At the other end of the Ffestiniog Railway from Porthmadog stands Blaenau Ffestiniog. This little town is dominated by the relics of the slate industry and is now trying to make a living from tourism, even though it was pointedly excluded when the boundaries of the Snowdonia National Park were drawn.
The slate industry must have been enormously profitable at one time. The little railways that traverse the landscape of North Wales were built to service it, and the standard guage Conway Valley line that links the town with the coast almost at once dives into a two-mile tunnel.
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Ah, Blaenau Ffestiniog. Possibly the most distinctive and characterful town I have ever visited. Mind, it's not the place it was 40 years ago! For one thing, far fewer sheep in the streets (and gardens). And the reopening of the Festiniog Railway, and the tidying up of so much quarrying/mining leftovers, has removed the hazardous pleasures of exploring derelict industry.
But one of those places that should be on every 'places to see before you die' lists ....
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