When you think of Wales, you might be inclined to jump straight away into imagining an abundance of cloud-covered hills plagued with rain and an endless infestation of sheep. And for a good chuck of any particular year – you might well be correct. But even in the not-so sunny UK we occasionally get the good weather. Saying that – we’ve had a bit of a drought this year so maybe the stereotypical rain-all-day assumption no longer really stands?

Anyway, our trip in July was certainly blessed with enough sun and heat, which made the underground slate caverns and water pools up Mount Snowdon even more appealing!

I’d gone up to Snowdonia previously back in January to do the same thing (well – the slate caverns at least, not the freezing water pools) and although I got in a good day of exploring some of the abandoned quarries and mining facilities, I was unfortunately plagued by a dodgy lasagne at a local pub and concluded my day’s adventure with some unpleasant sickness. This did not make for a nice drive home the next day.

Thus I had to postpone my trip to Zip World, who were kind enough to delay my booking for 6 months so I could return at some point in the future. Which I did, this time accompanied by Mr Wilson. At least if I was ill again then I could stay in the back of the car slowly dying whilst he drove us home (spoilers – I was fine).

Zip World lies just north of the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog in central Snowdonia within a very large old slate mining complex. Endless supplies of the grey stone fill the landscape, forming vast spoil tips everywhere you look. This was all active some years ago so by now the results of the workings blend quite seamlessly until the Welsh countryside. It’s use now (as you may have guessed) by Zip World is zipline adventures, taking you above and across the old quarries or (as we did) underground into the disused caverns under the hills.

Once you’re all kitted up you are taken down in the old workings. The temperature is significantly cooler so Ryan was somewhat smug in his jumper, which I had decided to leave off.

The concept here is pretty simple – you attach your harness to the life support line that follows the course, navigate your way around the caverns (almost like rock climbing) and use ziplines to cross from one side to the other!

You might immediately assume such underground spaces were small and constricted, but the main setting for the course is in a large cave-like cavern with ziplines criss-crossing all over the place. Don’t expect an easy time if you’re afraid of heights!

There’s around 13 ziplines of various lengths to do in total as you climb around different sections of the mine – with the course taking us around 90 minutes. You’ll also come across the underground trampolines activity on the way but unfortunately you can’t stop off to have a go. But still – for the £65 ish it was more than I was expecting so would highly recommend!

Once out in the warm summer sun we set off to hunt for some good places to take a dip in the mountain waters. Parking up at the base of the Watkins Path, we took a reasonably short walk up the bottom section of Snowden, following the streams that flow down from the mountain. You don’t need to go far to find a good spot but it could well be worth the extra time and walking to reach the picturesque waterfalls further up. It was quite busy so we settled for a quiet spot further down where the stream would level out somewhat to create beautiful rockpools.

As I always say, no weather in this country could ever warm up the unforgivingly cold British waters. Despite the sun blazing down on us, it was a challenge to see who could brave a complete submersion (we both did – and it was great!). At least the cold water made for a good fridge for the cider we had. It’s an amazing spot up until late afternoon – eventually the sun disappears behind the great mass of the mountain and you’re left in the cooler shade. We wanted some more time there in the sun so we decided to return the next day as well.

For the second night we parked up near a nice lake near Porthmadog, where the next day we boarded the Welsh Highland Railway – a narrow-gauge line that runs from Porthmadog to Caernarfon through Snowdonia. I’d seen the railway line on my previous trip, appearing at very obscure points throughout the area. As a narrow-gauge line it doesn’t require a lot of space for trains to run through, so it was quite surprising to see trains and tracks running through very dense forests and small tunnels cut into the rockface.

Anyway, I was quite keen on trying it out for myself, so we took the train from Porthmadog and up to Beddgelert – a small and quaint little village not far from the base of Snowdon. It’s a nice way to see Snowdonia from a different perspective, and you certainly get enough time to take in the sights as the traditional steam engine isn’t exactly speedy! The full trip to Caernarfon and back takes a lengthy 7-8 hours (stops included) so we settled for the shorter trip to Beddgelert instead. It was a good length for a morning activity, leaving us enough time to make the most out of the sunny day and return to our newfound favourite bathing spot on the Watkins path. Definitely this summer’s peak for scenic-chilling, and I’m very much looking forward to finding other spots further up the mountain next year.

With the sun starting to lower once more, we made our way back – stopping again at the Prince Llewelyn hotel/pub in Bedgellert for some grub. (Of all places in the world, this random Welsh village pub was where Ryan got his Facebook login details stolen. Avoid the free Wi-Fi!)

A fulfilling 2 days. Perhaps next time we could include an ascent of Snowdon with the bathing (that may well feel like a more well-earnt experience), and it’s certainly a spot to consider for camping trip at some point. Either way, I can say any summer trip to the north of Wales will be one full of adventure!