It's been something I wanted to do for a while, a trip on the WHR. Last Wednesday we got the opportunity but strangely they run trains from Caenarfon at 10am and 2.15pm with nothing in between. If like us you have difficulty getting out of bed there's no way you can catch a 10am train when your caravan site is 45 minutes drive from the station.

So we opted for a more leisurely start. However that brings problems because by the time you get to the other end of the line at Porthmadog (4.30pm) there's no train back to Caernarfon.

The answer was to go roughly halfway to Rhyd Ddu where the two trains cross and whip across the platform for a ride back.

And what a ride, absolutely brilliant views all round, switchback corners where you can see the engines (two on the way out) pulling the train, gorgeous green glades with fast flowing streams, narrow little overbridges, a large lake and mountains on either side. A wonderful trip.

Now we've sampled half we desperately want to ride the other half from Rhyd Ddu to Porthmadog.

If you can get to Porthmadog or Caernarfon by 10am I can guarantee a fabulous day out.

NB please check the timetable, they often don't run trains on Fridays and run three trains a day in peak periods when you can get back from a full trip but with only 20 minutes at the end of each leg.

Thoroughly recommended.

not sure if dare ask

but did you do one of those you tubes?

I'm sorry I was too busy gawping at the scenery and wrangling a bearded collie to video anything however this looks good and gives some excellent shots of the railway https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taNwYqvz6Ek but like a lot of videos it doesn't do justice to the landscape the passengers see.