# Nantlle Valley - October 2014



## Newage (Oct 26, 2014)

Hi All

Bit of a mixture of a site this one as it fits in to Tunnels, quarrys, industrial, Residential you name it the site has it. Fluffy was going on and on about this place, I think he said at one point
that "If you ain`t blown away by this place theres no hope for you" OK what ever time will tell.

The Nantlle valley is a line of open pit slate quarrys, all the pits are flooded and one of which is DEEP...
The quarry has been worked for 100`s of years, anyway blar blar lets have a quick bit of info on the deepest of the quarry pits, it`s call Dorothea.







We bumped in to a guys who was packing away his diving kit so I had to ask :=

Oi mate so how deep is it ?
In a Derbyshire accent comes the reply 183M
In a soft shandy drinking accent F*** me

just so you know this is a picture of the Tower 42 in london, it used to be the "Natwest tower"
if you were sat on the top you could dip your toes in the water yep it`s Fooooooooooooooookin deep.






So walking around the top area we came across all the old quarry buildings and the quarry owners house.
Wow baby - Mr Fluffy was not wrong, time to be blown away..






How about your own dog kennels built out of slate.











After a short walk we turned a corner and bingo - Tunnel goodness - get in there.
















The site is full of narrow gauge railway tunnels, cart tunnels, passageways you name it they are everywhere.






Oh and this baby, Mr Fluffy thinks it`s called a "Flying Arch"






This shot is of one of the inclines from a top quarry down to the cutting and dressing floor.






Oh almost forgot to say there is also a steam beam engine pumping house, complete with it`s cast Iron beam and boilers.











One last picture, they say don`t shoot in to the sun and my reply is f--- off why the hell not, in the middle is a slate gate way and small path leading to another house.






Well congratulations on making it this far down, there is so much to see here you could spend and day and the next and the next and you still would not see everything
So Mr Fluffy concider me Blown away.
All comments are most welcome and as you might of gussed there are more pictures on my FlickR site, so if you want more bosh over to :-
https://www.flickr.com/photos/newage2/sets/72157648899956636/ 

Cheers Newage


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## krela (Oct 26, 2014)

Wow, very nice, thank you!


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## mockingbird (Oct 26, 2014)

I really enjoyed that, the tunnel especially!!! good shots also


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## DirtyJigsaw (Oct 26, 2014)

This is nice. Nice to see something different, as as Mockingbird said, that tunnel is awesome


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## borntobemild (Oct 26, 2014)

Great pics. 

Had a mooch round there in the summer with mrs btbm while we were on holiday in Snowdonia. She's not usually too bothered by UE generally, but was well impressed with the place, As you say, you could spend a day (at least) there. Despite an OS map we got lost amongst the myriads of tramways and spoil heaps and failed to locate the engine house.

Dorothea quarry is a seriously dangerous place to dive. 25 fatalites in the last twenty years including one this year.


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## HughieD (Oct 26, 2014)

Wow...loving that place. Great report and pix.


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## The Wombat (Oct 26, 2014)

That's interesting, and love the tunnel shots too


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## fluffy5518 (Oct 27, 2014)

Wonderful write up, as always, Mr T !! This place is such a relaxed yet exciting explore and each time you return you find something new !! Watch your step though if you do visit cos wet leaves on top of wet slate waste means there's more potential for death and serious injury than there is in diving in the flooded pit !!!

Remember kids H&S rules - so stay safe out there !!!


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## forker67 (Oct 27, 2014)

It's a huuuuuuuuuge place , did you go up through the trees right to the mountain?, there are more old,old slate built buildings up there, long unused.


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## Newage (Oct 27, 2014)

We were running out of time and light, we did have a quick look at the upper quarry but it's in use now.

Newage


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## oldscrote (Oct 27, 2014)

Loving this matey,especially the beam engine,there's some pictures of inside the building here

https://geolocation.ws/v/W/File:Dorothea beam engine - geograph.org.uk - 665954.jpg/-/en


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## flyboys90 (Oct 27, 2014)

Stunning photos and thanks for sharing.


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## Sshhhh... (Oct 27, 2014)

Very nice


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## Mikeymutt (Oct 27, 2014)

I really like this and the more I see it the more it's growing on me..such a great variety here.


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## night crawler (Oct 28, 2014)

Awesome, what a place


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## godzilla73 (Nov 30, 2014)

Only just seen this. Lovely stuff lads....


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## decker (Nov 30, 2014)

Yeh.. like the tunnels a lot !


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## UrbanX (Dec 1, 2014)

Thats brilliant! Love the tunnels. 
Awesome set of photos, thanks for sharing!


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