quite expensive for such a short activity but it was exhilarating. My New Years resolution this year was to be more adventurous, and I have to be honest, it doesn't come naturally to me. But I was so glad I did it. I opted to pay extra for the head cam so I was emailed pictures of me going down and a video after the experience. They look photoshopped lol but I'm glad I have them. Afterward, we had lunch at the restaurant at ZipWorld as we had added the meal deal to our ticket. We weren't expecting much but it was great. The view over the quarry was amazing, especially with the setting sun, and the food was delicious! Zip World have a bunch of other activities and locations, from quarry go-karts to a cavern obstacle course, and I'd love to go back and try more.
LLYN IDWAL
There are a ton of beautiful lakes and hikes you can do. We went to Lake Idwal and it was just so beautiful. The mountains seem to continue forever. Honestly one of my favourite parts of being in North Wales was just driving around (except for the fact I get car sick easily and it was very winding...). There are just so many hikes, lakes and walks, you can't really go wrong wherever you go. I like Llyn Idwal because it wasn't a very long walk to get to the lake. It was a pretty active weekend in general, so it was nice to take things a bit easy but still see some beautiful scenery.
WHITE WATER RAFTING
Our final adventure was white water rafting. I'd never done it before but I thought it was great. Our instructor was lovely. We went for the 2 hour experience, which meant that we did the run 4 times. We changed position and our instructor mixed it up every time, so each ride was different. Because this was my first time, I don't have much to compare it too, but it was a great introduction and I'd definitely do it again!
I would recommend the hostel we stayed at, Snowdonia Mountain Hostel, as it was in a great location and a good price. It was a fairly basic place and they didn't have wifi but it was clean and the owners were very welcoming. There's also a large open kitchen space to cook and hang out in and the view from every window were amazing.We were only in Snowdonia for the weekend, but I loved every minute. I think as long as you are dressed correctly and are ready for some rain, the weather doesn't really matter much. We had great time despite some showers and definitely plan to go back at some point in the future.