There's a Fairlie at the bottom of my garden

For our first week's holiday in Wales we rented a delightful bungalow near Porthmadog that had an unexpected bonus - a grandstand view of the Ffestiniog Railway running past the back garden.

I soon learned when the two morning trains were due and amused myself waving to the passengers and seeing how many waved back. 

Our enthusiasm for the Ffestiniog Railway rekindled, we booked our place on a morning train for a trip to Blaenau Ffestiniog.  Unfortunately, we were obliged to return to Porthmadog on the same train, so wouldn't be able to hop off at one station, walk to the next one, then board a later train - a favourite pursuit of ours.  That was a pity, not least because the best way to photograph a train is not to be on it, and there's a nice footpath between Tan-y-Bwlch and Blaenau Ffestiniog that runs close to the line.

To make up for our disappointment, on another day we stopped off for coffee and cake at Tan-y-Bwlch, and also spent some time sampling the cuisine at Porthmadog Station. 

Our morning train arriving at Porthmadog Station. On the left, the 'WHR' engine is getting ready to travel the Welsh Highland line, which runs via Beddgelert to Caernarfon. I would love to have travelled on the WHR but the only train running the full length of the line during our week in North Wales was fully booked. 

Despite the wording on the third coach, this little engine was about to haul The Woodland Wanderer on the Ffestiniog Railway to Tan-y-Bwlch.

As you may know, Porthmadog used to be called Portmadoc, for the very good reason that its port was developed by a guy called Madocks.  It was he who had The Cob built across Traeth Mawr to exclude the tides and create much valuable farmland. It also gave a route for his railway to cross the estuary. Here's the view from the train, looking towards the hills of Snowdonia.

The most picturesque station on the line is surely Tan-y-Bwlch. Here, The Woodland Wanderer has offloaded its passengers into the station cafe. Now it awaits the passing of the Blaenau Ffestiniog train before heading back to Porthmadog. 

Blanche's engineman and fireman are deep in conversation. "Do you think they'll miss us in Porthmadog if we stay here, Dewi?" "Nah, Rhys, Blanche knows her way home without us!"

Coincidentally, here's Blanche again at Tan-y-Bwlch, this time when I saw her during my honeymoon in 1970.  Fifty two years later the love affair continues - with North Wales, with steam railways and (of course) with each other.

And here comes the afternoon train to Blaenau, hauled by one of the line's strange Fairlie double-ended locomotives - precursors of modern double-ended diesel locos, I suppose. 

Back in 1970 the Ffestiniog Railway terminated here, at Ddaullt Station. The old route from Ddaullt to Blaenau Ffestiniog had been lost when the Central Electricity Generating Board flooded part of the track bed for their new reservoir at Tanygrisiau. It took the Ffestiniog Railway's volunteers 14 years of hard work to carve out a new route, which included a tunnel and a spiral at Ddaullt so that the line could pass high above the power station.  I took this photo as our train passed over the line from Tan-y-Bwlch.

For a splendid aerial view of the spiral, click this link.

Rounding the tight curve above Ddaullt on our way back from Blaenau Ffestiniog.

The cause of the deviation: Tanygrisiau reservoir and its 'pumped storage' power station. During off-peak hours water is pumped from Tanygrisiau up 350 metres to Llyn Stwlan.  When demand for electricity rises, the water is released back down the mountain to drive turbines and produce electricity.

Finally, a couple of photos of Blaenau Ffestiniog station; not the most beautiful of places, but a necessary objective for an ambitious little railway called The Ffestiniog.

The Highest Woman in Wales

I've recently returned from a lovely fortnight's holiday in Wales. I won't fill this blog with accounts of everything I got up to; suffice to say that many happy hours were spent on steam railways. However, I was determined not to ride on one particular railway - the one that transports its passengers to the summit of Snowdon. No no... to my mind there's only one way to conquer Wales's highest mountain and that is on foot. 

The Visit Snowdonia website lists six routes to the summit. I chose the 4½ mile long Llanberis Path, which is the longest of the six, but also the easiest. However, 'easiest' is a relative term since all six routes are classified as Hard/Strenuous. A 3-3½ hour slog lay ahead of me before I could stand at the summit and proclaim myself The Highest Woman in Wales.

The first part of the 'path' lies along a quiet but quite steep country lane, but before long it leaves the lane and strikes out across open countryside.

Throughout the climb I rarely lost sight of the lovely Llanberis Lake (Llyn Padarn). A nice little steam railway runs along the far side of that lake.  I recall my late father-in-law describing how, as part of his army training, he had to walk underwater in Llanberis Lake, carrying full kit and breathing through a length of tubing. No wonder we won the war!

The Snowdon Mountain Railway keeps close company with the Llanberis Path all the way to the summit. Here the little engine propels another carriage-full of whimps up the mountainside. 

Dear me, that's dreadfully unkind of you, Angie! I'm sure they're really lovely people, though (if they haven't already realised it) they're in for a disappointment, despite forking out £45 a head for the privilege of climbing Snowdon the easy way. Read on.

For over 2 miles after leaving the country lane the path climbs quite gently and I made good progress. This was easy!

However, as it approached Clogwyn Station the path steepened and my pace slowed - 40 steps... rest... 40 steps... rest.  This was hard going!  High above me, the little train cautiously made its way back down the mountain. 

That's Clogwyn Station on the left, ¾ of the way to the summit and as far as trains are going in 2022. The final stretch is a victim of Covid, which prevented maintenance crews carrying out essential work during the winter months. Those travelling by train were thus left with the choice of either giving up over a mile from the summit, or walking the final steep section with no guarantee that there would be room on a train to take them back to Llanberis. 

The path from Clogwyn Station is both steep and rough. Unlike this guy, I felt no inclination to run it.

There's a welcome flat stretch of path before the final assault on the peak.  From here, the views are magnificent.

Looking back towards Clogwyn Station and Llanberis.

The steep path on the left is the Pyg Track. I seriously considered taking this route, but decided that it was just a bit too steep for my ageing limbs.

Here I am at the summit, looking understandably tired but also very, very pleased with myself. More than 600,000 people are estimated to make it up Snowdon every year, and I'm delighted to have been one of them in 2022.

For the record, the 4½ mile climb took me 3 hours, 10 minutes, and the return to Llanberis exactly one hour less.