ROBIN WEAVER

landscape photographer

WHEN you’ve got a teenage daughter for whom the very mention of the word ‘countryside’ evokes shrieks of horror and an even smaller one to whom the word ‘walk’ is incomprehensible, then you might not think a few days in Snowdonia has much in the way of pleasure potential.
However, synonymous as the national park is with mountains, climbing and challenging hikes, you don’t have to look very far beyond the majestic scenery to find a multitude of activities to suit all ages, tastes and pockets.

So, surprisingly for us, our short holiday will stick in our minds as the only one we’ve had so far where there was not one word of complaint or one cry of boredom - not until it was time for us to leave North Wales, that is, and our daughters, Elena and Sophie wanted to stay.
Most people, of course, do go for the mountains, whether it’s for the satisfaction of climbing them or for the sheer spectacle of negotiating the narrow passes that either go through them or wind precariously around them. Even if you are of the sit-in-the-car-and-admire-the-view persuasion, rather like our daughters, you can’t help but be awestruck by the magnificent vistas, whatever the weather.
But did you know you can also go deep inside these mountains? We did just that, at the Sygun copper mine near Beddgelert, following the old tram tracks through an entrance that was only cleared in 1986. This was a great hit with Sophie and Elena and an excellent alternative to outdoors activities on a wet day. It is a good idea to go wrapped up warmly and with waterproof boots or shoes because water is constantly filtering through the rock and there are lots of puddles under foot, but it all adds to the excitement of retracing the steps of the Victorian copper miners. With our hard hats on we followed a taped commentary about the history of the mine, the legends of the mountain and the harsh lives of the miners. In these bleak conditions, it is easy to comprehend why few of them lived beyond 40 years. Instead of hoisting ourselves up on ropes and ladders as the miners had, we had to negotiate 186 steep metal steps over several levels to arrive in the fresh air again - and to a breathtaking view over the valley. On the way down again the children stopped to try their hand at panning for ‘gold’ and at a toddlers’ playground complete with a large and very popular trampoline. For the 2005 season, the mine plans to open a second attraction, the Red Dragon Heritage Centre, including a Celtic village site with artefacts dating back over 5000 years.

After that it was time for a picnic at one of the many viewpoints overlooking the Llanberis pass. If you, or certain members of your family, are not the ‘ourdoorsy’ sort, just like our daughters, it really would be wrong to dismiss a break in this most beautiful of national parks as we proved.
My husband and I are, though, and we wanted to see the region in all its autumn glory, even if it was just for two or three days.
It helped a great deal that our base was the award winning five-star Brynteg Holiday Park at Llanrug, between Llanberis and Caernarfon. Set in a breathtaking location, with wonderful views of the mountains from its own private lake, our immaculate, cosy and well equipped mobile home was surrounded by woodlands, yet close to a leisure complex. With swimming pool, gym, sauna, soft play area with ball pools and slides, games room, bowling alley, shop, bar and bistro, you can imagine just how difficult it was for us to drag ourselves and the girls away. There’s also tennis, an adventure playground and golf on site.

But we were here to sample some of the dozens of other attractions Snowdonia has to offer, from castles to craft centres and railways to roller coasters. That is how I came to be seated in a somewhat ungainly fashion in the smallest of plastic sledges at the top of what they call the Green Run at Greenwood Forest Park - at 70m the longest slide in Wales. As I plunged downwards, over what had looked like a gentle bump from the bottom, leaving my stomach behind, I remembered I had promised not to scream and embarrass everybody, but only just. But what a thrill! This really was a theme park with a difference, set as it was among woodland in the foothills of the mountains, with no noisy motorised rides whatsoever. Instead there was archery, a little Green Run for Sophie-sized people, a toddlers’ village complete with diggers, tractors and sand pit, a maze, tree house and adventure playground. The biggest attraction here has to be the world’s first people-powered roller-coaster, where you walk up a hill to ride down in a lift, which in turn pulls the carriages up to the top. You then climb up the hill again, to whizz down a dizzying track to the bottom again. Among the other activities with a ‘difference’ were the jungle boats, where we had to pull ourselves along via the ropes strung at intervals above our head. We were also issued with a paddle which came in useful when we got stuck on a bend halfway round and, amid much hilarity, almost managed to go the wrong way. The stilt walking arena was also a source of amusement - laughing as we were at other people’s attempts to get a balance. It was an opportunity for me to show off my no longer long-forgotten childhood skills, having had a father who spent many a weekend making and repairing stilts for us.

Whilst we could have spent many more happy relaxing hours at Greenwood, the charm of what I personally believe to be Europe’s greatest castle lured. Caernarfon is just a short drive away, on the coast, and despite the large number of times I have been there, never fails to enchant. This has to be the greatest place for a game of hide and seek. If you’re here for the history, there is plenty of it in the shape of imaginative museums and displays. But for sheer childish fun it is perfect, with walkways not only along the walls, but also inside them, with ‘secret’ rooms, spooky dead-end passages and hidey-holes at every turn. One could easily spend most of the day here negotiating the many towers with their narrow, dark stairs, on which you really do have to be very careful, to be rewarded at the top with views over to nearby Anglesey or across the rooftops of the walled town of the former military stronghold. Its builder, Edward I, could not have built a more fairytale castle in a more impressive place.

All these attractions do cost money, obviously, but an interesting outing for all the family, which is free, is to the Welsh Slate Museum at Llanberis. Here we heard the story of the slate industry in Wales, housed in the Victorian workshops that once serviced the Dinorwig slate quarry. It was slate from this quarry that formed the plinth on which Prince Charles was invested as Prince of Wales at Caernarfon Castle in 1969. The quarry closed just a few months later. We climbed up to marvel at the giant waterwheel, the largest working example in mainland Britain, and were fascinated by the contents of a terrace of quarrymen’s houses, each one re-erected stone by stone from near Blaenau Ffestiniog, and refurbished to reflect key dates in the industry’s history. Then there was a 3D film show about what working in the quarry was really like and demonstrations of traditional skills by museum craftsmen, which the girls particularly enjoyed watching.

It has to be said that, given all these pleasures, Wales’ weather was not very kind to us, but that, as you have read, did not diminish our enjoyment of our holiday one jot. In fact, it had no impact on it whatsoever really, which just goes to show that Snowdonia is not just about mountains.
That said, it would have been nice to have gone up Snowdon, but it was engulfed in a swirling sea of mist. I’m told you can see as far as Ireland and the Isle of Man from the summit, but each time I’ve ridden up it on the little rack railway from Llanberis the view has been shrouded in cloud.
The only cloud looming at the end of our holiday though was the thought of the four hour journey home and the return to reality after what really was a magical and relaxing break in the land of castles, dragons and, well, mountains.