Our trip on the Ffestiniog Railway ended at the old market town of Blaenau Ffestiniog where we hopped off the train and set out to explore.
Mist and rain hung over the whole place, it was chilly, damp and more than a bit miserable. We did walk around a little but visibility was so poor we could not even see a glimpse of the slate hills surrounding the town.
Leaving Wales a couple of days later we drove back through Blaenau in better weather and saw this little place in quite a different light. Very dramatic we could now see the slate hills properly. This place is known as “the town that roofed the world”, slate is how it made its name and we were glad of the chance to drive through and witness those incredible heaps of slate just everywhere.
Back to rainy Blaenau though, soaked through and just about fed up of walking in the rain we found the Bridge Cafe, quirky and vintage inside, settled in and had a delicious lunch and a rather competitive game of Scrabble.
Son had spied a place called Small World on the way to the cafe and we agreed to check this out too. A little gem, it was tucked right behind the cafe but full of models, a railway set and a crazy golf course that took you all the way around the world via impressive models all made by the owner – it is still a work in progress. We spent a very enjoyable half hour in there, chatting and playing crazy golf before heading back for our return journey on the old steam train back to Porthmadog.
The rain must have made it hard but it all looks so beautiful!! Great pics!
Thank you for stopping by my blog Joy:)
Hugs
We were more than a bit soggy with all that rain but it was still a great day out despite all that!!
Such a pity about the rain but I’m glad you were able to return and see it in a better light. The slate landscape is so atmospheric! By the way, I love playing scrabble and unraveling cryptic crosswords but don’t do either often enough these days!
That was actually the good thing about the weather, because it was so wet we sought out that little cafe and spent ages playing Scrabble which was great fun. Had the sun been shining or even just no rain, we would have felt guilty about not exploring and being on the go!!
Joy, I am glad you got to return to see the slate landscape…looks very interesting! A game of scrabble is always fun! Happy weekend!
It is quite unlike anywhere else I’ve seen Pam with those heaps of slate just everywhere – glad we got to actually see it without all the mist too!! Hope your weekend is a wonderful one too.
How fun!
It was – despite the rain!!
Such a shame about the rain Joy but at least you got to see Blaenau and the slate hills in a better light later on 🙂 The cafe sounds just the place in which to warm up and the model railway place looks wonderful – such great work by the owner! 🙂
Every cloud and all that Rosemary…. the rain was horrible but had it been nicer weather we would never have found the model railway place much less gone in and spent ages there!! It was a real treat, the owner was so lovely and we thoroughly enjoyed our time there, different to what we had planned but that’s never a bad thing!
poor weather but you seem to have made the most of it
Well, in this country you can’t let the rain stop you…..
yes:)
That looks to have been a fun trip despite the soggy, grotty weather. It’s funny that that town has that epithet as the islands of Seil and Easdale near where we used to live are known as the islands that roofed the world because of their slate quarries.
Maybe they all claim that for themselves, or maybe they all had a hand in roofing the world!! We did enjoy our day out, the weather was as bad as it could be but finding the little cafe and crazy golf place was a highlight and at least we got to see all the slate on the way home!!
That is real Welsh rain. I have been lucky, just had five days of sunshine in mid Wales!
I think we might have had 5 minutes on this trip – maybe that’s pushing it!! Hope you enjoyed it, was a great time to visit!!
What a fun mini golf course! Mini golf is fun but we hardly go, maybe this summer 🤗
It is great fun – hope you get better weather though, or try an indoor one like we did!!
Too bad about the weather but I must say it makes for great, dramatic photos!
Looking at the pictures now I can see a misty, atmospheric town – didn’t feel too much like that on the day though!! Still, we did find some great indoor stuff so all was not lost.
What a difference clear weather makes when looking at the photos. That mini golf place looked unique.
It was wonderful George, the fact the owner built all the models himself, a real labour of love, made it a gem of a place.
Well done on your son spotting Small World, quite an unusual find, and he seems quite resilient in all that rain!
You have to be resilient with our weather though don’t you! They learn that at a young age!! That said, had it not been pouring we would never have found Small World and it was so much fun – every cloud has a silver lining!
That crazy gold course does look unusually impressive, though perhaps a bit small! I could imagine golf balls flying all over the place if you accidentally made an aggressive putt.
Absolutely – we were the only people there but still had to reign it in!!