Fluffy, henceforce to be refered to as 'the mountain hare' (or possibly 'Icarus') was back in Gogledd with the fluffess so plans made to meet up and visit a site we'd not been to before.
There is a lot more to see than the few photos here might suggest. We only looked a one small part of one of the quarries and there is too much to include in one post.
If you are offended by watermarks then this would be a good time to hit the 'back' button.
Would it be a mountain if they hadn't removed it's top to get the granite? It's certainly not a molehill.
A steep and barely discernible public footpath takes you up...and up...then over part of an active quarry road. Off the path for a short walk on the level and there's a tasty mix of old and new dereliction to be seen.
1901 crusher and other buildings with slightly more modern grading and conveying equipment rusting away nearby
Locomotive shed
Old wagon wheels with the chocolate removed
Walking back the way we'd come and back onto the ever upward footpath (I'm using that term somewhat loosely) and you climb past a heavily vandalised substation. Stop for a quick look but no photos taken Icarus is straining at his lead to get out of the trees and up towards the sunlight.....we'll head back up to the building later.
Continuing up along the public footpath and out of the wooded area the only thing that can be seen is hillside...have we come to the right place? Keep going up and eventually a winding & engine house building is passed (would be rude not to stop and look around!).
Here we depart the public path for a stroll along a former tramway road. The mountain hare has shot ahead and could occasionally be glimpsed in the distance higher up the hill. Our conversations with him at this point are via cell phone, a bit like teenagers in a house. Fluffess and I are taking our time and enjoying the spectacular views behind us. It's a welcome break from the climbing. We reach a loading area for the crushed granite and as we look around there Icarus shouts down to say he's going to try and reach the sun. Well, we guess that is what he is shouting, his words are carried away by the wind as he heads upwards.
By the time we finish looking around and continue up he is on his way back down to photograph the area we've been looking at.
Another transformer house (there is another right at the top next to the crusher building)
One of the views from the top
Lunch break part way down. With binos we can see the CASLs Rich Cooper posted a few days ago as well as other vestiges of wartime landscape changes. Setting off again we rejoin the footpath, which has a diversion to take it further away from the active quarry area.
View across to one of the other quarries
The area we visited
The diversion takes it up to another winding house. We are meant to be heading down but the mountain hare shoots off to check it out. We stay lower down watching dragon flies in a small pool formed by water draining off the hillside. Back he comes to announce it wasn't really worth the effort (so we don't bother).
We continue down using one of the quarry access roads
Then back across to the public footpath and up to the first substation to get photos.
I'll never understand that destructive mentality and seeing the pointless damage to the insulators was sickening.
After that it's back down to the cars and on to two more 'quick' locations. First a possible derelict farmhouse - it wasn't derelict and is now used by a local school as a bunkhouse for Outdoor Ed.. The other a trial adit that is essentially just a short straight run into a hillside. The entrance has been dammed by the farmer to get water to a trough. Knowing it's just a walk in/walk out with no significant features we decided it wasn't worth getting wet to look at it.
Back down to sea level and off for some grub and a good chinwag about mines and quarries................
There is a lot more to see than the few photos here might suggest. We only looked a one small part of one of the quarries and there is too much to include in one post.
If you are offended by watermarks then this would be a good time to hit the 'back' button.
Would it be a mountain if they hadn't removed it's top to get the granite? It's certainly not a molehill.
A steep and barely discernible public footpath takes you up...and up...then over part of an active quarry road. Off the path for a short walk on the level and there's a tasty mix of old and new dereliction to be seen.
1901 crusher and other buildings with slightly more modern grading and conveying equipment rusting away nearby
Locomotive shed
Old wagon wheels with the chocolate removed
Walking back the way we'd come and back onto the ever upward footpath (I'm using that term somewhat loosely) and you climb past a heavily vandalised substation. Stop for a quick look but no photos taken Icarus is straining at his lead to get out of the trees and up towards the sunlight.....we'll head back up to the building later.
Continuing up along the public footpath and out of the wooded area the only thing that can be seen is hillside...have we come to the right place? Keep going up and eventually a winding & engine house building is passed (would be rude not to stop and look around!).
Here we depart the public path for a stroll along a former tramway road. The mountain hare has shot ahead and could occasionally be glimpsed in the distance higher up the hill. Our conversations with him at this point are via cell phone, a bit like teenagers in a house. Fluffess and I are taking our time and enjoying the spectacular views behind us. It's a welcome break from the climbing. We reach a loading area for the crushed granite and as we look around there Icarus shouts down to say he's going to try and reach the sun. Well, we guess that is what he is shouting, his words are carried away by the wind as he heads upwards.
By the time we finish looking around and continue up he is on his way back down to photograph the area we've been looking at.
Another transformer house (there is another right at the top next to the crusher building)
One of the views from the top
Lunch break part way down. With binos we can see the CASLs Rich Cooper posted a few days ago as well as other vestiges of wartime landscape changes. Setting off again we rejoin the footpath, which has a diversion to take it further away from the active quarry area.
View across to one of the other quarries
The area we visited
The diversion takes it up to another winding house. We are meant to be heading down but the mountain hare shoots off to check it out. We stay lower down watching dragon flies in a small pool formed by water draining off the hillside. Back he comes to announce it wasn't really worth the effort (so we don't bother).
We continue down using one of the quarry access roads
Then back across to the public footpath and up to the first substation to get photos.
I'll never understand that destructive mentality and seeing the pointless damage to the insulators was sickening.
After that it's back down to the cars and on to two more 'quick' locations. First a possible derelict farmhouse - it wasn't derelict and is now used by a local school as a bunkhouse for Outdoor Ed.. The other a trial adit that is essentially just a short straight run into a hillside. The entrance has been dammed by the farmer to get water to a trough. Knowing it's just a walk in/walk out with no significant features we decided it wasn't worth getting wet to look at it.
Back down to sea level and off for some grub and a good chinwag about mines and quarries................
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