Whilst lacking the mind boggling beauty of the Lake District, the mountains of Snowdonia are impressive nonetheless. Mountains, narrow-gauge trains, a few good beaches and a wealth of antiquities; all I ask of a holiday destination.
Adjoining the Padarn Country Park site, but accessed by a coach from the Electric Mountain Visitor Centre in Llanberis, is the Dinorwig Pumped Storage Scheme.
The opportunity to be driven into a mountain on a bus, through great caverns full of machinery like something out of a James Bond movie, is not one to be missed. Honestly.
A simple Celtic fortified tower just outside Llanberis. It is interesting to contrast this practical strong defensive structure with the, very different, flamboyant English Caernarfon Castle down the road, which was built mainly for show. It says a lot about the relationship between the Welsh and the English.
Situated in an area that has been mined since Roman times, Sygun Copper Mine near Beddgelert, which ceased to operate in 1903, is one of the few copper mines in Britain that is open to the public.
The underground tour is fascinating, not least because far from descending into the mine, you actually climb, and come out on the side of the valley some 45m above the starting point. From here there are fine views over the mine and the beautiful Gwynant Valley.
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