No 7 VoR
We travel further down the coast this morning, again with the top down, to Aberystwyth and the terminus of the Vale of Rheidol railway. This has been transformed in recent years. Since my last visit (undocumented) a couple of years ago they have opened a museum which I wander around. There is a mixed collection of locomotives and other stock – at the time of my visit it includes the Dukedog from the Bluebell, a WHR Garratt plus other locos – but it is an interesting collection and well housed.
The floor is notable as it is made of small wooden blocks which are removable and it means that tracks can be laid to take rails which can then be any gauge allowing a huge and varied range of exhibits over the years – in a light and spacious environment. Externally there is a small segment from London Bridge which was moved here for preservation when the station was rebuilt. It is all a long way from the BR owned line I first visited in 1976.
Whilst the first part of the line remains unexciting further up the closed in nature was eased many years ago by some tree clearance and there are still some great views plus the hard work of the locomotive as it ascends the gradients and tight curves is very obvious as we wind up to Devil’s Bridge. Less has changed here – although far more exists than in 1976 – but then it is not long since my last visit.
On the return trip we have a discussion with other passengers who are relatively local residents as far as we can gather.
Our onward journey is to Lake Vyrnwy in mid-Wales and is uneventful until the sat nav decides to make use of a very narrow road with grass growing in the centre of the single track with not much in the way of passing places. We emerge to quite a major road and the hotel tells us that all the satnavs follow that route – whilst the road signs take a far better route as I will discover tomorrow.
Lake Vyrnwy
The hotel at Lake Vyrnwy has a high location overlooking the lake – which is in fact a reservoir – and faces west with the sun setting over the hills on the far side of the lake as we eat dinner. The main drawback is that it feels like a huge hike from our room to the reception and the dining room but even so I like it. It is very quiet and even though the hotel is busy the dining all seems to run smoothly.