Autumn Alone in the Welsh Mountains

The darkest time of the year is fast approaching, the days are growing shorter and the sun is now a rare and cherished guest in this part of the world. The mountains are speckled with hundreds of waterfalls, swollen with the heavy rains of the season and we found ourselves parked up at the foot of the highest peak in Wales. If you're new here I'm Jessica and I live in my wooden camper van Frodo with my puppy Heidi, travelling solo and full-time around Europe. Two years ago I quit my job, sold most of my belongings and left my old life behind to chase simplicity and freedom. Join us for this next chapter of our adventures where we reconnect with nature and grow roots in the wild. This episode was made possible by esim.sm. I tend to get really affected by the dwindling daylight so this year I've been making an effort to prevent getting into a low mood by waking up early, opening the doors first thing in the morning and spending every hour of daylight outside, no matter the weather. And although that can sometimes feel uncomfortable, wet and cold, at the end of the day I feel much better for it and being able to cosy up in front of the wood burner in my warm little cabin on wheels makes it a lot easier. I never used to be an autumn person to be honest and I do have a bit of a habit travelling south once the temperature drops but life had other plans for me and I'm staying north for some of the winter this year so I've intentionally gone out to notice little details in nature and have grown a newfound love for the vibrant colours, fresh air and rushing streams of the season. These lands are said to have inspired some of the landscapes in Middle Earth and wandering through the misty valleys and moss covered forests, I can really see why. There's a quiet magic here that feels like it belongs to a different age, as if elves might still walk these hills when no one is watching. Hi everyone, I hope you're having a lovely autumn season so far. I've been spending time alone here in the mountains in Erari, also known as Snowdonia, and it's been so nice. Some of you will know that I spent the last month or so with my partner Rissi and you didn't get to see much of him on the channel but we did make an effort to spend our time together more mindfully with our phones off and no cameras because we don't have a lot of time together in the next few months so yeah that's been really nice but I'm also really enjoying having some time to myself again now. It's been raining pretty much every day and I had to navigate some really flooded roads on the but I really wanted to come back to these mountains because they're probably my favourite place in all of the UK. It really feels like a fairy tale being here and back when I lived in Wales I didn't have a car, I didn't have a driving licence, so having so much more access to so many beautiful places has been a real treat. And yeah I've just been going with the flow. I do always feel this tension between wanting to see a lot of different places and visiting a lot of different countries and on the other hand really knowing a place and exploring every little corner of a smaller area and I could easily just stay in this area for a whole month and that's kind of the thing with van life, you get overwhelmed by choice because you've literally got the whole world on your doorstep. But what really helped me allow for a lot more flexibility in my travel plans is using an eSIM from eSIM.sm who are a long-time partner of the channel and kindly sponsoring this video. If you're an existing subscriber you probably know that my plans change all the time. I've got this grand idea of all the places I'm gonna go and then I end up somewhere completely different which is fine, I just go wherever the wind carries me but it is nice not to have to deal with lots of physical SIM cards all the time or spending a lot of time doing research on the best local plans whenever I enter a new country. I've been using eSIM.sm for over half a year now and I do have to say that traveling full-time they've really helped me keep this lifestyle stress-free. eSIM.sm offer coverage in over 190 countries with flexible and unlimited data options and it's all digital. You literally just scan a QR code and you're online. No post offices, no shop keys and no tiny bits of plastic flying around the van. I'm on their global plan which covers 155 countries so whether I'm parked up in a quiet forest, working from a cafe by the sea or video calling my partner from the mountains, I stay connected everywhere. It's also super affordable which makes a big difference when you're living on a budget and knowing that I can rely on it gives me real peace of mind when I'm traveling solo. You can check out their offers via the link in the video description and you can get 15% off your eSIM with my code ROOTS15. Huge thank you again to eSIM.sm for supporting the channel and sponsoring this video and keeping me connected wherever I end up next. Okay so there's a couple of places I want to revisit from when I lived here and my friend who's a local also recommended a very cool waterfall to me so I'm going to take you along to that. This mountain is said to be the burial site of the fearsome giant Ritagaur. He used to terrorize Britain's kings, cutting off their beards to fashion a massive cloak. His rampage ended when King Arthur confronted the giant on the summit of the mountain, striking Rita down with his sword and ordering a great cairn piled over the giant's body which gave the mountain its name Arwithva which translates to the tomb. In local folklore holds that Arthur even met his final fate on these slopes after being mortally wounded by an arrow in his last battle. My next stop was my favourite waterfall in all of Wales which plunges 120 feet into a gorge. I still remember the day I first saw it through my own eyes and being in utter disbelief that something like it could really exist. The thundering waters of these falls are linked to many supernatural beings. One well-known legend tells of the Gwrageth Annon, the wives of the other world, said to dwell in the pools beneath the cascade. These mythical water maidens occasionally emerged from the fall's spray in the guise of beautiful mortal women. Some of these fairies would marry mortal men and bring them great prosperity on the condition that they must never reveal their origin. I'm at my next park up, I've got a fire going, we're getting cosy, it's a stormy evening and I also got takeaway pizza on the way. I just happened to drive past a takeaway pizza stand and they had really amazing vegan pizza with vegan homemade cheese at a reasonable price so I couldn't say no. I was in a bit of a funny mood this afternoon and I think it's the lack of daylight because since midday it was so gloomy you could have been forgiven to think that it was early evening it was that dark and I guess because I grew up in central and eastern Europe I'm just used to a lot more sun even in the colder months of the year so it's something I've always struggled with in the UK and I've only got a few more weeks here so it's fine and I'm still really enjoying myself I'm having such a nice time here in Wales but yeah I've just been getting up super early I've been getting up at six in the morning to make the most of the daylight and we've just been outside all day and I've been doing all of my work and replying to messages and that stuff in the evening so I'm just not touching my phone in the daytime because I don't want to miss any of the daylight so yeah we're gonna have a slow evening and then explore the area tomorrow look at this beauty oh it's so yummy oh my god it's so good I don't know if it's a result of getting older or because this is the last year I'll be spending a long stretch of time in the UK but lately every time I visit one of my favourite places here I find myself thinking that it might be the last time I ever see it not in any dark or morbid way but simply because we just never know where life will take us there are so many new places I want to explore that the ones that are already in my heart might one day only exist as memories and realising that helps me really soak in these moments and appreciate these places instead of taking them for granted that day I travelled deep into the countryside to visit the waterfall my friend had recommended through remote valleys and over narrow mountain passes to find a place steeped in mythology I later learned that this is actually the tallest single drop waterfall in all of Britain and it's one of those places you can't truly grasp until you've stood before it yourself Wales is honestly so underrated there are countless spots like this hidden amongst its valleys and mountains and we spend quite a bit of time here hiking to both the top and the bottom of the falls and I decided to stay the night too so we could fall asleep to the sound of the mighty waters rushing through the dark I got a little bit damp walking around that waterfall and I also need to wash my hair so I thought I would show you my routine for having hot showers in my van because I don't have a hot water system and I do this about once a week which is when I wash my hair wash my hair once a week and takes about 20 minutes of prep when I'm using the wood burner but I can also boil water on the gas cooker but yeah boil some water and then mix it with cold water in my collapsible bucket and then I use my camping shower to just have a normal hot shower in the van and that way my hot water system uses a lot less space in the van it just takes a couple of minutes longer and most of the time I'm happy having a cold shower or just dipping in a lake or a river so it works really well for me and it's always a little highlight of the week to have my little hot shower it feels like a real luxury and now because my bathroom is tiny I always lift the toilet out when I'm having a shower it's got handles on the front and back so it's very easy to do and I usually just shove it under the bed and it's not in the way so so it's 7 30 in the morning and I'm just making myself a quick breakfast and then I'm gonna make a move because I think the spot is a bit popular with locals and it is the weekend now the place where I'm parked is up a very narrow road and the passing places are not in great conditions so yeah I just wanted to leave early to avoid a stressful drive usually I do all my hiking during the week so I've got the trails to myself but on the weekends I have to be a bit more careful and plan my journeys so the place we're going to today is called Cadre Idris and according to local legend whoever spends the night on the mountain will wake up either a poet or a madman I do feel a bit tired to be honest we've been doing a lot of hiking we've been walking like eight to ten kilometers a day or something like that but after this trip I'm gonna be staying at a tree house for a few days which I'm really looking forward to it's been really nice to have a break from the van like once a month or so for a couple of days I never really felt the need when I lived in our old van with Rissi but when you have no one to split the chores with it can be nice to get a little bit of a break from that every now and then so really looking forward to that and then I'm going to spend a few days back in town to get the van ready for winter change my tires stock up on wood all of those sort of things and then I'm going to be heading to Scotland which I'm very excited about as the name suggests this jagged summit ridge was once the chair of a giant named Idris who is remembered as a wise old giant king a being of great wisdom and learning Idris would spend his nights gazing at the stars from his chair and ponder the mysteries of the universe because from Kader Idris one can see the entire dome of the sky and the sprawling lands below and over the centuries Idris would invite fellow bards and sages both human and fey to join him on the mountain to discuss poetry and lore under the twinkling stars today we weren't given the right conditions to ascend to Idris's chair but we did make it halfway up overlooking Glyncae a bottomless lake said to be a direct portal to the depths of the earth and according to some to the other world some say that the mountain chooses who may reach its summit and today it asked us to watch it from a distance instead as always thank you so much for watching guys if you enjoyed the video make sure to leave it a thumbs up and subscribe so you don't miss our next adventures until then take good care bye