Way to the snowy splendor of the Snowdonia Mountain Range
Experience shared by Jayasree Gupta
1988, early in the morning. Huddersfield – a small town of the Yorkshire county in London. We were on our way to Snowdonia Mountain Range of Wales. Our car was speeding through the highway at a speed ranging between 80-90 miles per hour. One of the greatest advantage of this place is here daylight is available till 9PM in the evening. So, we had plenty of time to enjoy.
Our car was racing through the highway. We left the vast forest range, big service stations, some big and busy cities on both sides of the road. The riot of greenery on the valley was quite engaging and the beauty of colorful flowers wiped away our early morning fatigue. In some places, cattle were grazing on the green fields as if they were inhaling the fresh morning greens. Slowly the place started to enchant us.
Leaving the highway we were now moving through a service road termed as A-road in British vocabulary. Enjoying the natural beauty throughout our way, we reached Snowdonia.
Snowdonia mountain range- it seemed to me like a kingdom of mountain. Wherever I looked, there was a mountain. Some had green grass on it, some had of normal soil on them, but the most of them were made of slate. The place is famous for slate factories. We visited some of them. I collected some pieces of slate- a memento of our Snowdonia tour.
The vast mountain range was bound by gorgeous lakes. There were little springs at some places. And the true beauty of this place was flowers. That was an enchanting magnificence which was beyond words. We felt them, absorbed them but was unable to express them in lexis.
After a while, we caught a train and started moving towards our next destination. That was a place of constant snowfall, cloudy sky, and rainfall. The train slowly went up the hill cutting the clouds and snowflakes. I felt like that was our eternal journey towards heaven. The check posts on the ways seem to me like many gateways of the heaven. We came here from India and that journey was quite different from our very own toy-train ride of Darjeeling. There the train went up to the peak encircling the hill and here the train went straight up.
The window glasses were constantly washed with snowflakes. The biting cold was cutting off our skins. Our hands and legs were frozen.
After traveling for an hour or so, we reached the peak. What an amazing beauty, we were speechless.
Snowflakes drenched us but still the idea of moving inside a shed was nowhere in our mind. Snowdonia had put its spell on us.
In a nearby little coffee-shop, we had some snacks and coffee.
Then again, we came out and stood beneath the sky, enjoyed the beauty of the mountain range for the last time.
That was the moment I felt the high and mighty splendor of a mountain and its eternal truth deep in my heart.