Travelling to North Wales

Posted on 2005/06/20 23:12:05 (June 2005).

[Saturday 18th June]
I woke up early at David's house, and finding a dangling network cable, I decided to avail myself of David's internet connection and plan my weekend. Having sorted out a lengthy schedule of public transport, I decided I would go up to my Dad's on the Llyn peninsula in North Wales. It was going to be quite a journey, particularly as I was determined for once not to rely on my Dad having to drive for miles and miles to come and pick me up somewhere. The plan was to get right up to his door all under my own steam.
The first leg was from Reading to Birmingham (well, Wolverhampton to be precise). Naturally cynical as I am about the reliability of Virgin Trains, I opted to take a train an hour earlier than the one suggested by the National Rail website. This cynicism proved well founded - somewhere between Banbury and Leamington Spa the train in front hit a cow (!) and the line had to be closed for a while. By some magic I still managed to make my connection though - arriving in Wolverhampton about two minutes before the Pwllhelli train set off.
From Wolverhampton onwards was a really nice run, albeit a bit too hot a day to be in a train with no air conditioning. It was over four hours, winding through the Welsh countryside, before getting to the sea and then winding round the coast. I finally got to Pwllhelli just after five, and had a short wait there which gave me time to get a late lunch / early dinner (chips and curry sauce - mmmm!). From there I got a bus, which didn't quite stop in my Dad's village, so the final leg of my journey was on foot - about a three mile walk. Amazingly though, about half way there, I saw my Dad's car driving towards me. So I didn't quite make it up to his doorstep without him driving me somewhere or other, but I was pretty damn close.
We spent the remainder of the evening sitting up on the observation point above Aberdaron, with more chips, and some Guinness, waiting for a flotilla of boats to come round the peninsula, which never really materialised. It didn't matter - it was great just to sit there and breathe in the sea air and so on.

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