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Wales ride tips - pottering around old mining structures related
Posted: Sat May 21, 2022 12:22 pm
by jameso
Hoping to get into N Wales again soon and looking for a few spots to link up to make a route. I find some of the abandoned mining sites interesting, eg the Cwmystwyth Lead Mines on the NC81 toward the Elan Valley and have been looking at other sites online.
Does anyone know if the Pen yr Orsedd Quarry just N of Nantlle is potterable? I'm happy bunking over a fence for a look around if it's not barb-wired off. There looks to be a good track going through it past the old wire/ropeway crane.
Stwln dam looks worth a ride up too along similar 'industrial stuff among Welsh mountains' lines in that general area.
Re: Wales ride tips - pottering around old mining structures related
Posted: Sat May 21, 2022 1:12 pm
by Bearbonesnorm
Does anyone know if the Pen yr Orsedd Quarry just N of Nantlle is potterable?
It is.
Re: Wales ride tips - pottering around old mining structures related
Posted: Sat May 21, 2022 1:55 pm
by RIP
Bearbonesnorm wrote: ↑Sat May 21, 2022 1:12 pm
Does anyone know if the Pen yr Orsedd Quarry just N of Nantlle is potterable?
It is.
Yep, extremely potterable. Was there last year James - shout if you need any more detail:
viewtopic.php?p=265657#p265657. Main entrance not the ideal way in, but as a Boner you'd know that anyway. You could easily spend a whole day nosing around there and Dorothea, Moel Tryfan, Y Fron etc.
Re: Wales ride tips - pottering around old mining structures related
Posted: Sat May 21, 2022 7:12 pm
by jameso
Great stuff, thanks.
If I'd have had a fiver on the two most likely to know based on subject and location it would have been safe : )
*skims though Reg's slate bonanza thread with interest, back to mapping site to adjust route off the EV2 next to A487...*
Will read that in detail later Reg, that's a cracker
Re: Wales ride tips - pottering around old mining structures related
Posted: Sat May 21, 2022 9:23 pm
by RIP
Jealous - you'll have a fascinating trip I'm sure
Re: Wales ride tips - pottering around old mining structures related
Posted: Tue May 24, 2022 8:29 pm
by RIP
Realised I rudely forgot to ask, James, what brought on this new found interest? Or is it something you've been keeping under your hat up to now?
And Pen-yr-Orsedd is an unusual one to focus on in particular.
The ropeway, or more accurately the 'Blondin' (with a ropeway the whole rope moves, sometimes for miles, with buckets suspended at regular intervals; the Blondin has a fixed suspension rope along which a bucket is pulled or fed out by a separate haulage rope), is the big draw. I'm fairly sure it's the only one left with its wire still strung across the quarry. The one at Vivian Quarry at Llanberis is part of the museum so I don't think it counts
.
Unsurprisingly I'm a bit of a fanatic about ropeways too. There used to be hundreds of them dotted around the country. Very few relics left now. Again, I believe the only operational one now is at Claughton brickworks near Lancaster. Nantmor/Cwmbuchan mine near Aberglaslyn isn't far from Pen-yr-Orsedd and had a mile long ropeway of which there are still a couple of impressive relics left.
As you were
.
Re: Wales ride tips - pottering around old mining structures related
Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2022 11:10 am
by jameso
RIP wrote: ↑Tue May 24, 2022 8:29 pm
Realised I rudely forgot to ask, James, what brought on this new found interest? Or is it something you've been keeping under your hat up to now?
And Pen-yr-Orsedd is an unusual one to focus on in particular.
The ropeway, or more accurately the 'Blondin' (with a ropeway the whole rope moves, sometimes for miles, with buckets suspended at regular intervals; the Blondin has a fixed suspension rope along which a bucket is pulled or fed out by a separate haulage rope), is the big draw. I'm fairly sure it's the only one left with its wire still strung across the quarry. The one at Vivian Quarry at Llanberis is part of the museum so I don't think it counts
.
Unsurprisingly I'm a bit of a fanatic about ropeways too. There used to be hundreds of them dotted around the country. Very few relics left now. Again, I believe the only operational one now is at Claughton brickworks near Lancaster. Nantmor/Cwmbuchan mine near Aberglaslyn isn't far from Pen-yr-Orsedd and had a mile long ropeway of which there are still a couple of impressive relics left.
As you were
.
Rudely late reply here : ) I think I'd need to be better informed about these places for it to count as an interest. It's like cathedrals or old churches, simply the aesthetic appeal and something that put points on the map along the way for side trips or route building. There's an engineering appreciation and the Welsh history. Plus the idea that one day I might learn to take decent photos and these places offer some great compositions if I could find them and get the light right. I looked up some sites online and Pen-yr-Orsedd was in an area that I've not looped round before.
Re: Wales ride tips - pottering around old mining structures related
Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2022 5:20 am
by jameso
Didn't make it that far north in the end.. been too long since last loaded-up trip or too little riding in recent months and the hills got to me. Great 3 day / 2 night ride from home though shorter than planned. Over Black Mtnswith a classic HAB on 1st day, then up to Lynn Brianne and the Abergwesyn road, last day home via the back road climb up Gospel Pass. Return trip before too long I hope. So good to have the Severn Bridge an easy 2 hrs ride from me.