Hound Adventures

Wednesday 30th August-

We'd planned the trip to Llanberis to visit the steam train and the old slate museum that included the old quarry hospital.

5:15am was not the sight I really wanted to be seeing, but it had to be done as we wanted to be on the road for no later than 7:30am as it was a little off 3 hour drive. Eventually, the sandwiches were made, car was packed and the back of the car turned into a mini bedroom for the very sleepy hound who didn't really like seeing the outside until after 8:30am. 7:15am came around as we still hadn't done our walk around the local park, ready to spend the next 2 hours and 47 minutes stuck in the car driving! Eventually 8:00am came and we were finally ready to set off on the road for our destination, already 30 minutes late, but hoping the motorway was going to be semi quiet so we could make up time.

We ended up at the traffic lights, ready to jump on the motorway, and noticed the red speed lights come up with 40mph (NEVER A GOOD SIGN) but never the less we were keeping positive and hoping this was just for one junction, which it was!!

11:00am FINALLY! We arrived at Llanberis excited and ready to start exploring. Lottie was ready to see some sheep and starting exploring around the lake. After we'd explored around the lake and visited some of the little locally run shops, we made a head for the train station to get tickets and visit the slate museum. With tickets brought, we headed over to the museum, which was doggy friendly! There was so much to explore and to do, many of the old machinery used was still up and running to give you an idea of how things worked around there which was so educational and fun to watch. Eventually, our tour was cut short as it was time to get to the platform as our train around the lake and through snowdonia was due! Tickets stamped, we picked up speed and started on our journey which would take us around an hour to do the round trip, the sights from the train were absolutely breathtaking..almost like being in a fairytale!

Train journey finished off to the old quarry hospital which was an unbelievable hike up a steep hill and what felt like a million and one horribly placed steps! Inside the hospital everything was still placed out like they were being used in everyday practice, old prosthetic legs were hung up on the wall with a timeline underneath explaining how they'd developed over the years! Other rooms were set up with old instruments and beds, bed pans underneath the beds and old blankets still lay neatly placed on top. On one of the walls was a notice saying the outside to the left we could visit the old mortuary that was still set up like it was in use hundreds of years ago.. as creepy as it seemed to everyone else we were super intrigued and headed straight outside to see what this had in store for us!! It was an old dark brick building with a wooden door and no windows, inside were two slate built slabs where the bodies would of laid ready for their post mortems.

After visiting all the places this little village had to offer we decided it was time for a ride to Betws-y-coed for chips by the river and a visit into their little dainty pet store to see if we could get Lottie a new coat! (She already has 12 but another one won't hurt) by this time it was quite late in the day and we were all getting super tired so we decided after our eventful and fun packed day we would start making our way home, little did we know this would not being going to plan like we expected.. our original route was delayed for up to 2 and a half hours so we decided to take country roads back which lead us into some of the smallest roads with the most breathtaking views ever known!

8:35pm we finally arrived home, sad to see the day come to an end but so glad to know bedtime was near! By 9:30pm me and Lottie headed up to bed with brilliant memories of the day. ❤️

Llyn Padarn Lake

The views from the steam train were absolutely breathtaking!