Porthmadog; Saturday, 30 April, 2011

Another early start to get to the station for another long train ride. Whereas yesterday I had covered at least 150 miles in the four hours, today it would take me nearly three to go just under 30. The difference being this line is a little more special and a little more spectacular than even the Cambrian coast.

The Welsh Highland Line finally reached Porthmadog just a few months before I visited, having been extended over a number of years back to its original length (and actually a bit further as it never used to go into Caernarfon, instead ending in quarries near Dinas.) At present only one train a day makes the trip across town from the Ffestiniog station in the harbour and out onto the line, and it was this train I was booked onto.

The first part of the journey is relatively flat out across the flood plain, but pretty soon the train starts to climb, up through the spectacular Aberglaslyn Pass and on along the edge of Snowdon through some spectacular scenery, before finally descending back down into Caernarfon.

I had a quick change in Caernarfon onto the bus out to Llanberis and a second special train of the day. This time the Snowdon mountain railway, which I had intended on whisking me up to the summit of Wales’s highest mountain. Unfortunately, the weather had put pay to that. Whilst it was gloriously sunny it was also pretty windy, and towards the top of the mountain the wind speeds were at levels that made running trains dangerous, so we were only able to go 5/8 of the way up, but that still included some stunning views of the mountain.

Back at the base station more than an hour earlier than I had originally envisaged I decided to visit Electric Mountain, the name of the visitors centre for Dinorwig Pumped storage power station, and arrived just in time to make the last guided tour of the station itself of the day.

With the tour complete it was time to catch the bus back into Caernarfon to grab a bite and a late wander around the town to fill up the nearly two hours before the last bus of the day back to Porthmadog.

In the end I actually got away slightly earlier as the National Express coach that was going to Pwllheli was also stopping in Porthmadog so I caught that instead.

The journey out to Caernarfon had taken nearly three hours in an open carriage on wooden seats, the return was just over half an hour in plush leather reclining seats on a modern luxury coach, a slight contrast.