Llandudno and the Snowdonia railways, part 3

Llanfair PG station

Day 5: Llanfair PG and Conwy
Monday was cold and windy and I accompanied Chrissie to Llandudno Junction to see her off to Euston direct. I planned to visit Conwy but saw that my train was going to Llanfair PG, the station with the longest name in Europe, the journey would also take me across the Menai Strait to Anglesey. Irt was a request stop so I informed the guard and alighted, to take some snaps and buy a souvenir platform ticket (30p) from the Pringle outlet nearby, then it was arm out to stop the next train, and another request stop for Conwy.

The smallest house in GB

Apart from the castle, Conwy is famous for having the smallest house in Great Britain, and its mussels. In fact there is supposed to be a mussel museum there, but I couldn't find it. Nowhere seemed to be serving the famous mussels either, so after a pint in the Blue Bell, I caught the bus back to Llandudno and some of Wetherspoon's finest five bean chilli.

Garrett 138

Day 6: the Welsh Highland Railway

It was up at 7am and a bowl of porridge for me on Tuesday - I had to get to Caernarfon for the 10am train and the 5 bus left at 8am. The train was pulled by the same 138 I'd cabbed on Saturday and I spotted a green Garrett on the way. Instead of a return, I booked a 'Snowdonia Single' (£15.80 with various discounts) that would take me to Porthmadog and on to Blaenau Ffestiniog. The WHR journey takes 2 hours, but the Ffestiniog just an hour. At Porthmadog it was much quieter than the weekend so I had some leek and potato soup followed by bara brith in Spooners, then went looking for a cashpoint. The train uphill was pulled by Merddin Emrys. At Blaenau Ffestiniog I took the train back to Llandudno and had a coffee in the Mostyn modern art gallery just before it closed.

Merddin Emrys

Then it was to the Palladium for two pints of Hawkshead Red and their sweet chilli noodles, and back to the B&B for Holby City and The Apprentice.

More photos on Flickr.