Georgie, much to her father’s delight, is completely obsessed with all things trains. This infatuation was recently encouraged to blossom even more when we visited Thomas Land and our living room toy boxes had an influx of train related toys.
When we visited North Wales this week there was no doubt in our mind that we absolutely had to go on a steam train journey with the girls – there are so many great ones about and we both enjoy them too. James’s dad Anthony (‘Grandfather’ to the girls) was staying in a nearby B&B so we met up with him and had an adventure on the Welsh Highland Railway. Anthony is a huge train fan too so he was pleased to see that we had a two-year-old train enthusiast in our midst.
As we knew that however exciting trains might be, small people still get bored fairly easily if stuck in a carriage for extended periods of time, we decided to keep our journey fairly short. Rather handily there are points along the journey from Porthmadog, near where we were staying, to Caernarfon, the other end of the line, where you can can leave the train you’re on and cross the platform and to climb on the one passing in the opposite direction. Rather than do the full 25 mile journey twice, we took advantage of this clever scheduling to make the travelling shorter.
Our train journey was very pretty, with plenty of exciting tunnels to go through and pretty scenery to look at. Georgie had great fun spotting sheep and cows as we travelled past them, as well as pointing out a tree or two now and then! It really is worth doing one of these steam railway trips if you visit the Snowdonia area, as the view of the mountains and gorgeous landscapes is so good from the railway. We travelled through the Aberglaslyn Pass at one point, which was really beautiful.
We left Porthmadog at 10:50, travelled threea stops to Beddgelert at 11:30, and crossed the platform to return to Porthmadog at 12:25 – just in time for lunch at the Harbour Station cafe, “Spooner’s Grill”. We had our dog Homily with us, as well as Anthony’s dog Trex, so we ate our meal on the station platform in the sunshine. Georgie loved this as she got to watch the Ffestiniog Railway steam train arrive while we were eating!
After lunch we hung around long enough to take a look in the gift shop where some new Thomas & Friends toys were acquired as souvenirs of our day, and we also got to watch both the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railway trains leave the station on their next journeys. Georgie loved waving to all the people on the train as it went by, and found the steam engines fascinating.
The train theme lasted all the way through the day, as we played with her new felt train toy in the evening and James read her a Thomas story for her bedtime story. Georgie really loved her “train day” and so did we!
Center Parcs are currently challenging bloggers to put together (up to) one-minute videos showcasing how they love to spend together as a family. As we all like steam trains so much, and enjoy going on them together I decided to use this day out for my video, I hope you enjoy it!
We would love to be part of the Center Parcs Family Blogger Club for 2013/2014 & visit Elveden Forest. Although we’ve never been to Center Parcs before we have heard plenty of good things about them and would love to try them out for ourselves.
Carly Markham liked this on Facebook.
We love trains too, never been on that particular railway
I went on the Ffestiniog railway when I was a child but the Welsh Highland Railway has been opening in stages over the last 10 years or so. I think it was a long-forgotten line!
I really wanted to go on the Ffestiniog one too but we didn’t have enough time or money! Definitely next time 🙂
@TheMotherGeek yup – we went on a steam train (G’s favourite!) on Monday so made it while we were away. Loads of fun!
@zoecorkhill just found it on your timeline. Looks like a fab day. Good luck 🙂
@PirateGifts yep, we went on a steam train on Monday so did it about that. Georgie adores trains so it was great fun!
@zoecorkhill “choo choo all aboard” that’s so cute. Love it. Only just realised your from the midlands. X