Snowdonia – an early morning adventure.

3 am wake up, make a flask of tea, some toast and layer up.

Lower down in Llanberis the temperature is 2 degrees so we allow for base layers, leggings, and windproof clothing to prepare us for chillier temperatures at the summit. Dave opts for bamboo base layer running leggings, with the athletic bamboo shorts over the top. The snugness of the hood will be handy later on. Layering up shorts over leggings is a great way of keeping the hamstrings, buttocks, and hips warm. On top, he wears the long sleeve bamboo hoody with a base layer underneath.

Helen needs a few more layers than Dave as she doesn’t cope very well with the cold. She wears the Enduro bamboo deep waistband 3/4 leggings in Field floral blue underneath her outer trousers ready to unveil for the sunrise and warmer temps on the way down. For her top layers, she starts with the Scoop back bamboo crop top in pink underneath the Bamboo Infini-T followed by the long sleeve back detail bamboo top adding cream on top with the Easy Sweat Bamboo cover up jumper in cinnamon! This is a sure recipe for warmth and comfort whilst heading into those cooler temperatures with the added flexibility of of the lightness of the garments means they don’t feel too heavy against the skin.

At 3.30am we leave. Head torches have full battery life.

We’d already decided to take the Llanberis path to the summit, partly because this is where we are staying but mainly because it’s a steady path underfoot, which if your new to night hiking is a good idea. Whilst it’s a longer and less enduring route physically, it’s steady and gradual. This does mean that you need to allow a little more time to reach the summit for sunrise. However under the dark reserve, it’s a very rewarding route indeed, plus it means we can stop and take photographs along the way.

We take on a fairly brisk pace to begin so that we can spend more time higher up playing with our cameras.

We have a camera each, some lighting and backpacks.

It is so peaceful. This is the busiest mountain in the UK, so to have the paths to ourselves with a few other head torches in the distance is such a delight.

Us, the sheep, birdsong and the stars.

It is so quiet, we talk, we experience the hike in a very different way. Rather than looking out over the vistas we find ourselves spotting shooting stars, snow and looking out for the path edges.

It takes about 3 hours to reach a position close to the summit, we have 20 minutes to spare so we start capturing the light creeping in over the horizon.

It begins to change very quickly.

6.15 am We approach the summit and are met with several other like-minded early risers.

We even have a chance to play on the trig point, taking photographs of us standing on the very top of Wales.

The light is pink, purple, blue and then orange.

Suddenly the sun starts to rise.

In the distance we watch the bright circular, glowing light of the sun rise through the mist. We look around the see everyone is fixed on the same point.

It rises quickly so we take more photographs, but now the wind chill is minus 12 and our fingertips are freezing.

Sitting with our tea and toast we take a few moments.

This feels so special.

Then we begin to chat with another hiker. This is the first guaranteed day of the season with clear and fairly still conditions (although it is windy at the top) and we share our tales of hiking whilst behind us, we see the cast of Snowdon’s great shadow playing out over towards Anglesey and the Irish Sea.

The light stays golden for some time as we decide to pack up and start making our way back down.

We opt to take the Miners track back to the Pen-y-Pass car park.

As we begin to descend we can finally start stripping back the layers some.

It’s so refreshing to be hiking through these hills in such vibrant colours, whilst everyone seems to be in black or dark colours, Helen displays bold and playful prints with her leggings and jumper.

As we got lower down we decided to play around by the lakes. It’s such a beautiful spot for a picnic, whether you’re going the full way to the summit or just heading out on the lower paths. The reflections from the mountain range surround us. It’s idyllic.

10.30am after meandering back to the car park we finally finish our walk. You could do this part much more quickly than us but we stopped often to take more photographs because the light was perfect.