Looks like Reg's recent tour of the slate quarries here in north Wales was noticed by UNESCO as they've just been recognised as a World Heritage Site!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-57986167

So what next? I take it there's money involved? Will they fence them off and make it harder to access? Put up info signs etc?

lake district is a UNESCO site - not affected access as far as I know

I assume you will get some more signs

Excellent. Fencing etc is always the risk isn't it. "Preserving in aspic". Don't touch etc. I suppose they're better than that these days though. Certainly some of the artefacts could do with some TLC and a lick of anticorrosive paint. Laz is right too - lots of new "interpretation boards" will spring up all over the place .

Great news I think. I'd hope it meant some investment to maintain what has been left behind.

lots of new "interpretation boards" will spring up all over the place

well they do have to put them up in two languages

For those who are interested and with a couple of spare minutes: https://www.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/en/Counc ... 190809.pdf

One wonders, as I'm sure do a lot of others, what this is going to mean for access for climbers. While climbers all know it's not technically granted access, eyes have always been turned away when people have climbed at Dinorwic and Vivian. Hopefully, much like the Lakes post UNESCO status, there won't be much of a change.

The fell runner in me also wonders what it is going to mean to some of the more regular access routes from Bus Stop up to Elidir Fawr via The Incline (old railway) and Foxes Path. The two main routes up on the Paddy Buckley Round and a lot of other things.

Untitled by Greg.May, on Flickr

Still one of my favourite ways to go up through the quarry.

Yes quite a lot of unknowns at the moment. Going to be interesting balancing the needs/wants of various 'factions' - heritage artefacts, local economy/people, activities (Zip, AnturS, GoBelow etc), 'casual' climbers/bikers/walkers/etc. and so on. Also more intangible things like whether increased attention/'interference' will change the 'atmosphere' they're trying to maintain. Exciting but challenging!

I'd be quite surprised if anything much really changes with regard to users and access.

RIP wrote: ↑Wed Jul 28, 2021 9:52 pm For those who are interested and with a couple of spare minutes: https://www.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/en/Counc ... 190809.pdf

Thanks for that Reg, interesting to see the specifics.
Stealth camps may have to be even 'stealthier' on Dinorwig from now on!
Odd how Rhosydd is not included (page 22)? There's a lot of fine examples up there...
DJI_0238 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

GregMay wrote: ↑Wed Jul 28, 2021 10:53 pm
Untitled by Greg.May, on Flickr

Still one of my favourite ways to go up through the quarry.

Always think it might be 'interesting' trying to ride down (at speed) that cable conduit rather than the track. Real test of skill that'd be .

RIP wrote: ↑Thu Jul 29, 2021 10:04 am Always think it might be 'interesting' trying to ride down (at speed) that cable conduit rather than the track. Real test of skill that'd be .

Knew I'd seen this before!
From 1 minute 40secs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE_kW4zWMVg

Think you'd be shot now for riding like he does up there!

That's the very last bit of the line - aka the not steep bit :)

Staircase is the top of Foxes Path.

Liverpool was stripped of its UNESCO status the other day. I'm sure they'll be thrilled they've been supplanted by some Welsh slag heaps!

(Not to belittle the beauty and history of said slag heaps of course)

arkay wrote: ↑Thu Jul 29, 2021 9:08 pm Liverpool was stripped of its UNESCO status the other day. I'm sure they'll be thrilled they've been supplanted by some Welsh slag heaps!

(Not to belittle the beauty and history of said slag heaps of course)

<siren and rotating yellow warning light>
Pedantry alert!

slag heaps - waste byproduct of ore (eg. iron) smelting process.
slate heaps - waste byproduct of, er, slate quarrying process.

As you were .

RIP wrote: ↑Thu Jul 29, 2021 9:37 pm slag heaps - waste byproduct of ore (eg. iron) smelting process.

<more sirens, lights, etc etc>

<listens carefully in earpiece>

Apparently in some rare cases the slag itself is the product rather than the waste, eg. when smelting titanium dioxide from ilmenite.

Well there we go.

Also, and I'll get shouted at now but sod it it's nearly Cheery Friday, Welsh slag heaps are a well-known byproduct of everyone getting wasted at dodgy hen nights in the Principality (*). Commonly found on pavements outside nightclubs, Wetherspoons etc.

(*) I think the Principality of Wales only existed in the late Middle Ages? (**) Apparently you guys are a fully-fledged country in its own right these days .

(**) So why's your Building Society called 'The Principality' then? I've got a bit of dosh in there. Maybe I should repatriate it. I don't think they can be trusted if they don't even know what century it is.

summittoppler wrote: ↑Thu Jul 29, 2021 9:08 am Thanks for that Reg, interesting to see the specifics.

Mmm, they've even specifically mentioned my beloved Blondins. Well they'd better get a bloody move on before the last survivor (I'm not including the Vivian one) 'mysteriously falls over'.

Odd how Rhosydd is not included (page 22)? There's a lot of fine examples up there...

Yeah that's strange. Especially since Gorseddau is in, which is hardly totemic (apart from the wall I suppose. Oh alright and the mill).

RIP wrote: ↑Thu Jul 29, 2021 9:37 pm
[We're they well past their best before date.]

like those dodgy Clif Richard bars?

RIP wrote:Thu Jul 29, 2021 9:37 pm <siren and rotating yellow warning light>
Pedantry alert!
l
As you were .

Pedantry Pedantry alert!
the rotating yellow lights are in fact Beacons!
So again, as you were .

RIP wrote: ↑Thu Jul 29, 2021 9:37 pm

arkay wrote: ↑Thu Jul 29, 2021 9:08 pm Liverpool was stripped of its UNESCO status the other day. I'm sure they'll be thrilled they've been supplanted by some Welsh slag heaps!

(Not to belittle the beauty and history of said slag heaps of course)

<siren and rotating yellow warning light>
Pedantry alert!

slag heaps - waste byproduct of ore (eg. iron) smelting process.
slate heaps - waste byproduct of, er, slate quarrying process.

As you were .

I suspected that might get a reaction, as I have read your excellent trip reports from slate country. I was just being facetious and putting myself in the position of an aggrieved Scouser, not intending to, er, slag off the slate heaps

ledburner wrote: ↑Thu Jul 29, 2021 11:24 pm

RIP wrote: ↑Thu Jul 29, 2021 9:37 pm
[We're they well past their best before date.]

like those dodgy Clif Richard bars?

RIP wrote:Thu Jul 29, 2021 9:37 pm <siren and rotating yellow warning light>
Pedantry alert!
l
As you were .

Pedantry Pedantry alert!
the rotating yellow lights are in fact Beacons!
So again, as you were .

Pedantry Pedantry Pedantry alert

I believe the light, sorry beacon, itself doesn't rotate, only the reflector/obscurer around it.

Carry on

arkay wrote: ↑Fri Jul 30, 2021 9:06 am I suspected that might get a reaction, as I have read your excellent trip reports from slate country. I was just being facetious and putting myself in the position of an aggrieved Scouser, not intending to, er, slag off the slate heaps

I'm sitting here with a brew quite enjoying myself arguing the toss over the finer points of mineral processing and warning lights.

<shakes head disbelievingly>

Is it Friday or something?

*) I think the Principality of Wales only existed in the late Middle Ages? (**) Apparently you guys are a fully-fledged country in its own right these days

Although an independent nation, Wales never really had a King. Instead there were lots of Princes who each controlled their own areas. This division and in-fighting made it much easier for the English (who were really French), to invade / take over. On the few occasions that the Welsh did pull together, they were able to achieve victories against the odds, albeit aided by the terrain and 'gorilla' tactics.

RIP wrote: ↑Fri Jul 30, 2021 9:06 am I believe the light, sorry beacon, itself doesn't rotate, only the reflector/obscurer around it.

That way the electrical connections for the bulb don't have to rotate or have slip rings. Isn't it the same for lighthouses? Only the lens bit rotates and the bulb remains stationary?