YR WYDDFA SUMMIT CAFE FINALLY TO REOPEN IN MAY
THE summit cafe on Yr Wyddfa is to reopen after a gap of more than three years. Hafod Eryri, billed as the “highest re-fuelling station in England and Wales”, will again start serving drinks and snacks from May 13.
From the same date, Snowdon Mountain Railway, Britain’s only rack-and-pinion line, will also resume services to the top of Yr Wyddfa, Wales’ highest peak.
Last summer, it ran only three-quarters of the way up the mountain to Clogwyn Station.
Hafod Eryri, which opened in 2009 to replace a dilapidated summit building, was closed to walkers, climbers and railway passengers in 2020 and 2021 because of the Covid pandemic.
It remained shut last year as Snowdon Mountain Railway (SMR) engineers raced to catch up with essential maintenance work that couldn’t be done during the pandemic.
Its closure prompted some bad-tempered exchanges on social media as walkers fumed at the lack of facilities.
“We went up two weeks ago on a Saturday and it was closed fuming! Why bother having it?” said one.
However SMR (Rheilffordd yr Wyddfa) has repeatedly publicised the closures and walkers are always advised to check before hiking up the mountain. The good news is that, from mid-May, walkers will no longer have cause for complaint - unless bad weather intervenes.
The railway will reopen on April 1, 2023. Until May 13, trains will run only to Clogwyn Station. After that date, weather permitting, a key route to the summit will once again be available to visitors. Train services to the summit will then continue until the end of