CAMPING IN SNOWDONIA NATIONAL PARK!

Molly Davies
Oct 18, 2017
3 min read

We visited the Snowdonia National Park a couple weeks back now for a short weekend away. Everything was booked a week prior to arrival, knowing full well the weather was planning on being typical “British” weather.

The drive from home to the campsite we’d booked, was 4 hours drive in total. Both finishing work at 3:30 P.M, on the Friday afternoon, we were bound to arrive at the campsite in the pitch black. The postal code was directed to a small pub surrounded by mountains, the Cwellyn Arms Inn. The small pub then directed us towards the campsite, back in the car, along the road, get to a White House with a gate, go through, find a parking space & set up camp.

The car park was a small walk away from the campsite, but luckily they provided wheelbarrows to carry your equipment. Unpacking the car in a fast manor, we then lugged all our gear over to the preferred & non bogged area. Without intruding on anyones patch of land, close enough to the pathway & the lake, we set up camp. Anywhere you pitched up you were able to see the lake and of course the mountains.

Luckily for us, it was quite a clear night and it wasn’t raining while we were setting up our tent. Before long we were set up, taking a speedy 15 minutes. Our campsite Cwellyn Arms was located at the foothill of Snowdonia, overlooking Cwellyn Lake. In the summer you are able to hire out row boats to row the entirety of the Cwellyn Lake.

The next day we decided to drive to the foothill of Snowdonia, as we weren’t 100% familiar with routes, and we weren’t prepared enough to bring a map, compass, etc let alone proper walking boots. I’ve been to Snowdonia a couple of times before and always parked my car at the bottom of this trail. Miners trail, the trail that leads to the summit of Snowdonia with a steady incline.

It took us a couple hours to walk to the bottom of Snowdonia. The weather wasn’t too delightful but the views were even more dramatic & eerie. If you’re visiting Snowdonia and you aren’t a big hiker, or aren’t kitted correctly for a climb up Snowdon — Take Miners trail and you’ll get there easily enough. Also, there is a train that leaves from a small town left of Cwellyn campsite. We didn't see much point in taking the train to the top of Snowdonia the day we visited, as it was so overcast & misty you would see as far as the person in front of you. There were a couple rescue helicopters flying about that day, whether that was for practice reasons or real life situations, I’m not too sure.

Already it was time to head home, pack our tents & get on the road. Typically we woke up to even worse weather! As the weather wasn’t too pleasant it took us a speedy 10 minutes to pack up all our kit. Before we knew it, we were in the car and out of the gates near the white house, back down the road toward Cwellyn Arms and homeward bound! Although the weekend went super fast, I think we were ready to get home, get some fluffy socks on and enjoy the comforts of our own home. We’ll be back soon, next time hopefully with more suitable clothing/shoes & also more of an idea of where our destination was.

Tips & Tricks:

Take suitable clothing & shoes (waterproofs is a must)
Plan a route in advance, or take a map
Make sure to get to Miners Trail early enough to get parking closer to the entrance
At Cwellyn Arms carry on down the wooden path (through the campsite) towards the lake, there's a perfect spot to set up camp right on the lake with it's own BBQ setup etc.
Closest convenient store is as you turn out the white gate turn left & keep on going till you find the next town
Train to the top of Snowdonia is also located in the town to the left