Aberystwyth and the Vale of Rheidol Railway

My trip to Aberystwyth involved three return journeys. The London to Birmingham leg on the always-awful Avanti West Coast. The tolerable but irritating chug along the mostly single-track Cambrian line on some ex-British Rail rolling stock. And then there was the social event on the penultimate day of the conference: a free trip on the Vale of Rheidol Railway from Aber to Devil's Bridge and back. (There was also the tube I got on on the way home when I'd just learned the Queen had died, but that doesn't count.)

Even though I got wet, the rain meant we were blessed with dramatic skies and several rainbows. I took my cameras (including some Portra 160 because I'm one of those film tossers now) and here are the results from the week.

Aberystwyth

A mezzanine walkway in a large atrium with floor-to-ceiling windows looking out to sea on a grey day. — Out from the Arts Centre to the sea.

Close focus on shingle on the beach at night.

Trees in dramatic silhouette in a cloudy sunset, blurred by water on the lens.

A rainbow on a dark, grey, cloudy sky rises from some trees (some with red berries on them) with some lampposts set among them. — The first of several rainbows we got.

View out of a single glazed window at sunset behind some clouds in the rain. A building and trees are visible, and so is the sea.

The Vale of Rheidol Railway

People seen from behind sit in an open railway carriage in golden light. The sun casts shadows across one man's red shirt.

View out over a valley bathed in golden light. There are trees and fields, and a tower on the summit of a hill.

Charms of owls and butterflies hang in the window of a shop, with an old railwayana sign stuck to a wall: "DO NOT USE THE TOILET WHILE THE TRAIN IS STANDING IN THE STATION"

A railway worker in a waistcoat and peaked cap closes a half-hight door to an open railway carriage. The station sign reads DEVIL'S BRIDGE (PONTARFYNACH.)

A carpet of trees in golden light on the other side of the valley. Some of them are bare trunks.