EFOG trip to Rhyl, North Wales

This was an organised holiday called Great Little Train Journeys of Wales, with a company called David Urquhart. It consisted of a coach journey to the Westminster Hotel in Rhyl, and included two steam-train journeys whilst we were there. The coach was comfortable, and was equipped with hot and cold drink facilities - at least when we were stopped.

The hotel was well placed on the promenade, overlooking the sea and conveniently situated for early morning and evening walks by the group. The hotel fared well, with good service, en suite bedrooms, 3 course breakfasts and dinners, and a bar. Lounge entertainment was fun, with the first night being a comedian/vocalist, rendering popular UK/United States and mostly 1960's hits. The second night there was a keyboard player as well as a vocalist, delivering 60s,70s and 80s hits. Both entertainments encouraged singing, dancing, hand jiving and much laughter. Entertainment had been dropped on the third night due to a certain Welsh football match! Fortunately a bottle of wine, nibbles and table games had come with us to enjoy in our room, with a deal of hilarity, until 11pm.

Following a before-breakfast walk that some of us EFOGers did and then breakfast, our first full-day trip started at 9.30am. The destination was Porthmadog Harbour Station. Several shipyards were built on the quayside in the 1870's, and these were to bring prosperity to the little town. It was estimated that over a thousand vessels used the harbour in any one year, and at its peak in 1873 over 116,000 tons of Blaenau slate left the harbour to be carried to all parts of the world. The present town is not yet 200 years old but stands commemoratively to William Madocks, born in 1773, who envisaged the reclamation of marshland which made this possible.

The station – which was originally opened to passengers in 1805 – has undergone the recent construction of a second platform which makes it possible for Welsh Highland Railway and Ffestiniog Railway trains to be in the station at the same time. We boarded a Ffestiniog train in an observation carriage with comfortable chairs for our 13 mile journey, with panoramic views as the line twist and turns, passing close to remote cottages, waterfalls, beautiful woodland, splendid views across the valleys and the sites of an industrial nature linked to Blaenau Ffestiniog.

Our coach awaited us at Blaenau Ffestiniog Station for our onward journey through the stunning Snowdonia National Park to Betws-y-Coed. The town is built almost entirely of stone quarried from the Hafod Las and Rhiwddolion slate quarries. A shortish break allowed an hour or so for sight-seeing. Some of us went to the artists' colony and the old railway station, which included carriages converted to partisan businesses and a museum as well as a small train journey into woodland. Others sampled some Welsh cooking, with warm bara brith and a Welsh brew, and some slate souvenirs. There was not enough time for the others to walk back the 2 miles to Swallow Falls, but they reached the Pont-y-Pair bridge (Bridge of the Cauldron), built in 1468 and straddling the rapids of the river Llugwy.

Our second full day excursion - following a walk before breakfast - started at 9.30 am. We were taken to the Llanberis, in the beautiful Snowdonia National Park, through breathtaking and inspiring scenery. The steam train journey on the Llanberis Lake Railway fell short of expectation as it only goes along one side of the lake, then stops and returns the same way. It is not as 'grand' as the previous day's train. However, we were able to visit the interesting slate museum near to Elidir - the 'Electric Mountain'.

Our last day was fancy-free travel. Four of us took a train to Bangor, where on arrival we walked into the town for a coffee break and sight-seeing. We then went to the bus stop to catch the ONLY, hourly-timed No.85 bus going to the Electric Mountain – the Dinorwig Power Station. Despite our obvious behaviour in trying to attract the bus...it sailed on by. Thankfully, we had picked up a local cab card and our very amiable driver drove us to and returned us from the power station – a one hour journey. A 70 metre long station building is situated on the west shore of Tan-y-Grisiau, deep into Elidir Mountain. It is constructed to a depth of 35 metres to accommodate massive generating and pumping units. 142,000 tonnes of rock were excavated to build the power station, which is designed with four underground levels: the generator/motor floor, the turbine floor, the pump floor and the pump basement. One third of the complex is above ground and the rest is below ground. We were ferried around this extraordinary labyrinth of shafts, tunnels and pipe lines by a a pre- booked mini bus with a guide, experiencing high security throughout. We had sat eating our lunch in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, within the Eryri Special Area of Conservation and adjacent to Llyn Padarn Site of Special Scientific Interest. It was hard to believe what was beneath us on this UK fault line. Since being built, an ongoing environmental programme has ensured that the power station blends sympathetically with its landscape. This remarkable hydro-electric scheme is a miracle of engineering and a testament to human skill and ingenuity, and we were so pleased to have experienced it.

The weather during our stay in North Wales was a mix of lightening, downpours and beautiful blue sunny skies - but was not cold.....normal!

Jacky, 22nd June 2016