Firstly, hello again! From a new account after my old one got lost/deleted in the redo. Was rather gutted about that.
Well, the area of Blaenau Ffestiniog is famous for its slate mines. The whole area is scarred by these great works in a manner that one must decide for oneself whether it is beautiful or horrific, and if the payoff of getting to see these bits of history is worth it. I’m on the fence about this one, but since it’s there I will happily explore and learn.
Cwt-y-bugail is not hard to find. We ascended from Blaenau though I suspect access could also be gained from the village on the other side. When it was functional, the quarry was accessed by the Rhiwbach Tramway which connected fed the Ffestiniog railway. In the interest of not just rewriting wiki, the mine was first trialled in 1840, and ‘continuous production’ began in 1863, running, with multiple starts and stops due to landslides and finances, until it’s final closure in 1961.
Again, geology wise I will let you explore the various veins that came out of Blaenau yourselves as I’m not a parrot.
I will also include here a brief explanation and explore in what I believe is Diphwys. We went off track on our route to Bugail and had a wee explore here too. There is a lot less data on this mine/quarry (perhaps someone might explain to me if there is a huge difference in these terms when it comes to Welsh sites as I always understood quarry to be up top and mine underground). The main period for this appears to have been from the 1820s until 1955 although it is possible that this was the part quarried as early as the 1760s but the original site has been lost due to subsequent operations.
If you are exploring, I suggest waterproof boots of some description and wellies for the mines (it was a bad moment to find out my muck boots were leaking), and the track and land all along the walk are quite wet and boggy. Oh, and there is a lot of contours. I don’t like up, or down, but, well, one must do these to get to cool places.
Firstly I will admit, a bit more blurry than I'd hoped snap of the Diffwys tunnel. I confess I was not on point as I was still trying to keep my wellies from becoming overly waterlogged. This went in for some 10s of meters where it split. One tunnel was partially blocked but both just led to large pits:
I attach this next as one of the most interesting features of physical history at Diffwys: A skeletal sheep:
From here on we are looking at Cwt-Y-Bugail:
Here is the opening to one of the main shafts looking down. I attach this as you will see the next but one shot from looking up
Plenty of tracks still down and visible:
As promised, the view from half way down where one of the tracks came out:
Part of what I believe to be an old portable steam engine
This part I wasn't sure about though may be part of the same. Tbh I was just strongly reminded of Robot Wars' Matilda.
Definitely part of an old engine:
Lifting aparatus
Various bits and pieces:
Unremarkable but I liked the sub aqua effect
A 'complete' (ok so it was all completely there atleast) cart:
This one I found quite interesting, an old Austin (I think) engine, with large amounts of ceramic parts
A whole and discarded cart top still full and never finished:
As you can see on the opposite side a small 'hut' that I would have loved to go see but there was no safe route that we could find
What I believe to be a lifting station. This was right on the top and from my calculations, directly over another railed tunnel:
This tunnel did not look stable enough for my tastes so we tactically retreated, though I believe it took loads out to the main structures at the front:
Final words: it was a beautiful day for it and an awesome landscape. We finished the day with a skinny dip in one of the llyns just around the corner before heading back down.
Well, the area of Blaenau Ffestiniog is famous for its slate mines. The whole area is scarred by these great works in a manner that one must decide for oneself whether it is beautiful or horrific, and if the payoff of getting to see these bits of history is worth it. I’m on the fence about this one, but since it’s there I will happily explore and learn.
Cwt-y-bugail is not hard to find. We ascended from Blaenau though I suspect access could also be gained from the village on the other side. When it was functional, the quarry was accessed by the Rhiwbach Tramway which connected fed the Ffestiniog railway. In the interest of not just rewriting wiki, the mine was first trialled in 1840, and ‘continuous production’ began in 1863, running, with multiple starts and stops due to landslides and finances, until it’s final closure in 1961.
Again, geology wise I will let you explore the various veins that came out of Blaenau yourselves as I’m not a parrot.
I will also include here a brief explanation and explore in what I believe is Diphwys. We went off track on our route to Bugail and had a wee explore here too. There is a lot less data on this mine/quarry (perhaps someone might explain to me if there is a huge difference in these terms when it comes to Welsh sites as I always understood quarry to be up top and mine underground). The main period for this appears to have been from the 1820s until 1955 although it is possible that this was the part quarried as early as the 1760s but the original site has been lost due to subsequent operations.
If you are exploring, I suggest waterproof boots of some description and wellies for the mines (it was a bad moment to find out my muck boots were leaking), and the track and land all along the walk are quite wet and boggy. Oh, and there is a lot of contours. I don’t like up, or down, but, well, one must do these to get to cool places.
Firstly I will admit, a bit more blurry than I'd hoped snap of the Diffwys tunnel. I confess I was not on point as I was still trying to keep my wellies from becoming overly waterlogged. This went in for some 10s of meters where it split. One tunnel was partially blocked but both just led to large pits:
I attach this next as one of the most interesting features of physical history at Diffwys: A skeletal sheep:
From here on we are looking at Cwt-Y-Bugail:
Here is the opening to one of the main shafts looking down. I attach this as you will see the next but one shot from looking up
Plenty of tracks still down and visible:
As promised, the view from half way down where one of the tracks came out:
Part of what I believe to be an old portable steam engine
This part I wasn't sure about though may be part of the same. Tbh I was just strongly reminded of Robot Wars' Matilda.
Definitely part of an old engine:
Lifting aparatus
Various bits and pieces:
Unremarkable but I liked the sub aqua effect
A 'complete' (ok so it was all completely there atleast) cart:
This one I found quite interesting, an old Austin (I think) engine, with large amounts of ceramic parts
A whole and discarded cart top still full and never finished:
As you can see on the opposite side a small 'hut' that I would have loved to go see but there was no safe route that we could find
What I believe to be a lifting station. This was right on the top and from my calculations, directly over another railed tunnel:
This tunnel did not look stable enough for my tastes so we tactically retreated, though I believe it took loads out to the main structures at the front:
Final words: it was a beautiful day for it and an awesome landscape. We finished the day with a skinny dip in one of the llyns just around the corner before heading back down.
