We spent most of day 9 in and around Snowdonia National park. We took a ride up the mountain on the Festiniog narrow gauge railway, visited the quirky village of Portmeirion, and then visited the National Slate Museum.
A shot out our hotel window in the morning
Fireplace in the hotel lobby
The Festinioc Railway is a narrow gauge railway originally used for hauling slate from the quarries around the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog to Porthmadog where it was loaded onto ships.
This is a narrow gauge railway with the rails spaced 1 foot 11.5 inches.
The locomotive is the Merddin Emrys, named after a Welsh poet
The locomotive is a double locomotive, basically two locomotives articulated back to back, so it can run equally well in both directions.
These are steam locomotives powered by coal
Boarding our car.
Pretty little train, but comfortable enough
Good use for old boots
Arrival at Minffordd
A shot of the narrow gauge tracks along with standard tracks.
Portmeirion was designed and built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis between 1925 and 1975 in the style of an Italian village, and is now owned by a charitable trust.
Portmeirion has served as the location for several movies and TV shows, including as "The Village" in the 1960s show The Prisoner.
The Portmeirion Hotel
View from the Hotel Quayside looking out toward Afon Glaslyn (River Glaslyn)
Fireplace in the Hotel
Shots along the road en route to the slate museum
The National Slate Museum (previously known as the Welsh Slate Museum) is housed in the workshops, built in 1870, that served the slate quarry and its locomotives. The quarry closed in 1969.
Bus Stop Quary is visible from the Slate Museum parking lot. This is a tiny quarry in comparison with the main Dinorwic quarries
A close shot of Bus Stop Quarry
One of the rail cars that used to haul slate from the quary
The Llanberis Lake Railway has transported Snowdonia Nation Park along the shore of Llyn Padarn since 1971. This locomotive was built in 1922 for the Dinorwic quarry.
The tracks were originally built for hauling slate from the quarries.
Another Llanberis Lake train. The locomotive Elidir was built for the Dinorwic quarry in 1889.
Detail of the Elidir's cabin
Funicular tramway up to the quarry. These were originally powered by horses.
Factory buildings in the slate museum
Demonstrating the craft of splitting slate into thin shingles
He has struck the chisel once, and now it is wedged into space between what will eventually be two shingles
Working the chisel deeper in, ready to split
We now have two pieces
Final step: sizing and squaring up the edges by shearing against a fixed blade
