mr_bones
Gormless Moderator
On the Sunday morning of the DP weekend, there was just 3 of us left. JonDoe_264, Reaperman and myself. I was feeling a little worse for wear and decided to say goodbye and make my way up to North Wales to join Jaff_Fox ready for an explore the next day.
When I arrived, Jaff was still hard at work and I wanted to get out and do something. Jaff's co-worker offered to show me some of the old slate workings and I jumped at the chance.
Welsh slate, especially from the north of wales was big business and only ceased work in the 1970's, when ironically it became cheaper to import.
It is rumoured that these workings that are scattered across the entire landscape of Snowdonia were dangerous places to work. One foot wrong and you can tumble down the hill. As we found out, Welsh slate isn't the sturdiest of materials.
Photos aren't great but give you some impression of what we saw.
A wrecked works building made out of the very material they were collecting
some sort of conveyor system for bringing material up or down the hills
Original winch system just left decaying
The dyed blue lake
This tunnel (which you can JUST make out railway tracks in) was supposedly blocked up but we squeezed down there
We then had to climb up all the loose slate to get into the 2nd tunnel for exit.
Climbing down the dteep banks of the blue lake we emerged at the enstrance to another tunnel and the view at the far end would have been spectacular on a good day.
And throughout the entire visit you could hear and feel the constant whirring of the 'electric mountain' hydro-electric power station.
P.S. many thanks to Jaff's Co-Worker for showing me this.
When I arrived, Jaff was still hard at work and I wanted to get out and do something. Jaff's co-worker offered to show me some of the old slate workings and I jumped at the chance.
Welsh slate, especially from the north of wales was big business and only ceased work in the 1970's, when ironically it became cheaper to import.
It is rumoured that these workings that are scattered across the entire landscape of Snowdonia were dangerous places to work. One foot wrong and you can tumble down the hill. As we found out, Welsh slate isn't the sturdiest of materials.
Photos aren't great but give you some impression of what we saw.
A wrecked works building made out of the very material they were collecting
some sort of conveyor system for bringing material up or down the hills
Original winch system just left decaying
The dyed blue lake
This tunnel (which you can JUST make out railway tracks in) was supposedly blocked up but we squeezed down there
We then had to climb up all the loose slate to get into the 2nd tunnel for exit.
Climbing down the dteep banks of the blue lake we emerged at the enstrance to another tunnel and the view at the far end would have been spectacular on a good day.
And throughout the entire visit you could hear and feel the constant whirring of the 'electric mountain' hydro-electric power station.
P.S. many thanks to Jaff's Co-Worker for showing me this.
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