We are still in North Wales for today's post ... and going on a very big adventure.
Finally ... it was the day I would get to tick 'Go up Snowdon on the mountain railway' off of my list of 50 things to do before I'm 60.
It's something that I've wanted to do for years and we'd booked tickets for the 1.00pm Heritage Steam Experience ... after all, if we were doing it we definitely wanted to be doing it under steam. We had hoped that by booking it for a bit later in the day we would have more chance of good visibility at the summit and we all had our fingers well and truly crossed.
What a day we had. We were up and out bright and early and on our way to Llanberis where we managed to snag a parking spot in the railway car park. We picked up our tickets for the train, delighted to find that it looked like we were on the front four seats, and decided to have a bit of a wander.
We started with a good look round the station, which is a treat in itself. We arrived just in time to see one of the earlier diesels heading off ...


We had plenty of time so took a wander through the woods, passing more exciting railway track defects, a VLS don't you know 😂 ...
... to Dolbadarn castle ...
... to the station alongside the Llanberis Lake Railway, where we just happened to see the train coming in ...
It’s a five mile trip on the train and takes an hour. You then get to spend half an hour at the summit, before making the hour long journey back down. There was plenty to see on the way up starting with the waterfall just outside of the station after the train goes over the viaduct. I did try and take some photos but it was just too bumpy.
Travelling by steam and we could really sense how hard the old Hunslet was working on the rack and pinion up the steep incline, which was 1 in 5 in places.
The views were spectacular, even though it was a pretty dull day, but at least the visibility was good.
We had to make a couple of stops along the way to allow the passing of engines on the downward trip.
The train pulls in at the cafe at the top ...
Visibility at the top was good, though there was a distinct drop in temperature ...

... before making our way back down the steps ... for plenty of photos of the view ...
We passed the most beautiful wisteria on the way ... in full bloom, with a fragrance that assaulted the senses when passing ...
The footpath alongside the river was a real treat ...
... with a new cascade around every bend ...
I scared my husband half to death by doing a bit of scrabbling up the rocks to try and get a better view ...
In spite of my efforts I still think the best shot was the first taken from the train on the way up. We made our way back along the river and managed to hit the viaduct just as the 4.30pm train was making an appearance ...
We decided to head back via Caernarfon where we had a bit of a wander before finding somewhere to eat. We ended up in the Four Alls, where we had a very nice meal to top of a day that had been practically perfect in every way.
I'm so glad I have finally been able to tick this off my list of the 50 things I want to do before I'm 60. Now, I really want to do it again, but with blue sky and sunshine 😁
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wow!!!
ReplyDeleteIt definitely was a wow experience Elena. We loved it 😃
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