I am linking up today with Casey from True Colours for the travel series: Wanderlust. The theme for August is Natural Wonders and I continue our recap of our trip to Wales with a sneak peek of our mountain hike. We stayed in the town of Dolgellau in Gwynedd for our 10th Wedding Anniversary. Dolgellau is located next to the mountain Cadair Idris in the southern end of Snowdonia National park. The famous peak on Cadair Idris is a popular location with many paths from which to choose from to get there.
The day before our hike my husband and I had prepared our boys for the trek with a stop at the local sporting store in town for hiking boots. While there we talked to the store keeper about which path to take to the top. He told us of two ways: one easy path and one more challenging trail. On the day of during our hike we got to the point where we had to choose either the longer easier path or the 'shorter' more challenging path. Since we take our sons, six and eight, on regular country walks in England we decided we could bypass the easy way.
Our journey took us up the grassy sides of the mountain, through a trail of rocks and boulders, pass rock formations created by the passing of a glacier, and next to crystal clear lakes and rocky streams. All of which were frequented by sheep, which became a common sight through out our ten hour hike.
While the path we chose was more challenging than the easy path which our trail met up with eventually, it was nothing compared to the way back down. Imagine making your way down a steep trail where your feet constantly have to secure their footing on the loose rocks before taking your next step. However it was all worth it to make it to the top peak with my husband and sons. To be so high up that the clouds practically touched our heads, to see the towns so small below, and see as far out as the ocean where it met the land.
My Wanderlust for Wales has only deepened since our journey. This is Cadair Idris. Our first mountain to climb with our boys, and the first to many more to come. Both for hikes and for upcoming photographs from our time in Wales.
*Bonnie Rose Photography © 2007 - 2013 All rights reserved | http://www.bonnieroseblog.co.uk
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Hi, I'm one of your new followers. What beautiful photos of Snowdonia! You can see how it inspired Tolkien's landscape when he wrote Lord of the Rings.
ReplyDeleteWhat beautiful pictures. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.
ReplyDeletebeautiful!! I cannot WAIT to visit Snowdonia!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful images you've captured. The air looks so clean! That's one of the things I love about Germany too!
ReplyDelete-Brittany Ruth
Wow, what a beautiful country! And the views in that first picture are amazing! I could live there!
ReplyDeleteI love the countryside and how diverse it is within the UK - beautiful!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos Bonnie!!!! Seems like a great country walk! xx
ReplyDeleteErin | Quintessentially English
WOW! Your photos are absolutely stunning, just like that landscape! And by the way... love the new header! Thanks for linking up :)
ReplyDeleteSo pretty!
ReplyDeleteThat first photo is breath taking!
ReplyDeleteOh. my gosh. These photos are breathtaking! The more and more I see your photos of Wales the more and more I decide I have to do whatever it takes to get there! It truly looks like a majestic place.
ReplyDeleteBonnie...great, great photos! That sheep! Super cool. What a gorgeous place to visit!
ReplyDeleteHiking is my favorite travel activity. There is something magical about walking around untouched lands that have stayed the same for centuries. What beautiful pictures. I'm not going to Wales anytime soon, but I will be in Ireland come November and I hope to see similar landscapes!
ReplyDeletehttp://liveitinerantly.com
I would have never guessed this is Wales! such incredibly scenery and your photos are marvelous =]
ReplyDeleteA Golden State of Mind
Wow, what a gorgeous trek! It's cool that you guys opted for the more challenging route, especially with little ones. I love that first photo of your husband and the landscape. What a stunning view!! I love the world. :)
ReplyDeleteEek, what a cute little sheep. I missing hiking so much. You can't really hike in FL. :)
ReplyDeleteGorgeous photos!
ah amazing shots. Love that sheep haha
ReplyDeleteFantastic! What a cool experience for the boys! And that sheep shot is beyond precious :)
ReplyDeleteThey really enjoyed it. They are already talking about when we can go on another mountain hike. I know..im so glad it was photogenic! x
ReplyDeleteThe sheep were all over but this one was hilarious and glad I got a quick photo. I think the sheep must be fearless!
ReplyDeleteHe is adorable. The other sheep that was so brave and tried to get our lunch was just as cute. They are pretty brave welsh sheep compared to the ones I see in England. I bet you do miss hiking, but sure there are other perks there that we cannot get here. :)
ReplyDeleteIt was one of those every few steps 'wow this is beautiful!' type walks. It did have its challenges but I'm glad because when we met up with the easy path, it would have been so boring with the type of scenery and different paths we got to cross to get where we did. The world is amazing yes!
ReplyDeleteWales is like a page out of a story book! Thank you for the compliments! x
ReplyDeleteThank you Casey! The sheep were something else. they would be on the side of mountains and looked like all it would take was one misstep and the sheep would be no more. They were all over the mountains.
ReplyDeleteI hope you do get to go, it really was right out of a story book. So beautiful. Im really glad we chose to go there for our 10th Wedding Anniversary. x
ReplyDeleteSo pretty...and majestic. I cannot wait for you to see all of them.
ReplyDeleteThank you Amanda!
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Thank you so much Casey. I just love the Welsh countryside and mountain views. Thank you Allie from Allie
ReplyDeletehttp://callmesassafras.wordpress.com made it!
Thank you so much Erin, it was just gorgeous! I would love to go back to Wales soon!
ReplyDeleteRight? Its so lovely to know where ever you live that you can truly find such distinctive and different looking locations. x
ReplyDeleteIt really is Jenn. I could so see living there. I heard it is very similar or like a cousin relation to what New Zealand is like..another place I would love to visit too.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much. The air smelt really nice too! It was such a great place to be. I hear you about Germany. We used to live there and before and afterwards lived in Napoli, Italia which is not really known for clean air, so when we would visit Germany and first got out of the car, it was like...wow, clean fresh air! x
ReplyDeleteThank you, I hope you get to visit soon! Enjoy Brighton for us, we miss it too! x
ReplyDeleteThank you Alex, So glad you enjoyed them. I hope you enjoy the future posts about our time in Snowdonia, still so much to share! x
ReplyDeleteHey Louisa! So glad you love the photos of Snowdonia. Oh I know! I said the same thing about Tokien...who actually played a special part in our vow renewal too. More on that in posts coming up. :)
ReplyDeleteThe sheep!! I just would have taken it with me!! haha^^ sooo cute!
ReplyDeleteI put this on my list "things to do in the UK"^^
What a beautiful day you had! I love hiking and would have enjoyed this immensely. Thank you for sharing this with us!
ReplyDeletehaha...right? so cute and I just could not get over the sheep. I love them.
ReplyDeleteYes you would love hiking here, it was just beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI am going to look for it when I visit this place ;)
ReplyDeleteOh do! Its a great mountain!
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