Snowdon

Standing 3650 ft above sea level, Snowdon is the highest peak in Wales, second highest mountain in Britain and is also probably the busiest due to it popularity with hillwalkers.

The actual mountain is supposed to be an enormous cairn, erected over the body of a giant called Rhita, who was slain by King Arthur and the Welsh name for Snowdon is Yr Widdfa, which means ‘great tomb’.  Rhita was a king in his own right and commanded a mighty army.  He had a cloak made from the beards of kings he had killed and intended to finish it off with the beard of Arthur.  Arthur defeated Rhita and commanded his men to cover the giants body with a cairn of stones.  This created Rhita’s Cairn or Gwyddfa Rhita, an old Welsh term for Snowdon.

Glaslyn Lake on the mountain is said to hold an Afanc, a form of water dragon, banished here from the river Conwy. The lake is tainted green because of the copper ore leached into it, the colour was sometimes blamed on the creature within it.

More modern folklore suggest that a secret base exists under the mountain holding some kind of doomsday device.

Directions: A railway climbs the mountain from the A4086, although the walk is much more rewarding.