Dolgarrog; Saturday, 24 August, 2024

My hotel for the weekend was located in Dolgarrog, part way up the Conwy Valley with its own station but only six trains a day, so from Chester I had the choice of either a train just after 9, or a train around midday, if I didn’t want to have to wait around for a very long time in Llandudno Junction. I had originally planned on getting a lunchtime train, but it dawned on me that those trains would have originated in Birmingham or Manchester about 10am, so were likely to be pretty full, whereas a train that had left the big cities around 7am on a Saturday would, hopefully, be significantly quieter.

My hunch turned out to be correct as the train pulled into Chester with plenty of empty seats, and consequently I had a comfortable journey along the North Wales coast to Llandudno Junction where I changed onto the train to Dolgarrog, which in contrast was completely full, thankfully it was only a couple of stops up the line to Dolgarrog, and I was crammed in next to the guard so I was able to request the stop, as it’s stop by request only.

From the station it was about a miles walk over the river and down a country lane to the hotel. By the time I arrived it wasn’t quite 11am so, naturally, there were no rooms available to check me into. Thankfully the reception was able to look after my bag so I could drop that off before heading out for the rest of the day.

I walked the short distance down to the main road through the village to catch the (not very regular) bus on into Betws-y-Coed and stopped there for a quick lunch before heading out for a walk along the river towards one of the towns key sights, the Swallow Falls.

The falls are located on the Afon Llugwy and there are two options for viewing them. You can take the bus, or walk, the 2 miles up the A5 road to the viewing terrace on the South side of the river – which has an entrance fee. Or you can hike up the path on the North bank of the river to a viewpoint which is free to access, and has a better view of the falls as it faces them on directly. I’d chosen the second option and had a very pleasant, if strenuous and slightly muddy, walk up to the viewpoint and then further on to the Ugly House a further mile up the river.

The Ugly House is a small historic cottage located by the A5 bridge over the river, and named for it’s less than attractive architectural design, but it is also a tearoom – which after a lengthy uphill hike was a welcome stop.

After a decent mid-walk break, I decided to head back down via the road, which has a pavement the whole way, rather than slogging back down the hiking trail, and made significantly better headway making it back to Betws-y-Coed in barely an hour, rather than the two and a bit it had taken on the way up.

Back in Betws I had a bit of a wander around the town before heading over to the station to wait for the train. The last bus of the day had been a couple of hours earlier, so I was always going to need to get the train back to Dolgarrog, but I’d managed to make the walk back so quickly that I had the option to pick up the train on it’s outbound journey further up the valley to Blaenau Ffestiniog before heading back. I took the train south down the line to the heart of slate country before riding back through Betws and onto Dolgarrog.

From the station I walked back to the hotel, checked in, grabbed my bag and a light snack from the hotel shop, before heading up to my room for a well earned shower and a bit of down time before wandering down to the bar a bit later for a nightcap before heading back up for a good nights sleep.