A Snowdon guide was “totally disgusted” after seeing the mountain’s paths covered in human faeces over the busy Easter weekend.
With the UK getting the warmest days of the year so far this bank holiday weekend, visitors have been flocking to the scenic Snowdonia national park in Wales to make the most of the sun.
But it meant Gemma Davies, a Snowdon guide, has had to help groups of people dodge human stool. Ms Davies led a sunrise hike up Wales’s highest mountain on Saturday morning and was shocked at what she encountered on the descent.
She said she even saw a man defecating on the mountain’s railway line in broad daylight, and had to “walk past it as well”. She told the BBC she saw “a lot of stool in paper cups, under stones”.
The Snowdon guide added that she had to tell her group to “mind the poo” as they were hiking, and claimed that toilets at the summit and the bottom were closed.
But Snowdonia National Park Authority said nothing unusual had been reported. An issue with inconsiderate parking was also flagged at the Welsh tourist hotspot.
North Wales Police said it had to tow several vehicles from the A5 near Llyn Ogwen, at Nant Ffrancon Pass, in Conwy county, because they were a danger to other road users on Saturday.
Rebecca Williams, assistant director of National Trust Cymru, told the BBC creating a tourism offer that was “year-round, all weathers and not just on these Easter weekends” could help these natural beauty sites be managed better.
“If we want to make tourism sustainable [we need] to ensure that it is coordinated, controlled and that we are working with communities to ensure communities aren’t left to manage the burden,” she told BBC Radio Wales.
The sunny weather is expected to last only until Monday as Met Office forecasters told sun-seekers to “make the most of the weekend” ahead of a temperature drop next week.
