North Wales-what to see and do

 "We've been there, we've done that," was the cry from my son. Soooo! A challenge....

 First up was Zipworld Velocity!  Oh, yeah! Oh, no! Fully booked.
We were on safer grounds with the Blaenau Ffestiniog- Porthmadog railway ,which wasn't so crowded we couldn't do the return trip. We'd been on this
line before, but my son couldn't remember the trip, so we took him again. He may now be fifteen years old, but he still has the love of trains he had in pre-school.
As luck would have it, another steam train was at Blaenau station-  the Great Marquess , which was having a short stop before taking her passengers on to their destination.

So, that was Joel well chuffed (hah! Sorry, awful pun and, actually, quite unintentional. No, really, it was.). The only thing left was to provide him with food, which he devours in large quantities. We ate at a local cafe, just across from the station. His panini was gone before I'd even picked up my veggie burger. He rounded it off with a double vanilla ice cream. Quite a good day for him, really.
 An expensive day out, are the trains. Castles can be a bit cheaper if you choose wisely. Or luckily, in our case. With the aid of Google and the Cadw website, we were able to find some new sites in the Flintshire/ Denbighshire area.

 

 The Holy Well of St Winnifred (the Lourdes of Wales, apparently) was an interesting diversion, not least because of the number of obvious pilgrims that were there, and the Catholic flavour of the presentation. I think we had change out of a fiver for this one.
 The abbey at the Greenfield Industrial Heritage centre was free to look around, but the heritage centre wasn't. It's well geared up for children, so is probably worth the money, and if you take a picnic, it could be a good cheap day out. There are a few animals around and play areas.

                                                                                                                                                                      

We had to take Joel to see Fflint Castle. It's not spectacular- in fact it's rather sad- but it's long been a joke in our family that it's the only castle we know in a housing estate, which isn't strictly true, as  it's bordered on one side by the Dee estuary.
Even less well known- at least to me- is Ewloe Castle , which is thought to have been built by Llewelyn ap Gruffydd c1287, possibly the last castle built by a welsh prince of Wales. This is free to visit, but requires a long but pleasant trek through woodland. It's worth taking the dog. It's on the edge of Wepre park, at Conahs Quay, so it's worth taking the kids too.