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The weather on the night of Monday 18th to Tuesday 19th September in North-West Wales was frankly diabolical, with gale force winds and torrential rain. Still, we had booked for our short break holiday and there was no point in not making the effort to get out and about. The grand plan was a ride on the Ffestiniog Railway; starting from Tan-y-Bwlch, down to Porthmadog, then up to Blaenau Ffestiniog before returning to Tan-y-Bwlch where the car was parked. I opted for the new by-pass around Caernarfon and the A487 to Porthmadog. A few trees down but nothing drastic and a flood where Llyn Mair had overflowed was navigable with care. Before long it was announced that trains were running approximately 20 minutes late but I grabbed by old but sturdy umbrella and headed outside. In due course and more like half an hour late, the “Mountain Spirit” came into view: I managed two photographs of a kind but the auto-focus could not cope with the pulsating rain. It was only as it passed that I recognised that this train was double length. It must have been seventeen or eighteen coaches long. Another half an hour and the “Woodland Wonderer” appeared. Either conditions had improved slightly or I was better prepared because I managed to take three photographs of the approaching train. We retired to the coffee tent to await news of our down train. It was apparent that something was wrong and we were told eventually the there had been a landslide above Campbell’s Platform that had resulted in a wall falling onto the track. Again, after a fairly long wait, it was announced that they could not give an estimate of when the train service might resume and we were advised, even if we got to Porthmadog, there was no certainty there would be a return service. I looked at Val and we said simultaneously “Shall we go!”. So ended the railway part of our adventure on Tuesday 19th September 2023.