Wales, before and after Ireland 2022

Our main holiday was 10 days in Ireland but we had to get to and from the Holyhead ferry port, so decided to make a bit of a break of it. Our initial plan was to drive from home directly to Llanberis, Caernarfon but we decided this would be a bit of a long trip so spent a night at Newport in Shropshire.
Leaving Newport we went via Llangollen, Llandudno and Conway as can be seen from this map.

 

This allowed us to visit  places on the way including Llandudno to see the cable car and the Great Orme Tramway.

Running up from the town is the almost unique rope powered Great Orme tramway This is the only one of this type running on public roads in the UK. The first shot is the engine house near the top of the hill.  

The lines run down the road right into the town with a passing place at the half way point.

We carried on driving as close to the coast as possible to our accommodation for the night at Llanberis, a pretty little town again with an eye for colour. This is the view down the street from where we were staying.

Some shop owners just went that extra mile with the paint. It was a model railway shop which is why I am looking in the window and Diana photographing.

Just across the road is Llyn Padarn which is very popular with open water swimming and boating.

On the banks of the lake is the Llafn y Cewri or Blade of the Giants. This is a 20 foot high Sword and was erected in honour of the Princes of Gwynedd and cost £14,000

 

Looking across the lake you can see the old slate workings, there is also a slate museum that we visited.

Our accommodation in Llanberis was a small B&B hotel, we had a room on the third floor with a dormer window. We were the only guests on that level so it was very quiet, the hotel stands a long way back from the main road which you can just see out of the window.

   The next morning our first visit was to buy our tickets for the train up Snowdon, We were able to get two of the last four tickets for the next train, this turned out to be a real advantage for us and another couple as we sat in the guard/attendants compartment right at the front of the carriage.

Unfortunately the trains are only running as far as Clogwyn Station, which is ¾ distance to the summit.This is due to ongoing work at the visitor centre at the summit as well as the top section of railway, but I think the price was still the same. The Snowdon Railway has a number of engines both steam and diesel. A journey on the steam one is more expensive than the diesel, as well as a steam engine they use a historic carriage. We stopped at the top for a bit and while we were there a steam powered train came up. You could hear it well before you could see it coming up the mountain.

Steam train up Snowdon

As you can see we had excellent views from our seats in the very front of the carriage.

Just  us, another couple and the Guard in the compartment. Coming down we swapped sides to get a different point of view unlike the rest of the carriage behind us. The engine pushes the carriage up the mountain  so the driver can’t see the track just ahead of him. we had to give a couple of wandering sheep a few blasts on the horn.

                     

There are several passing loops on the line which allows the uphill train to wait while the down hill one goes round them. This one was being used to ferry materials up the mountain for the track maintenance.

There was also another train running between the present terminus at the summit to move stuff to where they are working

The track has some quite unusual sleepers, made of steel and offset where the rail is supported, this is the view from the guard/attendants seat.

  I have said enough  about Snowden so I will just leave you with the views which is really what its all about.

                     

 

   

    

    

Late morning when we returned the Llanberis we walked round the other side of the lake and had a sandwich lunch at the Slate Museum. Like lots of museums today, its free to enter so we were able to come and go as we pleased, so after eating we crossed the road to go on the Lakeside railway

     

This is a much better view of the inline plane to bring slate down the mountain side. 

 

Everything in the slate works was powered by this huge 50foot 6 inch water wheel or 15.4Mt in new money. Lots of the lay shafts in the works still turn, still powered by water but now by a small Pelton wheel.

        At the base of Snowdon just up behind our hotel is a pretty little waterfall it was only about 10 minutes walk. The Snowdon Railway runs right beside it but it was well hidden from the train by the trees. 

On the Thursday morning we left Llanberis for the Holyhead ferry port to travel to Ireland with Ffestiniog  Travel. Again we set off in good time so that we could do some sight seeing on the way. This meant we could go via Bangor and cross the Menai Strait on both bridges 
We left the car in the official long stay secure carpark with a pay and display ticket. I saw no sign of any security, just an open carpark with each car having a little notice in the windscreen telling all and sundry how long the owner would be away for, but it was still there when we got back 10 days later with quite a bit of seagull poo on the windscreen. You will find our Irish Holiday HERE .

When we returned to Holyhead on the second of July we head for our second B&B accommodation in Caernarfon, a four star B&B inside the old town wall adjacent to the castle, it even had its own private section of wall looking out to sea.

We spent the next morning looking round Caernarfon Castle, it was a very short walk from where we were staying, in fact the town is so compact we didn’t use the car at all. This map shows the layout of the town, clicking it will enlarge it to make it readable.

Walking round the castle I did wonder if maybe some of the impetus for the work would be the Investiture of the new Price of Wales when Charles becomes King.

The work and scaffolding you can see is to provide an elevated viewing area for disabled people and will be accessed by a lift. My word if you cover it all you climb up and down a lot of stairs but its well worth it.  
It overlooks all the old town which was built within the outer walls.  

I was rather impressed with their take on Health and Safety, now why can’t people just do that rather than being mollycoddled.

       This is the view looking down into the castle from the other end.

The terminus of the Ffestiniog and West Highland Railway is just outside the old town, you can see the castle in the background 

The Menai Strait runs one side of the town and the Seiont River the other, this is the view of the castle from across the river.

There is a swing footbridge across the river that has to be opened every time a boat wants to leave or enter the river, of course they need the tide right to do it but we witnessed the bridge operator  arriving several times to swing the bridge in the course of the afternoon.

   

Next morning we left Caernarfon to drive to Cirencester to see my son and grandsons for the night, again not taking the fastest route but going via Aberystwyth and Hereford before returning home via Bicester to see my daughter.

Please click HERE to read about our 10 days in Ireland