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I have not given timing estimates. In my experience these depend on so many factors – weather, fitness, experience, size of party, morale, footwear, route-finding ability, use of camera and so on – that they are virtually meaningless when quoted in isolation. Most people soon learn from their own practical experience what they are comfortable with and how to judge a walk from the map. The only point I would make is the obvious one: until you know what you are capable of always err on the side of caution; hillwalking is more exacting than it seems.

The Hills Themselves

To many of their admirers the Welsh hills mean, if not just Snowdon, then at most Snowdonia (that popular area north of Porthmadoc and west of Betws-y-Coed). This is both natural and understandable, for therein lies all the very highest ground, including all 14 of the 3000-footers. Nowhere else in Wales is there such a concentration of raw rugged splendour, the feeling of latent power, as when one bestrides Snowdon itself, Tryfan, the Glyders, the broad rolling uplands of the Carneddau and their lower acolytes.