a 'Snail's Pace'?

I have a shade garden, which means there's also a huge population of slugs and snails. 
The snails grow very large, and are actually quite attractive - well, their shells are....

Every morning I go out to water my plants, and then pick off all the spent flowers, 
and sometimes there's snails on them.   Well, imagine my surprise when I spotted 
one of these huge snails in a Rose of Sharon flower this morning .....

So I rushed inside to get my camera. I wondered how on earth he got so high up into a flower that was almost at my eye level.  Then he started to move.....

...up to the edge of a petal......and these are actually quite delicate petals.....

...he took a look over the edge.....

...curled over the edge of the petal.....

.......and in no time was heading down the back of the flower...

Pretty impressive!  And so fast too!  So much for the statement "at a snail's pace".  
I guess I should consider next time I say that, what I'm really saying is "I may not 
be not the fastest at what I'm doing, but I am making steady progress".