Tuesday, 6th May
Morning all! We said goodbye to Liverpool yesterday and we’re now staying in a two-bedroom cottage in the Welsh village of Borth-y-Gest. Today, we’re off for a trip on the local Heritage Railway.
9.45am: After breakfast, we took the short drive into Porthmadog. It looked like it was going to be a lovely day for it, weather-wise, as we walked across the bridge and headed for the Station.
We’re on the Train!
10.01am: Today, we let the train take the strain! We’d pre-booked a couple of tickets on the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways and ‘The Mountain Spirit’. On arrival at Harbour Station aka Porthmadog, it was a straightforward matter of ‘checking in’ and waiting on the platform.
10.40am: We’re off!
The route would take us the full length Ffestiniog Railway. The train offers excellent views along the complete route, taking in the beautiful Vale of Ffestiniog.
The train ascended higher and higher, where the scenery certainly lived up to its promise! 👍
The seats were comfortable, and because the train wasn’t too busy, we were free to move around to acquire the best photos! Overall, the journey lasted around 3 hours, there and back, covering just 13½ miles (I had a car like that once! 😉). Best of all, the weather kept its promise and had lost that biting wind that’s been following us around since we began this break.
11.45am: Helpfully, there was also a 50-minute break at Blaenau FFestiniog to give us more time to appreciate this Slate Mining and Quarrying town once dubbed ‘The Slate capital of the World’ back in the day.
We took a quick wander along the main drag where we dropped into the Model Bakery – a favourite of the Hairy Bikers a while ago for its ‘signature dish’ of Kurdish Pasties. We settled for just a couple of traditional Sausage Rolls, and they went down a treat! 👍😋😋. As we walked back to the train, casually looking upwards, the view of the Slate was a massive reminder of another industry that is not what it used to be.
12.40pm: Time for the return journey! By now, the weather had improved further – it was positively WARM, hitting a crazy 16℃ at one point. The Train used the same single track for its return journey, giving us all the perfect opportunity to get a second go at some of the views we’d missed on the way up. For me, there was only one! The waterfall…
1.59pm: We arrived on time back at Harbour Station. It had been a really enjoyable day, mainly down to a combination of perfect weather and jaw-dropping scenery. We were so glad we decided to do this today! (and we nearly didn’t for fear of freezing our bits off!). We thoroughly recommend it, even if Trains aren’t your thing! 🤔. It’s a little pricey – from about £50 per person, but we thought it was worth it.
2.30pm: Back at base, I felt a short siesta coming on! 😉😴.
5.05pm: Tuesday night is Curry Night! Well, it was for us! Thanks, Mr Tesco, you did us proud. Afterwards, we caught up with some TV.
Tomorrow…
More cultural pursuits as we head for Barmouth (a seaside town) and then Harlech Castle.
See you Wednesday! 👍🙂🙂
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