Well it’s been an interesting day! We woke to bright skies that grew progressively sunnier and clearer. We were delighted as today we were booked to catch the Heritage Steam Train to the summit of Mt Snowden. Mt Snowdon is the highest mountain in Wales and the highest in Britain, south of the Scottish Highlands. Since 1896 the Snowdon Mountain Railway has been taking tourists and hikers up to the peak of the mountain and it’s hugely popular. Most of the engines are diesels these days but during the summer months a couple of heritage steam locomotives are also brought into play, and these are even more popular. I booked our steam train trip months ago, when I checked today all the steam train trips were booked out until September! Having to book ahead means you really are at the mercy of whatever the weather brings on the day. We were told that on 80% of trips , the summit is under cloud, so we felt particularly lucky to have such a clear sunny day for our train ride. Our driver said “We dont get many days like this!”.
The railway line runs close to one of the 6 walking paths up the mountain. We chuffed past many walkers, who all stopped to take a photo of the little train. It’s a 9 mile walk and the average person takes 3 hours to walk up and 2 to walk down. The views as we rode up were more and more spectacular. At the summit we could see pretty much all of North Wales!
The train takes and hour to go up and you have a half hour at the top before returning for the hour ride down. The half hour went quickly on the summit as we walked around taking in the views. The we returned to the train for the trip back down. Near the bottom we got another good view of the slate mine.
Back in Llanberis we returned to the car and set off for the 20 minute drive to Caernarfon so we could take a look at Caernarfon Castle. This is the second of Edward 1st North Wales castles and it was interesting to compare it to Harlech Castle. It is much bigger and is right in the town, and is the location for various Princes of Wales to be invested , including the now King Charles 3rd The old town walls extend out from it partially encircle the oldest part of the town. We climbed the towers in the castle and watched an informative short movie of its history before going for a little stroll through the old town…and having lunch.
There was a museum within the castle devoted to the history of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers which had an extensive collection of uniforms and weapons.
After lunch we set off for a short drive to visit …. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch ! The tiny town in Wales with the very very long name, We took a photo of the sign at the railway station and at the souvenir shop next door.
Then it was a 50 minute drive to Llandudno where we were booked into a B & B for two nights. When we arrived and knocked on the door we were rather daunted when the lady who finally answered said they were closed and had been for some weeks! We told her about our booking and that we had not been advised of the closure and asked her for advice on an alternative place to stay. She was very kind and apologetic and felt badly about our situation. At first she was giving us possible suggestions but when we said we didn’t need somewhere with breakfast she said that we could stay here after all! Apparently there’s been at least 3 other people that had also not been advised but they had contacted to confirm their bookings a couple of days before, we were the only ones (so far) that had turned up on the doorstep! We were grateful to stay and the room is very comfortable.
Llandudno is a Victorian seaside resort which is extremely popular in the high summer. Even now it is pretty busy. We walked down to the seafront and went out on the classic seaside pier and had a drink right out at the end. On the way back into town we stopped at a pub for dinner, very tasty steak and ale pies. The only problem was the seagull who haunted the front of the pub waiting to swoop on any unprotected food. The seagulls here are feral!
Back at the hotel we relaxed before bed, the light still streaming in the windows at 10.30 pm. Tonight is the summer solstice and the days are veeery long!