dcf.cymru stimulus sheet · Geography · Year 8

Aberllyn: the trip, the map, the route planner

Everything on this sheet is a printout of what a digital map and a search engine would show you. Aberllyn, its castle, its council and every website below are invented for this lesson, but the problems they cause are real ones.

1 — The trip brief

Year 8 are visiting Castell Aberllyn on Thursday 19 March: 28 pupils and 3 adults. One pupil in the group, Cerys, uses a wheelchair.
The train arrives at Aberllyn station at 09:40. Allow 10 minutes to get everyone off the platform and counted, so the group leaves the station at 09:50.
The guided tour starts at 11:00 and the castle asks groups to be at the gate by 10:50.
The group needs one toilet stop on the way. Allow 5 minutes for it.
A big group with a wheelchair user, waiting at every crossing, walks at about 3 km/h. That is 20 minutes for every 1 km.

2 — The map

Each grid square is 1 km across. A four-figure grid reference gives the easting (the number along the bottom) first, then the northing (the number up the side), for the bottom-left corner of the square. “Along the corridor, then up the stairs.”

3 — What the route-planner app says

Search: Aberllyn station to Castell Aberllyn, walking. The app works out times for one adult walking at 5 km/h.

Route	App label	Distance	App time	Notes shown by the app
A	Fastest by road	2.1 km	25 min	Via Heol y Bont and Pont Fawr. Step-free. Busy main road; the pavement narrows to 1 m on Pont Fawr. No public toilets on this route.
B	Shortest	1.8 km	22 min	Via the riverside path and Pont Droed footbridge. Includes 24 steps. User report, 3 weeks ago: “footbridge closed”.
C	Via Parc y Dref	2.6 km	31 min	Along Stryd y Farchnad, then park paths. Step-free, one gentle slope. Passes the visitor centre 1.5 km from the station: café and accessible toilets. Crosses the river on Pont y Parc.

4 — What a search engine says

Search: Pont Droed footbridge Aberllyn closed

Road and path closures this month — Cyngor Sir Aberllyn
aberllyn.gov.wales/closures · Updated 2 March
“Pont Droed footbridge: closed to all users from 2 March to 27 March for repairs to the steps. Diversion: use Pont y Parc through Parc y Dref.”
Map app user report: “Footbridge closed”
Reported by user hikerdan · 3 weeks ago · no photo, no other details
Aberllyn Community Noticeboard (social media group)
Post · 14 months ago · 212 likes
“Great news everyone, Pont Droed is OPEN again after the floods!!”
Storm damages Aberllyn footbridge — Aberllyn Herald
aberllynherald.co.uk · published 2 years ago
“Council engineers have closed Pont Droed after Storm Gwen washed away part of the riverbank…”
Top 10 walks in Aberllyn — Weekend Wanderers travel blog
weekendwanderers.blog · published 2019
“Cross the charming Pont Droed footbridge for the quickest stroll to the castle — perfect for all the family!”

Search: Castell Aberllyn group visits

Group and school visits — Castell Aberllyn (official site)
castellaberllyn.cymru/groups · Updated January
“Guided tours daily at 11:00 and 14:00. Groups should be at the gate 10 minutes before their tour. Step-free access to the courtyard and ground-floor rooms; the towers can only be reached by stairs.”