Trips

Sun., 5/26/13 - Betws-y-Coed
What a beautiful day again today. It was sunny and 60° and not windy. It is a "bank holiday" (no one can tell us what for) and people all around are outside enjoying the unusual sun.
We bused to Blaenau Ffestiniog and boarded the rickety tourist narrow gauge train that once took slate from the Snowdonia Mountains to the ocean at Porthmadog. It was a very scenic ride. We ate our bag lunches on the train.

Tower of Dolwyddelan built by Llewellyn the Great

Welsh countryside

Piles of slate tailings

Our train

Train coaches

Gale on board

Engine around the curve

Into a tunnel

Scenery

From the train

Welsh countryside

Creative planter

Farm and open pit mine

We got off the train at Porthmadog, its terminus, and looked at the train sights.

Approaching Porthmadog

Swans in the estuary of the River Glaslyn

Looking to the mountains

Train yard - shoveling coal by hand

Train yard

Merlin's very own engine - Merddin Emrys is the Welsh name for Merlin

Train station

Railroad logo

Another cute sign

On our way to the Welsh National Slate Mine at Llanberis, we drove around, but did not stop at, the castle at Caernarfon (f = v in Welsh).
At the Llanberis Slate Museum and the Dinorwic Slate Quarry. We looked at a mountainside where slate had been taken. A team would bargain for a mountain face then drill and explode a section of the rock, cut it, split it, finish it and have it shipped to the ocean for the owners of the quarry.

Caernarfon Castle - from the bus

Welsh National Slate Mine

Llyn (lake) Peris in front of the mine

Slate face

Slate face and quarry pool (currently being used for SCUBA classes)

We watched a film at the museum and watched a man split slate into usable sized pieces for roofs, floors, walks, or whatever. Then we walked among the buildings and work sheds, the foundry, forges, and huge water wheel.