176 MY LIFE AS A NATURALIST 



Snowdon is the monarch mountain of both England and Wales, 

 and as I had just recently returned from the Highlands, where I 

 saw, but did not ascend, Ben Nevis, I count myself fortunate in 

 seeing two of the highest mountains in Britain during one holiday. 

 With our present-day craze for getting as high as we can in the 

 world, aeroplaning among and above the clouds, erecting giant 

 towers, wheels, and flip-flaps, small wonder, perhaps, that those 

 who find themselves in the vicinity of Snowdon possess a great 

 desire to get to the top. If you are the owner of a decent pair 

 of legs, fair nerves, and a lover of pure mountain air, the ascent 

 of Snowdon is not really a difficult matter. The last lap, so to 

 speak, is a trifle " nervy," even along the recognised path from 

 Llanberis, but there are very few accidents, unless the climber 

 chooses his own pathway. Then there is trouble. 



Time being precious, I chose the less arduous journey, taking 

 my seat in the comfortable little train at Llanberis (the Mountain 

 Railway Station is just a few minutes' walk from the terminus 

 of the L. and N.W.R.), having nothing further to do than to 

 sit still, gaze wonderingly out of the open windows, and make 

 my peace with all the world. It is an interesting experience to 

 those who have never done it before. The reader may perhaps 

 try to imagine what it is like to sit in a little toy train, just one 

 coach, that is all, with the engine in the rear, and meditate upon 

 the fact that, as soon as the signal is given to be " off," one is 

 going to commence train-climbing to a height of 3560 feet ! 



The journey is started. We are all agog with excitement, 

 for even alluring guide books whet one's appetite for travel, but 

 one can hardly realise that he is going above the clouds, to ascend 

 in a comfortable seat to a lofty height, and to witness the romantic 

 and awful grandeur of it all ? 



We at once realise that we are ascending, though the train 

 starts apparently from a dead level. The fore-part of the one 

 carriage is pitched above us, for we are in the last seat, next to 

 the Swiss-made engine, which is in the rear. We proceed very 

 cautiously all the way. As a matter of fact, it is a five miles' 

 journey from Llanberis Station to Snowdon Summit, and it 

 takes about an hour and a quarter to do it ! This will give 

 an idea of the slowness of the journey, and the rise thereof. 



First we go through a tree-laden area, with the housetops far 

 below us, reaching, in a few minutes, one of the finest bits of 

 country it is possible to imagine. We can see, as we approach it 

 on the left, the famous Llanberis waterfall, for we are travelling 



