Wednesday, August 17th, 2011: Welsh Highland Railway, Porthmadog to Caernarfon
Bob: It looked like a clear, sunny day when we arose, so we decided to try our chances taking the Welsh Highland Railway from Porthmadog, which was just down the road a few kilometers from the Hotel Lion, up and across the low mountains of the Snowdonia National Park and back down into Caernarfon on the other side of the peninsula. Since we wanted to SEE the mountains and enjoy what we hoped would be beautiful views, we didn't want to do it with low clouds or in the rain. After breakfast I drove to Porthmadog and waited at the station while Monika purchased our tickets. The at-station parking was very limited and of course already filled by folks arriving earlier, so I had to backtrack to the public parking lot back around the corner. It was one of the dreaded "park and pay" lots so ubiquitous (and iniquitous!) in England, and we could only come up with £ 6.50 instead of the £ 7 required to park for the entire day. The machines ONLY take coins of certain denominations and no pound notes nor credit or debit cards of any kind. The train was leaving in about 10 minutes at that point, so we didn't have time to go shopping to get change, and in desperation we turned to the next people who parked and asked if they could change a £ 5 note, which the dratted machine would not accept of course. The wife said "no problem" and pulled out a large bag of coins from her car to give us change. Apparently, one trick to survival in the age of "park and pay" is to never spend the £ 1 or £ 2 coins you are given in change, but rather squirrel them away in a bag in your car so that you always have enough coins to feed those dratted machines! Crisis solved, we hustled over to the station where the 9:30 train to Caernarfon was already embarking. Since this was a narrow gauge (2 feet wide tracks, I think) the carriages were also slightly narrower than standard gauge. The aisle in each carriage separated tables for seating 2 pairs of people on one side of the aisle and tiny tables for seating just two people across from each other on the other side. That's similar to the White Horse and Yukon railway we road in Skagway, Alaska, on Wanderung 13. |
Monika: The day started bright and sunny . We decided that today was a perfect day to take the narrow gauge steam engine of the Welsh Highland Railroad from Porthmadog across the Snowdon Mountain Range to the town of Caernarfon on the North side of the peninsula across from the Anglesea Island. We had some fliers, that told us that the only train from Porthmadog left at 9:30. Breakfast at the Lion Hotel only started at 8:15, and since we did not know how long it would take us to get to the train station and whether the train would be sold out, we hustled through breakfast and got going immediately thereafter. Although we got to the train station in plenty of time to buy a ticket, we were not early enough to get one of the free parking spaces right in front of the train station. Instead we had to drive to the official car park, where all-day parking was 7.50 pounds. The pay machines in England only accept coins, neither bills nor credit cards. We had about 5 pounds in coins. But luckily the lady in another car had a sack full of 1 pound coins, being well prepared. She willingly changed my five-pound bill to five one-pound coins, and we could get our all day parking ticket. Note: When in England or Wales, don't spend your one pound coins. You will need them for the car parks! The train left the station on time. The first few hundred yards where actually on the road across the harbor bridge. This, of course, stopped all the traffic through Porthmadog, and we found out later, that was one of the reasons why there is only one train from downtown Porthmadog to Caernarfon and one coming back each day. |
Bob: A small steam locomotive was huffing and chuffing mightily at one end of the train, but that turned out to just be a yard locomotive that pulled us into position so that one of the large, 62-ton dual-truck locomotives could be hooked up to the front for our trip into the mountains. The large locomotive was certified to pull up to 12 carriages up the mountain and had been rebuilt from old narrow-gauge steam engines acquired from South Africa of all places. I later spied one of those old engines still awaiting refurbishment at the repair sheds, and it looked like a complete wreck, so the refurbishment of each one must be an awesome job. Our locomotive was indeed completely up to the task of pulling us up the mountain, albeit with mighty huffs and chuffs, punctuated by occasional steam whistles and the miscellaneous clanging and banging of things underneath our carriage. It's hard to describe why I am so entranced by steam trains, but certainly one part of it is that the sensory experience is totally unique. In addition to the absolutely distinct locomotive sounds, the trucks of the carriages are of course going "clickity-clack" over each of the joints in the rails below. The carriages are also jerking, bumping, jostling and swaying from left to right in a completely unpredictable but thoroughly entertaining manner, something on the order of a mild roller coaster but much more natural and realistic. Even the peculiar tangy smell of coal smoke from the engine that wafts unpredictably through the open windows (and occasionally covered us in soot!), is unique, nothing at all like diesel fumes or car exhaust. And finally, if you combine that all with the absolutely stunning scenery that was flowing by our window as we climbed into the mountains, you simply have a peak life experience. |
Monika: We settled back and started to enjoy the chug-chug of the engine. The train slowly went up into the mountains and the scenery was indeed beautiful. Taking pictures occupied us most of the time. |
Bob: On the way up we started chatting with an older gentleman who turned out to be a veritable font of information about the railroad. Although the route followed by the WHR was the same as a late 1800s railroad, the earlier one had long ago ceased operation and all the rails were removed. The right-of-way had been completely overgrown so badly that he said you couldn't even walk on it any more, especially in the deep cuts leading to the tunnels. He also told us the Welsh names of each of the mountains and valleys we were passing and told us some local tales. One such story was that the name of certain pass was "Two Bier Pass", because it separated towns in the valleys on either side in such a way that when a resident of one town died in the town on the other side, the body was taken up to the top of the pass in one bier by those town folk, then transferred to a second bier that came up from the other town and carried down the other side of the pass by the other town's folks to be buried at home. Up at the top of our route we essentially crossed an outlying shoulder of Mount Snowdon, and many folks got off at either the Rhyd Ddu or the Snowdon Ranger stops to hike the rest of the way up the mountain. There were a few clouds kind of lingering around the summit of Mount Snowdon, but otherwise it should have a spectacular view. We had beautiful vistas not only of the mountains but also of the swift-flowing mountain streams and beautiful deep blue mountain lakes. |
Monika: Next to us was an oldtimer and a mother and daughter. The oldtimer kept us entertained with stories of the mountains and the railroad. We kept chugging up and up. The ascent from Porthmadog was quite steep, so that the train at some points did almost hairpin turns. This of course gave us a great opportunity to try to get a picture of the engine and the rest of the train. There were several regular stops along the route and also several whistle stops. One of the stops was next to a large campsite, and about 40 people got on the train. In the evening we saw some of those people coming back loaded down with groceries. At another stop I watched us taking on more water. Our train really must be using a lot of it. We finally reached the summit of the pass. To our right we could see the top of Mount Snowdon. A lot of people left here to hike up to the summit which was still a good 1500 feet above us. To our left was a beautiful glacier lake. This was about the halfway stop and the train going into the opposite direction was already waiting there. Our train kept going along the glacier lake, until it started its rather gradual downward slope towards Caernarfon. In the last of the foothills was an odd assortment of holes. Our friendly guide told us that those were actual mineshafts for a coppermine, with the major vein going up the mountain. It would have been fun to stop and take a closer look at it. |
Bob: The whole experience was so engrossing that the two hours and forty-five minutes of our journey passed just like that. We disembarked in Caernarfon at 12:15 and wandered off in search of lunch past a kiddie carnival that had been set up in the town square. Caernarfon had quite a selection of cafes, restaurants, and pubs, but we chose a hole-in-the-wall local cafe (Cafi Gronant) for the atmosphere and the promise of stuffed baked potatoes (I had chili con carne and Monika ham and cheese). Everyone was speaking Welsh in there, a very musical language but we of course understood not a word. |
Monika: We finally reached Caernarfon and the first thing we saw was the castle staring at us. Well, we were not ready for that, first it was time for lunch. We walked to the castle square, where we heard all kind of music, even before we got there. When we finally turned the corner, we saw a small carnival set up in the middle of the square, and each of the rides having their own music. This made for quite a musical mix. But it also meant, that all the little cafes around the square were full of people, so we kept going along one street, where we found a bookstore. We found 3 books for 5 pounds and could not resist the bargain. Yes, we do have a Kindle now, but neither Bob nor I have yet gotten over our habit of buying books if we can find them cheap. A little farther on I saw a little cafe (Cafi Gronant) that offered jacket potatoes of which Bob and I have gotten rather fond. So we stopped and ordered ours. The cafe was definitely for the locals, since most of them seemed to speak Welsh to each other. But the food was good and cheap. |
Bob: Afterwards we ambled down past the castle, a really huge, bleak Normanesque pile of stones, and into the old walled city where we just looked into the shops that interested us. Once again the sensory experience of walking on the old worn streets in front of looming castle walls whilst the seagulls were shrieking up above was just hard to express. We finally arrived at the harborside and crossed a swing bridge to the other shore to get some panoramic shots of the castle, the city walls, and the harbor. A couple boats came by while we were there, so we were also treated to the sight of seeing the swing bridge smoothly rotate out of the way of the boats as they came in from the bay into the little marina in the river beside the castle. |
Monika: We now were ready to look at the town a little more thoroughly. Since the only train going back all the way to Porthmadog did not leave until 5:25 we had plenty of time to walk through the city. We both decided that we really were not all that interested in seeing another castle. It seems we still had castle overload from Scotland. But the old town itself was interesting. It was completely enclosed by a city wall with several gates to enter. Small stores and pubs where everywhere. And each of the pubs had interesting signs that just beckoned to have their picture taken. I was especially intrigued by a pub called "Four Alls", with pictures of a queen (I rule for all), a soldier (I fight for all), a preacher (I pray for all), and a citizen (I pay for all) - and not to forget the fifth All, a little devil (I take all). What a nice little commentary. Next to the Four Alls was the city market. It was just a small indoor square. Not anything close to a Spanish "mercado", but it had an interesting yarn store. I went in and looked, but kept telling myself: "you don't need any more yarn, you don't need any more yarn, you don't need......". |
Bob: We finally arrived at the harborside and crossed a swing bridge to the other shore where we rested at the edge of a small park. I took my time tryinjg to get some good panoramic shots of the castle, the city walls, and the harbor. A couple boats came by while we were there, so I took a picture of them as the swing bridge smoothly rotated out of the way so that they could get into the little marina in the river beside the castle. |
Monika: We finally caught up with the castle walls that is at the south side of the city along the river. We walked towards the river and across on a drawbridge to get some really good pictures of the castle and the city wall. When the guy on the bridge signalled that the bridge was about to swing open, we hastily went back across, to watch the operation and take pictures of an excursion boat and a sailboat coming back into the harbor. After this excitement we walked along the outside of the wall as the river emptied into the channel between the mainland and the Anglesea Island. At the furthest end we turned around and walked past a maritime museum. To Bob's chagrin it was closed, but it really did look rather small and I don't think we missed much. |
Bob: At the far end of the city wall, the maritime museum I had wanted to visit was closed, but surprisingly the church that was built into the actual city wall on two sides was open. We went in to take pictures--the city wall side has much thicker walls than the wall on the other side--and chat with the pastor. He told us about folks stealing the lead roof and gutter coverings to sell as scrap metal, for heaven's sake. Having enough religion for the time being and being somewhat tired and thirsty, we stopped off next at a pub in the middle of the old town. We shared a couple of the local draft brews and they were each tasty, but with a different balance of yeastiness, hoppiness, bitterness, and so forth. After resting or weary bones a bit, we ambled slowly back to the train station for the return trip. |
Monika: The southwest corner of the wall was a small church, St. Mary's. Our guide book had mentioned that it was quite interesting, but unfortunately it was usually closed. However, we were lucky and saw a sign indicating that it was open, so we went in. The pastor was there to talk us and told us a lot about the history of the church and the area. It was quite fascinating. Interestingly enough, you actually could see that the church was part of the city wall, since the windows that were set into the city wall side were inset quite a bit deeper than the ones on the opposite wall. The church also had some beautiful stained glass windows over the altar and over the organ. I enjoyed taking pictures while Bob kept talking the pastor. By now, we were getting tired and still had about an hour and a half before the train would leave. I remembered seeing that the Four Alls pub had advertised relatively cheap beer, £ 2.10 a pint. So we went in, rested our weary feet, and first shared a pint of John Smith's and then a pint of Kronenburg. Both were really quite good. This gave us a decent rest and walking back through the city we could take a few more pictures. For instance, on the castle square they had a couple statues of important people, and in front of the church on castle square was a statue of a Welsh Dragon which I thought was quite nice. |
Bob: The sun was going down as we crossed back over the mountains and headed for Porthmadog, which illuminated the opposite side of the valleys and gave us a different view from the morning trip. Unfortunately, Monika's camera was running low on battery charge, so we had to be very selective in what we took pictures of. Still, we got a couple nice shots of Mount Snowdon and of the locomotive pulling our train around a sharp curve. The other problem was that there were no sandwiches available on the return trip. They had offered sandwiches on the outbound trip and I had mistakenly assumed they would offer them again on the return trip. Since we were thwarted on trying to eat a meal on board the train, we just relaxed and watched the scenery flow by until we reached Porthmadog, and then drove over to the local Tesco store, where, after some diligent searching, we found their ready-made sandwiches. I was pleased that Tesco offered a low-fat tuna, mayonnaise and cucumber sandwich, so I procured one of those while Monika had the ham and cheese. For we rounded out our evening meal with baked potato chips and Cadbury chocolate for dessert (Nothing like a balanced diet of junk food I always say!). It being quite late by then, we simply turned in for the night. |
Monika: We got to the station in plenty of time and just sat down a little. Luckily, the train came early and we climbed in and found seats on the opposite side from where we had been before. This time Bob was on camera duty. Unfortunately, the battery was about to run out. But with judiciously turning it off between pictures to let the battery rest, Bob did manage to get quite a few good pictures. By the time we got back to Porthmadog it was already 8PM. We found the local Tesco store, a large supermarket, and picked up a couple of sandwiches for evening meal and some snack type food that I had been missing. Back at the hotel, we ate and just collapsed into bed. It had been a long, exciting day. |
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