A second Barmouth visit, and we planned to cross the Afon Mawddach estuary by ferry, catch a steam train to Fairbourne village on the far side, then a mainline train for one stop and cross the estuary using the footway on the railway bridge.
We had trouble persuading the dogs onto the tiny ferry and even more trouble persuading them to alight onto the beach on the far side via a very narrow gang plank, where we asked the ferry man to direct us to the steam train station. “No steam trains today!” he said. “They don’t run on Fridays”, which meant a long walk along the coastline into Fairbourne, which at least was quite pleasant, with the sea on one side and the estuary on the other.
We arrived at the mainline station with an hour to spare before the Barmouth train, and so browsed Google maps on my phone (I am a late and previously cynical user of smart phones, but now I love mine!) and opted for the 31 minute walk to the estuary bridge and cross it to Barmouth. It was a challenging walk with the two dogs, along a winding and busy road, and we were glad when we reached the small railway before the estuary bridge, by which time Shepherdmans Wife had had quite enough, and so since the train that we had planned to catch at Fairbourne was due (the decision making and walk had taken longer than expected), we travelled the rest of the way in comfort.
The train pulled up in Barmouth but the doors did not open - clearly we had to alight from another carriage. The train pulled away again, and I had visions of us heading for Harlech, and having to wait several hours for a train back, and was relieved to realise that the train had merely pulled up briefly outside of the station, as it stopped again at the platform, allowing the doors to open.
