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the fire, crack out the card games, and watch the soggy thrushes, coal tits, and occasional woodpecker have a crack at the seed balls through the cottage windows. Then the sunshine sears, the lake glitters, and the hail melts away into the lush grass. At this point, wetsuits are donned, and a canoe is launched into the lake (some of
the cottages come equipped, or you can hire from the campsite). The destination is usually Elephant Rock – a crag sitting on the waterline with ledges at varying heights for children to test their courage and plunge in. In the spring, you have Elephant Rock all to yourself, although the chill, often-slate-grey water is less inviting. Summer, we found to our pleasure, brings an inviting ultramarine glow beneath the lake’s translucent surface. If the wetsuits are still damp from yesterday’s lake adventure, there are excellent excursion possibilities from this relatively central point in the park’s northern half. Under ten minutes’ drive south from Llyn Gwynant is Beddgelert – a postcard-perfect grey stone village with a dynamite ice cream parlour. It sits on the confluence of the Colwyn and the Glaslyn rivers, and there’s a gentle walk along a gorge that ties in a visit to the burial spot of Gelert – the “Edmund Hillary trained for Everest on Yr Wyddfa’s boulder-strewn flanks” town’s namesake legendary hound that saved a baby from a wolf (it’s an old story, don’t worry). For lunch, strike out for Caffi Gwynant on the road between Beddgelert and Llyn Gwynant – a converted chapel-turned-hipster-ish restaurant serving southern fried chicken with chive waffle nachos, and other classic Welsh dishes. Eryri isn’t just about the mountains. A drive of 40 minutes south brings you to coastal Harlech, where the headline draw is the fantastic 13th century castle. Afterwards, run through the dunes until you reach the broad sandy beach, ideal for kite flying, with views back into the sky-scraping hinterland. For those seeking high-octane thrills, a 40-minute drive in the other direction from Llyn Gwynant brings you to Zip World Penrhyn Quarry. Here you have the chance to travel at 100mph face-first on a zipline across a quarry. If you’d like to travel face-first down some waterfalls instead, you can book canyoning with Snowdonia Adventure Activities at the gorgeous run of falls near Yr Wyddfa’s Watkins Path. Just a few minutes north from the lake is the Pen-Y-Gwryd Hotel. It’s famous as the place where Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay based themselves while training for their ascent of Everest, on the boulder-strewn flanks of Snowdon. It’s a splendid place for a drink, with little nooks to settle into for chats after a good tramp. With younger kids, you want to find a spot in the large seating area just to the left as you enter. Every time we’ve been there, this area has been almost entirely ours except for a couple of hikers and a damp
dog steaming beside the fire. There’s an Everest shrine with crampons, ropes, and woolly hats set into the wall in the hotel’s inner sanctum. It’s really only accessible to those staying in the rooms, but if you ask the bar staff for a peek, they’re usually very accommodating (especially if you’ve an eager seven-year-old with you). That evening, after leaving the Pen-Y-Gwryd hopped up on squash and Everest lore, Ada and Rafe were gung-ho for tackling Yr Wyddfa. Come morning, the walls of the tent aglow with the rising sun, their passions had subsided. Mine too. Plotting the careful snack strategy for four to six hours of uphill walking felt like an adventure for another year. However, having already completed some longer scrambles nearby, as well as launching origami boats in little streams and passing mossy-roofed cottages that seemed half sunk into the slate-scattered soil, we decided it was time to try something a
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