Miner’s Track, Llanberis, Snowdonia

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Summary:

Best at / for: sunrise, mid-winter snow and ice.

Best avoided: public holidays, summer weekends.

Parking: expensive parking at Pen y Pass, worth getting the bus from Llanberis.

Access: Easy walking, gentle slopes as far as Llyn Llydaw, much steeper further up.

Notes: Heading off the track, especially up towards Y Lliwedd, puts you into some great wild camping country.

My vlogs featuring this location:

#024: Watkin Path, Snowdonia, North Wales

Details:

Please bear in mind that I’m coming at this from a landscape photography point of view. It’s not a hiking guide. So if, as a photographer you want to visit Snowdon summit with all you gear, take the train!

But if you have some good morning light, or some interesting weather to photograph, the Miner’s Track gets you and your gear into the mountains as easily as possible.

Unlike the Pyg Track, which also starts at Pen y Pass, it doesn’t immediately lurch off at a ludicrous gradient! The Miner’s Track pretty much follows the contour of the Snowdon foothills round to Llyn Llydaw.

Along the way you’ll find a good deal of interest to the landscape photographer. And at Llyn Llydaw, the steeper slopes of the main parts of Snowdon fall straight into the far side of the lake.

This is the sort of thing people visit Cwm Idwal for, in the Ogwen valley. Only here you can get great morning light too!