Blaenau Ffestiniog Railway

After a long lie in, Isobel and I headed over to Portmeirion.  See Extra

If you don't already know it is a 'village' that was designed and built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis between 1925-75 and more recently it was the location for the 1960's mini-series The Prisoner.  It is now owned by a charitable trust and every property is either part of the hotel or is a self-catering apartment.

It is a very odd place to walk round as no-one actually lives there and it very much has the ambience of a film set.  It is like being in an episode of the Truman Show (or The Prisoner!), as nothing seems real.

After Portmeirion we headed to the railway at Blaenau Ffestiniog.  This is the world's oldest still operating railway company and more importantly, one my father and I worked on about 35(ish) years ago to help renovate and make it what it is today.

It has bitter-sweet memories as the work we carried out was hard but good fun but it was in the closed-season in the winter months when it was blooming freezing, raining and the cottage we stayed in only had a log fire in one room!!