Aberglasyn Pass circular walk

Starting from the village of Beddgelert, this walks starts by following the Afon Glaslyn river through the Aberglasyn pass. Then a climb up pass old mining works to overlook the camp site with Snowdon in the background.

Snowdon Waterfalls

At the foot of the Watkin path on Snowdon, there are some magnificent waterfalls.

Climbing Snowdon via the Watkin path

Off all the routes up Snowdon, this the longest and toughest starting at just 60m above sea level at the foot of the 1085m mountain. By contrast, many walkers choose a route that starts at 360m, which is cheating really? Having read up about this path before hand, I knew that the last part of this climb involves a steep scramble.

Even on this least popular route, a bank holiday weekend meant this not exactly a climb of solitude.

So, having reached 800m, the final part of the ascent involves a steep scramble as seen in the picture below.

With the summit covered in cloud, knowing that the peak would be busy and with my knee starting to hurt, I decided it was time to head back down the mountain. I reckon I could have got up ok, but would have really struggled to get back down again. Even from this point, the descent was quite painful at times.

Beddgelert, Snowdonia

A classic Snowdonia village setting where legend tells as that Gellert, a dog once belonging to the Prince of North Wales, is buried. The reality is that the "legend" was made up by the owner of a local hotel to generate tourism.

I was staying at a campsite just 10 minutes walk from Beddgelert.