Browsing the web one-night last week I came across a brilliant black and white image of a man sitting on an outcrop of rock. Wearing two boiled wool hats, a marvelously well-worn twill overhead jacket, plus fours with wool socks pulled up underneath. Wearing proper leather walking boots, around his neck was a long piece of knotted rope with a carabiner which he was holding in one hand and a finished cigarette in the other looking into the distance.

As I looked at the image, Josh walked into my office with a cup of tea for me, looked at my screen and said ‘oh Joe Brown, he was an amazing climber, lived in the village. He passed only last month’. I had never heard of Joe Brown but I had heard of Joe Brown’s shop in Llanberis where we live.

Snowdon is very much the main attraction for thousands of guests every year. There is no better feeling in my opinion than conquering a mountain no matter how big or small and Yr Wddyfa, which translated to English is “Snowdon” being the third-largest Mountain in the UK is simply breathtaking. One of the best parts of climbing a mountain is meeting people along the way. Everyone conquering the same challenge, the joint sense of accomplishment, the feeling of togetherness, and also joint tiredness at the end of the day, sharing a well-earned meal and drink is simply the best way to spend a day.

The reason why I admire Snowdon so much as a visitor destination is the fact that many abilities and ages are able to walk to the summit. There are multiple paths ranging from slow and easy of the Llanberis Path to scrambles and climbs for the more advanced such as Grib Coch (more can be read about the various

Have you ever heard about or even tried wild swimming? Think of all the bodies of water you may have walked by, lakes, seas, streams, waterfalls - instead of just walking past would you ever consider taking the plunge and stripping and dipping!

Wild Swimming can be quite addictive and I’ve been told that swimmers find ‘the nip of the water and the zing of a wild swim exhilarating.  Also know as “Open water swimming”  it is classed as a discipline which takes place in outdoor bodies of water such as open oceans, lakes, and rivers with more people seem to be “going swimming” but not in traditional indoor swimming pools but in the great outdoors.  Most say this is due to the best selling book “Wild Swimming” by  Kate Rew, also the founder of the “Outdoor Swimming Society”

With Crashpad Lodges Josh and I have tried to go against the norm of what is expected. 

Remote lodges, “off - the - grid” accommodation providers, in-fact quite a few of the outdoor centres in the UK are usually thought of as basic, a place to lay your head, paid for per bed and generally cold and unwelcoming places.

When we first acquired the lodge, it was operating as a pay-per-bed bunkhouse generating a good income.  We could’ve kept with the existing business model but we knew we had to do things differently.  We began by carrying on the business as it was – all of our money had gone towards raising mortgages

As the year comes to a close, one evening this week I decided to sit down with yet another mince pie and look at the business plan Josh and I crafted out in 2014 to see if we had managed to stay with the original premise.

Our original mission statement was to provide “quality accommodation for friends and families in the most wonderful setting from which to enjoy Snowdonia and the surrounding area” This statement has not changed, the bones of our business plan has remained the same. Phew.

As Christmas approaches, Crashpad Lodges has had its final clean of 2018 ready for a group of guests arriving for 5 days to celebrate their New Year in the beautiful mountains of Snowdonia.

 I love the run up to Christmas and Christmas day itself but my favourite time is the period between Christmas and New Year.  It’s a time when you can sit back, relax and reflect on the year gone by and make plans and goals for the year ahead.

Last year at Crashpad Lodges we’ve had some great successes and met new and interesting people.  We invested in 2 new low energy

A business is like a best friend, a pet, even a loved one.  When it goes quiet you start worrying,  it can get you wondering “what have I done, or what am I doing wrong” and you ask “how can I make this better”

Welcome to my first blog post of Escape to the Lodges, tales and tribulations of life at Crashpad Lodges. 

My name is Lynsey and along with Josh we own Yr Helfa, a remote, self-sustained mountain lodge on the slopes of Mount Snowdon, North Wales from which we run our business Crashpad Lodges.

I won’t spend too much time here introducing myself as it’s all in our about page but