A trip to Aberystwyth

For past one year or slightly more , I used to take the 8:23 train from the Birmingham New St Station to Aberystwyth and used to get down at the third stop i.e. Telford Central ...... until today.
It is not so easy to sacrifice the Saturday morning sleep and even if my body was in mood to leave the bed so early , I got up at 5 AM and got ready to take the 6:23 AM train. We grabbed some coffee on the way and got seated in the train all set to explore some places unknown.

Realized that I am seeing a sunrise after eons :)

View from the train...

With a variety of dramatic landscapes to discover from stunning coastlines to snow shrouded mountain peaks, a journey of 3 hours across the Welsh countryside was an beautiful experience.

A view from the castle

 If the UK weather is kind of , which it was this time luckily, this place is simply perfect for having a family picnic or doing a short trek on the constitution hill with friends. Perfect place for a day trip.

After spending some time on the seashore , we walked towards the Pier and reached the Constitution Hill. We had two options a) To either climb up b) OR To take the clifftop railway ....Since we wanted to miss out nothing , we preferred to take the train to the top and walked down the hill.

View from the train

 

At 430 feet height, the view of  'Aber' from the top is spectacular!! There is a bowling alley and few restaurants but all I did was took hundreds of pictures of the breathtaking view....

 



After a bit of more sightseeing and finishing our lunch, we headed to the station to board the Vale of Rheidol train. Probably the star attraction for me as I had never actually travelled on a steam train!! :)

Cannot believe that it's still so well maintained!

 

 

A bit about 'Vale of Rheidol' Railway - The Vale of Rheidol Railway is a narrow-gauge heritage railway that runs between Aberystwyth and Devil's Bridge in the county of Ceredigion, Wales and covers a distance of approximately 20 Kms through the Rheidol Valley.

 

It was such a relaxing experience to see the countryside on a warm afternoon and travel through the woodland and picturesque mountains. Listening to the whistle sound while the train twisted and turned along the hillside had its own charm! After a journey of 40 minutes approx , we reached the Devil's Bride. The Welse name for the village is 'Pontarfynach' which means 'The Monk's Bridge'.

 

 

3 Bridges built one top of another

 

 

And if you are wondering why is it called the Devil's bridge , then you must read the Legends of the Devil's Bridge , very interesting and I love short stories :)

 

And with that , our short trip to the beautiful town came to an end! I always wanted to see this place for no reason and now that I have seen it , unfortunately I would never like to get down from the train at Telford Central anymore :)