Today was the day that we would visit the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways special event to commemorate two hundred years of the railway.
I’d picked up the tickets and wrist bands yesterday along with a basic timetable and with some info of the website we planned to use the event Park and Ride to save the hassle (and cost) of parking.
We pulled into the car park and checked with the attendant that we would be able to get back to the car later as we were planning on a late train.
Unfortunately, the last bus would leave the station about the same time as out train was due to return and knowing how much timetables slip on gala days didn’t want to chance it. So it was back into town and into the large long stay car park at Llyn Bach.
After securing the car, we walked the short distance to the Harbour Station. A slightly frazzled official explained that some three hours into the timetable, the train standing on the platform was already about forty minutes late.
Luckily, this wasn’t our train but we did notice that one of the two locos was named Linda, the same as a good friend of ours, so a photo was sent.
With Linda out of the way (NOT our friend) our train was free to enter the platform.
We were shown to our carriage where we were able to commandeer a four seater with a table for ourselves.
Only about twenty five minutes late, we pulled out of Porthmadog, travelling up the main street before veering off and heading for the hills.
At Beddgelert, we had to wait for another train coming the other way (single track working) which added another twenty minutes or so to our delay.
When the other train arrived, we discovered that this little diesel loco and water bowser had been watering the trackside vegetation to prevent a reoccurance of a fire which had wrecked yesterday’s timetable.
In hindsight, it was a waste of time as the heavens opened not long afterwards ! But they weren’t to know.
With the plants watered, it was off through the Snowdon, or Eryri National Park. We stood no chance of seeing Yr Wyddfa (Mount Snowdon) because of the rain and mist which stayed with us almost all of the way to Caernarfon.
As we were pulling into the station, our guard informed us that they were going to TRY and get back to the timetable (or closer) so we would be leaving at 15:35 instead of the scheduled 15:15.
We had enough time to grab a few geocaches and Adventure Labs around the town before acquiring some provisions for the return trip.
Luckily, the rain had stopped and we were rewarded with blue sky and sunshine.
This time as we passed the foot of Yr Wyddfa, we were able to see the summit complete with the cafe at the top.
With our train due to arrive a little late (twenty minutes) we had about an hour in Porthmadog before our next ride this time to and back from Blaenau Ffestiniog. An even more frazzled official confirmed that our 19:15 would be running but couldn’t say when !
This was around the time our nerves (and tempers) frayed and we decided “feck it! – let’s go and get some grub on the way back to the tent”.
The plan was to ride out, find a decent looking country pub and dive in. We drove for miles without seeing a single one so ended up back at base finishing off whatever was left in the food store.
Not a great end to what should have been a great day.