Porthmadog, Wales, United KingdomTravel Lodge Porthmadog Wales
I woke up before Marilynn's alarm this am and thought I could shower and wash my hair and some underwear and sox before Marilynn got up, but I didn't come out until 7:48 am.
Oh, oh. I did seem to have extra time to get ready to go this am though. We were not scheduled for the train until 10:30 am. We walked up the main stteet to find a cafe for breakfast and went almost all the way to the train station before finding the Costa's where we had muffins' and americano coffee fo Marilynn and a latte for me. We saw a cafe and bathrooms at the station and a souvenir shop with postcards but decided to get the postcards on the way back
We were warned about the train being full and only taking up two seats if we were two peple. There was a Viking tour group and some other one too. We got into a car when the train stopped even though no one said we could but it seemed fine. There were some other people - most in pairs - and they took tables for 4. We were discussing how bold other people were when the man in the seat kiddycorner turned to us and told us if we ordered solo tickets we would be put in the two seaters but they had ordered a table for 4 for the two of them for just a little more than for a two-seater table.
Then he chatted about the slate mine and lots of other things, inquied about where we were from, talked about traveling and buysing a caravan and taking holidays near the sea when they reitred. He said he was from Birmingham. He also mentioned that a lot of eople speak differently in Birmingham and a lot of people speak Welsh (here, in Wales) and you cannot understand them.
The train passed past the estuary and headed up into the mountains. There were quite a few picturesque little stations along the tracks, stone buildings and even a few sheep. It was incredibly greetn. The train attendant pointed out Snowden muntain as the pointy one and we tried to take photos of it. I am not sure I actually got one of the correct mountain. Marilynn is supposed to send me hers. The ride was about 1 and 1/2 hours to the turnaround station where we stopped for 35 minutes Marilynn was looking for a place with a good photo op down the valley but we went along one main street and didn't find anything like that.
I found lots of picturesque buildings that I loved and took photos of. We got back on the train and the Birmigham couple did not come back to our car. I wondred if my coughing and sneezing put them off. The return trip went over the same ground but was still beautiful and we had perfect weather too.
Once we got back to the Porthmagog station, we bought our postcards - including one or two of Snowden - and then went to look for lunch. I said I preferred to have a bigger lunch and lighter dinner so we went to a restaurant (The Port Restaurant) where I ordered fish and chips and Marilynn had a veggie burger which she did not find to her liking. First, it looked rare, but it turned out that was because of the beetroot.
We finished lunch and then went for the walks around town that Marilynn had seen written up - the first one on the Cob which was a path on one side of the road and train tracks that went along the estuary. We saw quite a few birds - mostly gulls - and some geese but they were far away.
The second walk went around the side of the estuary. We decided to try it and then kept following it - it went around ad appeared to loop back into the town. We got quite far when a man approached me asking if anyone was missing a rucksack. It turned out to be Marilynn's so we walked back and luckily it was still there on a bench. We then turned back and continued walking the loop and got back to the main street. Then we returned to the pub we went to yesterday where Marilynn had a wine. Today I asked for a local Welsh ale and the barmaid said all of their beers were local Welsh. It was pretty good - I took the Snowdonia ale. After our drink we walked back to the motel after Marilynn stopped to get more cheese at a little shop. When we passed Aldi's we noticed it was closed.
We arrived at the hotel and talked to the receptionist about getting our train tomorrow. It turns out that we should call the railway tomorrow morning but will probably need to buy the ticket at the station. The train isn't until after 1 pm so we have time. Now we are watching mystery shows and doing things - Marilynn is working on her emails and diary and I am catching up on yesterday and today's blogs. I still have the day before yesterday to do, but I need to plug in the computer to recharge.
2025-05-22