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Vestra Travel & British Country Tours
2474 Walnut Street #315
Saxony House
BCT: where value counts: "There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey." John Ruskin
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OUR TRAVELS - WHERE WE'VE BEEN RECENTLY June 2006 - Wales - The Ffestiniog narrow gauge railway (c) 2006 - Christopher Aves
Helena and I were staying in Chester, England for a short visit.
Being a fan of railways, I had always wanted to visit the Ffestiniog railway and
finally that day was here. Armed with nothing more than our camera and Brit Rail
passes, we set off to Chester station for the hour long ride to Llandudno
Junction, Wales, where we changed trains for hour plus journey to Blaenau
Ffestiniog.
The Ffestiniog narrow gauge Railway was founded in 1832 by an act of Parliament which makes it the oldest independent railroad company in the World. Originally built as a horse drawn railroad to carry slate from the quarries in the mountains around Blaenau Ffestiniog to the seaport of Porthmadog on the Irish sea coast.
The scheduling between Arriva Trains-Wales, and the Ffestiniog was flawless. The single coach clunker was ready and waiting for us as we arrived back in Blaenau Ffestiniog around four in the afternoon. Rather than returning to Chester for Dinner, we decided to flex our Brit rail passes again and continue on to Llandudno, a seaside resort on the northern coast of Wales (picture below).
On the train to Llandudno we struck up a conversation with the lady sitting opposite us by asking her if she knew of any good restaurants for dinner. Well it turned out she owns a hotel in town and is very familiar with most restaurants. She recommended the Osbourne House, located across the street from the entrance to the pier.
Getting There By Road: There are two public parking lots adjacent to the station in Blaenau Ffestiniog. Porthmadog has several large public car parks, as well as a small one at the station. Please note: Porthmadog becomes very congested in the summer, so we recommend that you use the car parks in, and start your journey from, Blaenau Ffestiniog or - better still - leave your car behind and make use of the excellent public transport in the area. By Train: From the North - Use trains on the Chester - Holyhead mainline, then change at Llandudno Junction for a train along the Conwy Valley branch line to our joint station in Blaenau Ffestiniog. From the Midlands - Use trains, via Shrewsbury and Machynlleth, for the Cambrian Coast line. Alight at either Minffordd (2 minutes walk) or Porthmadog (15 minutes walk). Train services are run by Arriva Trains Wales and they do accept the Brit rail Pass provided that you have purchased one that includes Wales. The Ffestiniog railway does not accept the pass. Contact Information Christopher Aves is Vice President of Vestra Travel, a full service travel agency, located in Raleigh, North Carolina. With wife Helena they run the Travel Agency and British Country Tours, a company specializing in small group exclusive tours to the British Isles. Chris was educated in England as a Certified Accountant, and holds a masters Degree in Business Administration from the University of Dallas, Texas. Please forward your questions, comments and observations to: CLOSE WINDOW TO RETURN
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This
train was just a single coach diesel powered clunker (pictured to the right),
but oh the scenary! Lush green hills and valley’s until you enter a tunnel right
before Blaenau. When you emerge you have this sensation that Scottie has just
beamed you to another planet! No longer is there lush green surrounding, but you
are now on the surface of the moon. Great piles of slate tailing from the mining
operations of times past.
The
railway line was popular and very successful by the introduction of many
innovative engineering solutions to handle the ever increasing output from the
quarries, and with passenger traffic. Unfortunately the slate industry and then
passenger traffic declined slowly, until the railways closure in 1946. A group
of pioneering railroad enthusiasts rescued it and the Ffestiniog was re-opened
in 1954. Since then, the railroad has become a leader in railway preservation
and now claims to be one of Wales’ top tourist attractions. As you ride the
railway you can enjoy the outstanding beauty and scenery of Snowdonia as you
pass through many areas that are inaccessible by road. 
The
train winds it way through the mountains and down to the coast. Drinks and
snacks are available on the train, however, if you are looking for a cold drink
you won’t find it, it will be at room temperature which on a arm days makes for
a pretty tepid coke or brewski! There are endless photo ops as the train chugs
down to the coast. Our only regret was that we were unable to explore Porthmadog
as the only return train was the one we arrived on, so we had less than an hour
there before returning to Blaenau Ffestiniog. If you remember the sixties TV
show called 'The Prisoner', many of the scenes 
The
walk from 
The
Osbourne house turned out to be an excellent choice, rather pricey, but very
good. During our meal we kept looking at, what we thought was 'dirt' on the
walls. To our surprise, we realized that all of the light fixtures on the walls
were in actual fact, candle sticks, and the 'dirt' was caused by the
constant burning of candles. After our dinner we walked to the train station for
our return journey to Chester. Such a wonderful day trip that we would recommend
to anyone staying in the area.