 The Willey Travel Guide: United Kingdom (Part 3) - North Wales
The town is also a terminus of the Ffestiniog Railway, a narrow gauge steam hauled railway, that runs from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Porthmadog. The rail line was built to transport the slate to the seaport for delivery to buyers around the world.
The next day we headed towards Caernarfon. Our route took us through the scenic Pass of Llanberis. On our left were the mountain peaks of the Snowdonia region including Snowdon itself, the highest peak in England and Wales (Ben Nevis in Scotland is the highest mountain in the United Kingdom). On my many trips to North Wales I had never before ventured to the top of Snowdon. This time there was something about the mountains and the idea of a cog railway that caught our interest. The Snowdon Mountain Railway (which celebrated its 100th anniversary of continuous service in 1997) leaves Llanberis and takes an hour to reach the summit station at 3,494 feet above sea level. What is fascinating is the lack of trees on the mountain which contrasts with the tree-laden mountains here in Canada. The slopes are criss-crossed with hiking paths with many travellers opting to take the train to the summit and hiking down (there must be some who do it the other way round). On this day we were unlucky that the summit was shrouded in cloud but we were "welcomed" with extremely strong winds, freezing temperatures and SNOW. It was strange to say that I threw my first snowball of the 1994 winter in the United Kingdom, not in Canada.
On the way back to Lancaster, we passed through Sutton-in-Ashfield so that I could show Christopher my "roots". Sutton is a town of about 40,000 people which is situated in the middle of coal-mining and hosiery mill regions. The town now boasts the largest sun-dial in Europe which sits in Portland Square. At the time of our visit, the town renovations were underway. We visited St. Michael's Street and Welbeck Street where my grandparents used to live. I also showed him our house in Annesley Woodhouse and Ashfield Comprehensive where I spent one year back in 1966-67. The vacation ended with a few days of quiet at my sister's place. Our last night was spent at a farm bed and breakfast a few miles from Manchester Airport. We came across Tanyard Farm (in Ashley, next to the bridge over the M56, near Altrincham, Cheshire 061 928 1009) on our previous trip to the UK in 1987. This pig farm is located right next to the motorway, one exit from the Manchester Airport (though you would never know it because the motorway runs through a trench at this point). I remember having to show my wife the motorway to convince her since it was so quiet. The farmhouse is separate from the pig pens and is well appointed. Our hosts, Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, were wonderful. On our previous trip we had to leave early to catch a flight to London so we would miss out on breakfast. The Jackson's kindly prepared a packed lunch for us to take with us. If you are travelling via Manchester, I would highly recommend this bed and breakfast as a convenient spot to stay the night before you leave. The United Kingdom has a lot of history. The activities and sites available are varied and can be mixed and matched to satisfy visitors of all ages. |
Blaenau Ffestiniog is home to the Llechwedd Slate Caverns where
visitors can relive life in a Victorian slate mining village. A replica village has
been built on the surface of the mine, including a village store and the Miners Arms
pub. But the highlight of the day was the Deep Mine tour. Riding Britains
steepest passenger railway you descend into the old mine for an impressive 30 minute sound
and light show through a number of underground caverns. The underground lake is
spectacular.
Located on a bluff, Harlech Castle has a commanding view of the
beaches of Tremadog Bay, now some 500 metres away. This is interesting to note
because there is an old path leading to a gate at the base of the castle. In its
heyday, the castle was situated on the water and this path was used by the inhabitants to
reach boats tied up at the dock. However, during our short stay we didn't see much
else of note in the area. The castle is interesting and reasonably well
preserved. If you are passing by the area, a quick tour of the castle would be
worthwhile but I would not recommend a special trip to see it.
Caernarfon is best known as the site of the investigure of the
Prince of Wales. The ceremony took place on a slate circle in the middle of the
grass. You can just see the edge of the circle in the photo at right. The
castle, our fifth on this trip, is a treasure and well worth a detour to visit. The
views from the parapets is fantastic with the town on one side and the Menai Strait on the
other.