WTF? North Wales Tourism Is A Shambles...

It's almost as if North Wales does not want visitors!

Everyone loves a fine attraction. But gaining access can prove difficult, especially in North Wales…

Snowdon Mountain Railway

I retained my booking of 40 Dutch visitors despite this ‘shit show’ (it’s a link to a previous blog post detailing how difficult to book the train is and how rude the staff at Snowdon Mountain Railway are) of a performance by the inept management of Snowdon Mountain Railway and we arrived for our trip to Clogwyn station where I was to meet the visitors and guide them to the summit, with Graham and Kate leading too, and then walk them back down. I headed off with Mali (dogs are not allowed on the train) and Mali and I marched up Snowdon. I then got a call. There was a problem and our train was cancelled!

After some consideration, it was decided that the group have lunch and then Graham and Kate lead them on a walk along Llyn Padarn and up, through glorious forest to Dinorwic Quarry and back to the town. I was to catch up when I could so I began my run down Snowdon… On my way down I noticed the work of clearing the track and also noted that after one hour from notifying us that the train was cancelled the track was once again clear.

The railway staff made no effort to re-arrange the service or to bump each trip back an hour or indeed to apologise. It was a simple ‘cancelled’ and that was it. 40 Dutch tourists who had been planning for the rail journey since November 2022 were left hanging…

Newborough Beach Car Park

I researched the car park, looking at signs and charges and the Natural Resources Wales website in advance of this visit and I noted that there were no restrictions for coaches and so I was surprised to be greeted by an unfriendly and unhelpful car park attendant, upon the arrival of the Dutch visitors coach, stating that coaches were not allowed. It said so on the website and you have to apply two weeks in advance for permission was all I could get out of her. This permission grants a parking space in an adjacent parking area, specifically for coaches, and despite there being space in the main car park and space in the coach car park nearby the attendant offered us no assistance and simply said we must leave.

We had walkers who were in their eighties and this led to us having to walk them an extra three miles or more in twenty degrees plus to complete the trip to the lighthouse and to a spot that the coach driver had been able to find along the road to the north east of the beach…

To cap this I returned to the car park at midday to collect my car and there was a sceptic tank emptying vehicle belching diesel and the smell of sewage from the time of my arrival through to me leaving, about ten minutes. At lunchtime.

Upon arrival home I once again did my research and hidden away in the small print I found a note on educational visits. It stated that these must be booked at least two weeks in advance. But we were NOT an educational visit. Simply a group of walkers…

Portmeirion

In order to compensate the visitors for not getting the train up Snowdon their tour guide decided that Portmeirion would be a good option. She began enquiring the day before and got through to someone on the morning of the day that they wanted to visit in the afternoon. She was told she needed to apply by email, but that there was space. She sent the email. Nothing. Then she followed up and finally got through to another operator who said they had the email but were too busy to respond. I tried calling but got only the answerphone until on the last try I spoke to a real person, who transferred me to… the answerphone!

Fortunately, at the very last try, the tour guide got through to someone with some sense who said simply come along and we’ll sort it when you arrive. This visit to Portmeirion was therefore one phone call away from never happening and both I and the Dutch tour guide spent a morning stressing out at the villages poor communication and seemingly disdain for our business.