Along the line

The train ride is the first part of the visit to the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway. It takes about ten minutes in each direction, before we stop at the engine sheds on the way back.

The train crosses an area of flat land north of Porthmadog known as Traeth Mawr, which used to be under water at high tide. Sometimes you can see patches of sand through the green of the fields. Look out on one side of the train, and you’ll see the tall cliffs that used to be the water’s edge.

The mountains of Snowdonia are never very far away. The large spikey one is called Cnicht. No one is quite sure how it got its name, but many people think it’s because the mountain looks like a knight wearing his helmet (Cnicht is similar to the word knight.) Or it could come from a Gaelic word meaning "pointed hill".

The rocks to the left of Cnicht are called Yr Arddu. They’re covered with white marks which are actually veins of quartz. When the sun goes down, it sometimes sparkles in the evening light, so the locals in Porthmadog used to say the fairies lived over there.

Footpaths

Pen-y-Mount station is at the crossroads of a number of footpaths. From our station, you can walk alongside the railway to the village of Prenteg, north of Porthmadog, or along the lane to Tremadog.

A third footpath heads over towards Plas Tan yr Allt, a white house halfway up the cliffs which was the home of William Madocks (the man who built Porthmadog and Tremadog).

Click here to return to the journey map.