After previously suggesting I’d never get the bus again to an activation I did it again this week - not once but twice 
Snowdon GW/NW-001 19/03/2026
The weather had suddenly turned very sunny this week so a day off work was hastily arranged to take advantage. I wanted to walk up the PYG track as I hadn’t been that way for nearly 20 years, so planned to get the bus to Pen Y Pass and thought I may as well get the bus for most of the way to save money (and the planet, but more on that at the end).
Given how tight the times were last time I drove 15 miles to Corwen rather than get an extra bus. Parking was £4 at the main car park where the bus ‘station‘ is. The T10 bus was waiting in the car park and was in no rush to depart.
This route was introduced as a trial in 2022 and like last time, I was the only person on the bus the whole way. You get a great view from the bus which you don’t always see when driving, I hadn’t appreciate how steep and deep the gorge is at Conwy Falls with the A5 cut into the side of the slope because you can’t see it from a car.
I alighted at Betws y Coed and got the S1 Snowdon Sherpa bus to Pen y Pass where there is around 5 minutes between arrival and departure, better than the 40 minute wait in 2022.
Roadworks on the A5 at Capel Curig held the bus up and it didn’t stop at several of the intermediate stops in the roadworks leaving passengers behind - there were no signs on the stops to say they weren’t in use.
At Pen y Pass, I set off up the PYG track. The weather was nice and warm the whole way, the path was much more ‘engineered’ than I remember with some very large steps particualrly where the ‘engineering’ stops and the ground has eroded away. The ‘slabs’ were dry which was a relief as they were wet and slippery the last time I came this way. The coastguard helicoper made an appearance as I was nearing the zig zags, not offering me a lift up but looked like it was trying to drop/rescue someone from near Y Lliwedd.
It took 1hr 50m to reach the summiit which I didn’t think was too bad considering how unfit I am these days and the large backpack full of spare clothing just in case the weather turned.
The summit was busy, but not crazy. I found a quiet spot just down from the cairn where I worked a few summit to summits on 2m with my FT3D while having a sandwich. I then thought about setting up my 23cm equipment but realised that most of the usual chasers were on the other side of the cairn from me so I packed up and moved around the other side where I found a comfy crevice in the rocks with a good take off to the north east. There was also a handy rock sitcking out above my head which was ideal to sit the transverter/amplifier on so I didn’t need to bother with the attention attracting mast and yagi and just used the small PCB antenna.
While setting up, I managed to work Alan on G/SP-003 on 4m using my Anytone handheld with a comically large whip that I’d bought for it. It’s not perfect but it’s better than the short helical whip that came with the radio and it saves putting up the mast for a slim jim.
23cm was fruitful with 8 contacts on SSB and 11 on FM so I was very grateful to everyone who made an effort to chase me.
A few others were worked on 2m FM using the RH770 antenna off my handheld connected directly to the back of my FT817 with a few coax adaptors which worked extremely well with only 2W ouput from the radio.
After 2.5 hours on the summit I decided to head down via the Miner’s path, a route I don’t think I had walked previously in full. I had picked trail running shoes as my footwear of choice - the most grippy in case the slabs on the PYG were wet but it meant I was able to rock hop/part run on the downhill sections which made for a quick return to Pen y Pass. Unfortunately I had missed the earlier bus back to Betws y Coed by 10 minutes (which would have given an hour’s wait there) so I spent the time at the bar at the YHA across the road sitting in the sun outside.
At 1630 two S1 buses arrived, each heading in different directions. I double checked with the driver that I was on the right one! There was a tight connection at Betws y Coed again for my bus home, however checking the TrawsCymru app showed that the bus I needed to connect onto was delayed and the map showed it behind the S1 bus and the roadworks had gone from the A5 so in the end there was a comfortable around 15 minutes wait and I managed to get the last bus back to Corwen.
Moel Siabod GW/NW-010 21/03/2026
(sorry, long block of text to start with)
Sunny weather was forecast again for Saturday so plans were made to head out again. Buoyed by how well things had gone on Thursday, and the fact that Moel Siabod is (in theory) a quicker walk I decided to get the bus all the way from home. The intention was that this would be another 2 leg trip to keep things simple, starting from the Moel Siabod cafe.
The T3 bus runs from near home towards Barmouth. I got to the bus stop earlier than expected which was lucky because the bus turned up and departed 5 minutes earlier than timetabled, with plenty of people already on the bus. This took me to Corwen where there was a 15 minute wait for the T10 bus again which was long enough to grab a drink from one of the cafes in the town. This time there were 3 people on the T10, one of the other passengers said that normally it’s only her on the bus on Saturday.
The T10 bus continues from Betws y Coed to Bangor and passes the Moel Siabod cafe where I wanted to get off to sart the walk, however Google Maps was showing severe congestion on the road in the area so I suspected the roadworks were back and I wouldn’t be able to get off here as planned so I made the decision to swap to the S1 bus again, the thought being that if I can’t get off where I wanted, it can drop me on the other side of the roadworks outside Plas y Brenin which is another place to start the walk. The S1 bus driver confirmed the roadworks were back when he had come through earlier and said he couldn’t drop me off there but he’d drop me as close as possible. In the end, when we got there the roadworks had vanished 
I headed up the track opposite the cafe to Bryn Engan to pick up the path that runs from Plas y Brenin. This was a nice gentle climb through the woods, and much cooler than on Thursday morning.
I met the main path after around 20 minutes and started on the climb - initially damp, then the swamp, then a bone dry stony path, some rocks to climb over and I was at the summit. I’d worn my big winter boots as I knew about the boggy section from previous visits, but had got a bit cocky walking through the water and stepped in a hole that I shouldn’t have. Waterproof boots don’t work when it goes in through the big hole in the top 
It was very busy and loud as it was a weekend so I found a nice flat rock to sit on just down from the trig to set up.
I initially worked M7CUW and M8BIA/P using my handheld then set up 23cm, this time using my mini yagi on a pole. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get the hoped for summit to summit on 23cm, but managed to work M9OUD on 2m, 4m and 6m FM.
I had worked out that I needed to be on my way down at 1300 in order to give time for a quick drink at Plas y Brenin followed by a 10 minute walk to the A5 to get the T10 bus back to Corwen.
Unfortunately I’d underestimated the time it would take to get down which meant no time for a nice cold drink at the bottom of the hill. While planning this adventure, I knew that it was quicker to get the S1 from Plas y Brenin back to Betws y Coed, rather than walking to the road to get the T10 so I headed straight to the bus stop for the S1. After a bit of a panic when the bus didn’t arrive at the time on the timetable at the bus stop, then didn’t arrive at the slightly later time listed on Google Maps, the bus duly arrived. I needn’t have panicked as the T10 bus was running late again - apparently due to being full and standing most of the day between Bangor and Ogwen Valley.
The T10 was quite busy - 5 passengers this time, 3 going to Corwen and despite the bus arriving late there was 15 minutes to spare at Corwen which left enough time to get a drink and some snacks, watch a shiny black steam engine pull into the railway station but not enough time for a photo as my bus had just pulled into the ‘bus station’ to take me home.
Reflections
My aim for getting the bus was to save some money - SOTA can get expensive getting around to places.
I purchased 1Bus tickets on both days which are £7.50 and are a day pass for any bus in Wales, but work out cheaper than buying individual tickets. It was £4 to park in Corwen on the Thursday plus about £3.50 in fuel so £22.50 in total.
If I drove, it would be 90 miles on the Thursday and 85 on Saturday so around £21 in fuel (parking would have been free in my case) so not much in it and the only cost saving is really wear and tear on the car. I think I could’ve saved myself the £4 parking in Corwen on the Thursday by parking in a free car park and walking a mile or so which is a reasonable percentage of the total cost.
Going by bus takes around twice as long as by car, and most buses only run every 2 hours so it’s not very flexible. The buses only run along certain routes, so many summits are difficult to access by public transport, although I’ve yet to try the ‘Fflecsi’ buses which will take you anywhere if you book in advance and might fill some of the gaps (there must be a limit on ‘anywhere’).
As for saving the planet? Well the buses are running anyway so using them saves the extra pollution from a car, but with some buses running 40 miles with only 1 passenger (I suspect it’s no passengers most days) do the shorter legs with more passengers make it better overall? I’m not sure.
I’m certainly not advocating for scrapping the bus as some people may have no other option, and despite the low usage Transport for Wales haven’t ended the T10 “trial” but I think they need to find ways to get more people using it - maybe by changing times or adjusting routes.