Last weekend I spent a couple of days in Snowdonia. As I was going to be climbing Snowdon on the Sunday, we decided to travel on the Saturday and come back on Monday to make the most of the weekend. It's years (I feel ashamed) since I was last in Wales and I didn't realise just how much I had missed it till I returned. We (my Mum and Auntie came with me) stayed in Betws-y-Coed, which is itself a beautiful town set in the heart of Snowdonia, but travelled out to Beddgelert on the Saturday- having spent the majority of my childhood holidaying there, it is like a second home to me. The village itself hasn't changed much, except for the re-opened stretch of the Welsh Highland Railway which now runs again through the mountains and alongside the river. I was quite excited at the prospect of seeing one of the trains come past, not to satisfy some long-repressed urge to become a trainspotter, but because I have walked the stretch so many times over the years. Part of me felt a little disappointed that I could no longer walk through the tunnels that carve their way through the mountain above the Aberglaslyn Pass- I remember the thrill as a child of walking through the longest tunnel and not being able to see light at either end when the halfway point was reached- but it was great hearing the whistle of the train as it emerged from the mountainside.We didn't have that much time to spend in Beddgelert but we had a good stroll down the river and I even had a paddle (had to for old time's sake!)...it was freezing! We then walked back up to the new train station to see the diesel train collecting its next passengers- I felt a bit like I was on the set of Thomas the Tank Engine!I've posted a couple of photos of Beddgelert below, the rest are here, and a few of Betws-y-Coed are here.
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