The main interest of the day was to go to the Snowdon Summit by Snowdon Mountain Train. We had booked tickets for the 0900 train as it was offered at half-price. I wasn't sure if there was any safe parking for bikes at the train station. The B&B host assured us that loads of bikers get there so it shouldn't be a problem.
The route we took was A5/A498/A4086. To get to Llanberis we had to ride through the Pen-Y-Pass and Llanberis Pass. Mountain passes are always beautiful and on a bike it feels extra special. I was cautious not to get (too) excited while riding downhill. At places, there isn't a big room for errors on he Llanberis Pass. The downhill left/right/left flips have to be experienced first hand. The only place where I made a misjudgement was at a very sharp right-hander leading to a very narrow stone bridge. After leaning I found out pretty quickly I was never going to make the turn. So it was time to put theory to practise - sat up and loaded the front as much as I felt it was safe. We managed to get to Llanberis all intact in one piece.
I parked the bike at a nearby hotel parking that was manned. With less than 5 minutes to get to the ticket office to collect the tickets and board the train, we had to literally run from the parking. By the time we got to the train, they had closed the gate and the option of travelling at half price was gone. We waited for another hour before boarding the lovely steam Snowdon train.
For some reason, I felt so nostalgic about these steam trains. Perhaps its the smell of steam or the sound of the engine that makes me feel so. The journey to the Snowdon summit was wonderful. It was only partially cloudy and was not raining. We were able to see the Llanberis Pass from half-way up the summit. The walkers path runs close to the train track and we could see a lot of walkers of all ages. The views on our way were simply stunning.
After the Snowdon Mountain train ride, we had our lunch at the station cafe. There I met a group of 4 bikers who had come from Liverpool on a day ride to Snowdon. I went to check if they had any chain spray with them as my chain's lubricant got completed washed out in the heavy rain on our onward journey. I got the chain spray and then We'd a long chat about our trip. After they had left I continued my cold lunch and continued our day tour.
Our next stop was Caernarfon Castle. Though Caernarfon was a few miles from Llanberis on A4086, We decided not to take that route and instead re-traced our morning journey to Llanberis and took to A498 to go to Porthmadog and Caernarfon. A498 is another scenic route with some good view points. There is a mini waterfall couple of miles from A498/A4086 junction. We stopped at every view point on this section and enjoyed the views on a rain-free day.
Caernarfon Castle is one of the 4 big castles in North Wales. This castle seems to have been well preserved. We had an hour to go around the Castle. The striking feature in all these castles is their Tower. The climb on the dark and narrow spiral stairs of the castle towers are great, especially when you get two-way traffic. We climbed all the towers and walked along the castle wall as well. All around views from the top of the castle towers were not that great though.
After the castle visit, we went to Bangor to take the A5 southbound to return to Betws-Y-Coed. The scenary is quite beautiful and dramatic once we got past Bethesda. We stopped at a parking near Llyn Ogwen and climbed the initial part of Cwm Idwal. The views from the hilltop are fantastic. As we were in the mountain range, the rain clouds were bearing on us and threatening to come down at any moment. After taking some nice pictures, we were just in time to wear our gear before it started raining again. The ride on this section of A5 was very rewarding. I'd have liked it stayed dry for a little bit longer.
We had a great day out and for the most part it stayed dry which was a great bonus. On our return to the B&B, we went into town to get some dinner and buy snacks for the next day.
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