Welsh Highland Railway & Caernarfon Castle

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Off to an early start for the day, with the Welsh Highland Railway being our first stop. The railway runs for about 40 miles, from Caernarfon Wharf, up into the highlands and down to Pont Croessor, about 3 miles from Porthmadog. An extension to the line, to join the railway with the Ffestiniog Railway is due to open later this year. Our engine was a Garrett Patent engine, a double articulated type of engine especially designed for steep narrow gauge lines such as this. There is another Garrett engine at Puffing Billy railway, back at home, which we’ve also ridden on. We really enjoyed the 4 hour return trip, despite the cold rainy day and foggy windows! The scenery was beautiful, passing through quaint Welsh villages, old slate mines, past several lakes (including the one where Excalibur was reputedly thrown), and through the spectacular peaks of the Welsh Highlands themselves. There was even a castle or three to see along the way! We had our picnic lunch on the train as we went along. Upon our return, we were treated to an unforgettable view of Caernarfon’s harbour and castle.

Our afternoon was spent wandering through Caernarfon Castle, including a guided tour of the highlights. Little Cocky really enjoyed visiting the castle - he was quite taken with the idea of murder holes, portcullis, moats, arrow slits and invading armies. The castle was built to impress and impose the English power and might upon the Welsh, and judging by its grim looking exterior, would have succeeded in its task. The bulk of the castle was completed in just 50 years, however, parts of the castle were never built, or were completed much later, for example the walls between the castle and town, and some of the towers. We were intrigued to learn that manned by a garrison of just 28 soldiers, and was only attacked once in its history - ironically from the town side by the townspeople themselves, protesting over taxes imposed upon them. After that, the castle walls on the town side were built - a bit like shutting the gate after the horse had bolted though!

We took a walk along the waterfront home to our hotel, enjoying a welcome sunny break in the rain. Needing to catch up on some laundry, we found the local launderette - a service laundry run out of the back room of another shop. It was so full of laundry and ironing in various stages of completion that the manageress could barely make it to the door to answer our bell. She took neither our names nor gave us a token to collect our clothes the next day, simply saying that she’d remember our things when we came back. Hoping for the best, we left almost half of our clothing with her and headed off for dinner.
We enjoyed another quiet meal at the Premier Inn’s restaurant, and another relatively early night. Bliss!

LITTLE COCKY’S COMMENTS: The steam train trip was heaps of fun, there was lots to look at. The train went up through the hills, around lots of lakes, and past lots of villages. The castle was huge, from the outside it looks finished, but on the inside, it was only half finished. It looks like hundreds of soldiers would be there, but only 28 lived there to look after it.

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