28th September 2018
Snowdon Mountain Railway
Snowdon Mountain Railway steam engine approaching the summit station
Today was our last full day here!
I got up around 06:30, and yet again, I cannot remember who was up 1st, not that it mattered. After a lovely shower, we had a lovely not so full English (our supplies were running low, so some things were missing), but it was still a lovely breakfast.
A selfie of me on Snowdon Summit with Crib Goch on the left and Llyn Llydaw to the right.
A few months before we went to Wales, I had asked Andy if he fancied going up Snowdon on the Snowdon Mountain Railway? (to be honest I don’t think at the moment I am fit enough to do the climb, so I thought this would be the next best thing, at least if the weather was kind to us we should get some stunning views, and hopefully some great photos). Andy thought it was a great idea, so I went online to book it (it is always advisable to book in advance because it is very popular). They do an Early Bird ticket, which is slightly cheaper (Early Bird dose not mean you get a discount for booking early, it means you are booked on the 1st train up the mountain 09:30), I checked with Andy that he was OK with this, which he was, so I booked us on the Early Bird 09:30 train for Friday 28th September 2019.
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So, our morning was already sorted out (the train takes an hour to get to the top, you have 30 minutes on top (this flies by), and then another hour to get back down (you would think it would be quicker coming down!!).
We arrived at the Snowdon Mountain Railway Station at about 09:00, I took the booking form to the ticket office and got our tickets, and after a quick toilet stop we boarded the train. I think I have been on the train twice before, but at least once before with my daughter Kirsty.
A monochrome panoramic view from Snowdon's Summit.
Not far out of the station I noticed there is a waterfall, Ceunant Mawr Waterfall, otherwise known as Llanberis Falls (I have no doubt I have seen it before, but it looked spectacular this day), I said to Andy it would be good to go and see it up close, maybe next time we are in North Wales.
The journey up, offers spectacular views, if you don’t mind trying to see past the other passenger’s (there are 8 to 10 people to a compartment), if you arrive early enough, you could get a window seat, but Andy and I were in the middle. This didn’t really bother me as I have climbed Snowdon several times in my life, so I have seen what it has to offer. The train stops at the Clogwyn Station (to allow any descending trains to pass), this allows passengers to get some lovely photos (weather permitting), looking down into the Llanberis Pass on the left and Moel Cynghorion (The Hill of the Councillors) on the right. From here it is the final push to the top. As soon as the train pulls into the station, you need to get off as soon as you can for 2 reasons, 1st being to stretch your legs after sitting on uncomfortable benches for an hour, the 2nd is to make the most of your time (30 minutes) on the summit. As soon as Andy and I got off the train we literally started taking photos straight away (either with our mobiles or our cameras).
We headed out through the station and started taking more photos. Andy headed along the side of the station, while I gained height taking photos along the way. I noticed in the distance that a Snowdon Mountain Railway Steam train was puffing its way towards the station, so I set up my camera to try and get some decent photos of it approaching the station.
From here I went to the summit and took some photos from there. It was while I was here that I got a text from Andy giving me a 5-minute warning, that the train will be leaving soon! So, I quickly finished taking my photo and while making my way back to the station, I was packing my gear away, boarding the train just in time (I didn’t fancy the walk back down).
Looking down into Llanberis Pass, towards Pen-Y-Pass from Clogwyn Station.
When we arrived back at Llanberis station, we had a quick toilet break, then we headed to Dolbadarn Castle, on the banks of Llyn Peris. The 1st time I had ever visited this castle was back in 2015 when James and I had a day out in Llanberis. I was hoping to get some better photos this time round. Walking up the path through the wood towards the castle, both Andy and I started to blow a bit (we both commented on how unfit we both are).
Once at the castle we both set up our cameras, Andy using his filters for long exposure shots, while I used my graduated filters to try and get the exposure of the sky right. While Andy was taking one of his shots, a man appeared a little way in front of us, I thought nothing of it, until the man said “oh sorry am I in your shot” to Andy (Andy grumbled something (which even if I heard it, I couldn’t put into print), at which point the man came over and started chatting to Andy about photography (poor Andy always seems to attract people like this, they don’t understand that all you want to do is get on and take your photos). Eventually the man wandered off.
Shortly after we also left and headed to a café opposite the Electric Mountain visitor centre (which was closed) and had a drink and talked about what to do next, then Andy started talking about “The lonely Tree” (I had never heard of it in all the years of me coming up to this area). It is as the name suggests, it’s a lonely tree at the far end of Llyn Padarn.
Dolbadarn Castle with Snowdon in the distance.
After our drinks, we headed through Llanberis village, going into a few shops (basically window shopping), then out the other side and down to Llyn Padarn, we started looking for this lonely tree, with no much success, so I set up my camera and started taking photos looking down Llyn Padarn towards Dolbadarn Castle (which at this distance was just a speck in the distance). Andy sat at a nearby picnic table searching on good old google for the lonely tree, Andy then announced he was going for a wander, I carried on with my photos, then decided to go in search of Andy.
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I found Andy, and Andy in turn had found The Lonely Tree. So, we spent some time in this area taking photos from various angles, I then went for a sit down on a nearby bench, only to be suddenly approached by a shady looking character in the shape of a duck! She came more or less right up to me, maybe just out of arms reach, and just stood there staring at me expectantly, waiting for what ever food offerings I had (which amounted to nothing), She soon realised this and then buggered off. She was soon replaced by another duck in search of food! We headed off back to the car, I stopped on the way back to get a couple more photos.
The Lonely Tree
Once back in the car we headed up through Llanberis Pass to make our way to Beddgelert to get something to eat. As we walked through the village we noticed that the clouds were in a weird formation, sort of like feathery lines.
The weird cloud formation
We both like Beddgelert, it's a lovely village, and it brings back some really good memories of previous visits. We had had food in a café called Lynn's once or twice before, so we headed to there, only to find it had been taken over. So we decided to have a walk round to find somewhere else, we found this place round the back of what used to be Lynn's with outside seating, so we thought we would give it a go, only to find it is the same place as the original café we looked at. We both had a lovely beef stew. After our meal we went for a walk to an outdoor shop we used to visit on the way out of the village, only to find it had closed down!! From here we walked back to the car, and decided to have a drive to the Ogwen Valley, to get some photos of Tryfan (I was still disappointed I was not going to be climbing up Tryfan this time round), and of the waterfall near to Idwal Cottage.
A Welsh Dragon made of slate on a shop front in Beddgelert
While driving along the Ogwen Valley I noticed that someone was being impatient in a car, a few cars back from us, and just as we were reaching the end of the valley about to turn into the car park by Idwal Cottage he decided to over take not only the cars between us and him but to overtake me and a couple of cars in front of us (for those that don’t know this road, it becomes a blind bend just past the turning into the car Park), bloody idiot! He was not only putting his life at risk but also the lives of anyone who came around the bend!
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Once we had parked up, Andy said he wanted to stay by the car, so I headed off up the track next to the Ogwen Valley snack bar to take some photos, I think I was up there around 44 minutes taking photos. On my return, we headed back to the cottage.
Tryfan
Once we had returned to the cottage, we started to pack up most of our stuff. Our evening meal was made up of snacky things we had left, and a little later on, Andy mad a nacho mountain to munch through while we watched Star Wars A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back (we only got part way through The Empire Strikes Back as we were both tired, and we had long journeys ahead of us the following day).