I spent a lovely family day this weekend searching for a gigantic mirrored letters. If you’re wondering what I’m on about Visit Wales have recently started using the hashtag FindYourEpic to collect great holiday ideas and great pictures of Wales. It’s a great idea, and to make it even better Visit Wales have comissioned a massive art installation consisting of the word EPIC in massive 4 metre high mirrored letters. They’re then placing the installation in different locations around Wales for a week.
It took four people three weeks to build the installation at the stunning location at Pen-y-Gwryd. Visit Wales will be moving the installation to different locations across Wales during the coming weeks. They chose Snowdonia first because North Wales has some outstanding adventure activities such as Zipworld, Surf Snowdonia and obviously the awesome walks and climbs that can be found around Snowden. Here is a promotional video from Visit Wales that give some background to the idea.
Our first stop on our day of adventure was in Llanrwst. We sat by the River Conwy eating sandwiches and cakes we’d bought from a local bakery. Katie enjoyed playing in the local park whilst I watched a local cricket match being played out on the green. It was a lovely relaxing place, but we had to move on to continue our adventure.
We then drove on through the Gwydir Forest Park, the roads were pretty small to start with, but our sat nave began taking us down some grassy tracks. This is when the adventure really started to begin. Praying that no other cars came down the track the other way we pushed on. We came across a few cars, but luckily at places with passing points. The drive from Capel Curig up to the Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel is stunning and it’s a lovely stretch of road. Katie really enjoyed the views of the surrounding mountains, and started to think that we were looking for Prince Elsa from Frozen. As we made our way to the top of the valley head we were keeping our eyes peeled for the EPIC, as we drove past the hotel and past the turn of for Llanberis we noticed the mirrored letters. What an amazing site it was and in such a great location.
We all jumped out of the car with the wind rattling in our ears. It was a 5 minute walk to the installation, but took 15 minutes due to Katie jumping over (and in) puddles, taking pictures and Katie jumping in more puddles. I was surprised to see a security guard stood next to the letters, I asked if there had been some trouble. He mentioned that Visit Wales had seen pictures of people climbing on top of the letters and also some who had posed naked. So rather than take the risk of somebody injuring themselves or catching a cold they decided to enlist 24 hour security at the site.
Most of the walkers and visitors who came by whilst we were there stopped for a selfie and made the most of the view and letters. It’s top secret where it is going next, but if you get chance if it’s near you, go and see it. It’s a great idea and a great advert for Wales.
