Getting around Snowdon, Sherpa , Taxi, Hitchhike

Hi,

I'm heading up to Snowdon next week and am going to stay at the gwynant.com campsite.

Because I don't want to go up and come down the same route I'm going to have to leave the car at the start points and they get back to it later on.

I know there is the Sherpa bus that goes around the main routes up Snowdon but it's not very frequent. So if I missed it, because I took too long staring over the edge of a cliff I see my options as..

Walk (Sod that after a day's walking)
Taxi
Hitch (Stick my thumb out and try not to look like a serial killer)

Anyone got any advice on the 2nd 2 options?

Thanks

Hey Ben! Sorry, I was away when you posted this thread and only just saw it!

I guess you did your walk a week ago. So what did you end up doing?

The Sherpa busses are great but too infrequent (I think they come once an hour). So yeah, if you did miss the last one then I reckon your best bet is to hitchhike. I hate hitchhiking (I've only tried it a few times and being a big, scruffy skinhead probably doesn't help my case) but I think on the roads around Snowdon you'd be pretty successful. This is because everyone's going in one of two directions and it's easy for them to stop to see where you're going.

I was walking up Llanberis Pass once and a kind Canadian couple stopped and asked if I wanted a lift. I've also picked people up along there and taken them to Pen-y-Pass because I had space in the car. Actually a few days ago when I did my Snowdon Horseshoe run I was walking a mile back to the car along the Llanberis Pass and passed a guy walking the same direction. He'd missed the last bus and was walking to Llanberis which was 5 miles away! I obviously gave him a lift once we reached my car. It turns out it was his birthday and he was wild camping near the quarry. I saved him about 90 minutes of walking.

So yeah, for future reference for anyone around Snowdon after the last bus, start walking in the direction you want to go and stick your thumb out whenever a car passes. I expect you'll be picked up pretty quick. Bonus points if you pre-empt missing the bus and carry a piece of cardboard with your destination written on it. People are even more likely to stop if they see that you're only heading a few miles around the mountain.

Hi Dave,

In the end I started and finished at the start of the Watkins Path.

Here is my route...

my.viewranger.com/tr... ...MzODU1OQ==

I got the top of Snowdon to myself and saw a cloud inversion Worth the early start.

Oh wow, good work! An empty summit and a cloud inversion. It doesn't get much better than that :D

And I see you walked via Yr Aran, where the RAF helicopter made a crash landing back in August! I was there about a week ago. Did you see the crash site? I wish I'd filmed it. The pilot landed the chopper on a really narrow part of ground with a sheer drop on one side and a very steep drop on the other. I'm glad everyone got out without injury (before the helicopter blew up).

I walked towards Ya Aran but turned left and headed back down into the valley to join back up with the Watkins Path.

The weather was great so I was tempted to bag it but I'd given my wife my route plan so didn't want to deviate from it. Plus my Knees were sore... Excuses excuses...

I got a few nice pictures of it though...

Yeah, it looks like you had a top day out there! The Watkin is a great path to come down :)