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Well, the trip actually began in Ireland. North Wales has no international airport, and from the U.S. it's more interesting to fly into Dublin and then take the ferry to Holyhead and explore the coast of Wales by train.
In the background is the "Spire of Dublin", all 120 meters (390 feet) of it. Hard to get the scale of the thing, even when standing next to it.
North Wales Coast
North Wales Coast
The train from Holyhead stopped in Llandudno Junction where we caught the final leg to Llandudno, a beachside resort town. (Although it was rather quiet in early April.) They have a grand old tram and an amazing prehistoric copper mine.
A Week on the Blaenau Ffestiniog Railway
A Week on the Blaenau Ffestiniog Railway
The old station master's house on the line at Coed y Bleiddiau was restored and turned into lodging by the UK Landmark Trust. There is nothing around and access is via steam train!
We took national rail to the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog where we transferred to the nearly 200 year-old Blaenau Ffestiniog Railway, the oldest active railway company in the world. The steam train dropped us of at our little station home for the week.
Since Coed y Bleiddiau is no longer an active station, we had to flag down the train when we wanted to catch it.
Slate Mine
Slate Mine
Llechwedd Slate Caverns has the steepest underground funicular in the world.
Portmeirion
Portmeirion
On the northwest coast of Wales across the estuary from Porthmadog lies the village of Portmeirion. It's an Italianate tourist resort with an eclectic mixture of architecture and art. It's notable as the location for The Prisoner television series. Our visit coincided with the 40th Prisoner Convention, which includes a reenactment of a chess game with humans as playing pieces.
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct
From Llangollen, we rode a canal boat across the highest navigable waterway in the world.
Blaenavon Railway
Blaenavon Railway
One last ride on a historic steam train!
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