North Wales thrived on the production of slate for
house rooves in the 19th and early 20th century. I wont go into the
history now, but suffice to say that the remains of those quarries
provide some spectacular scenes as well as haunting ruins of a life
style long gone.
October 2008. Jean and I
took a 5 mile walk around one such quarry near Pen y Groes, a few miles
south of Caernarfon.
First, there's a fairly gentle climb through green
pastures.
We were very lucky with the weather, you can see that
this tree has struggled with the wind over its short lifetime.
Here, the traditional fence made of
slabs of slate hammered into the ground hold back a load of; well,
slate.
Gradually, the views open out as Snowdonia emerges.
Looking to my left, its a different
story.
More of that splendid fence.
A mossy tree trunk.
The going was a bit wet under foot at
times.
and then it got extremely wet. Crossing
this swollen stream was to be a bit of a problem.
So, Walter Raleigh got his shoes and socks off to
re-arrange the stepping stones to be of more use to Jean.
Testing, testing.
Getting near the top now, we hope...
Some signs of human impact on the environment.
and signs of old dwellings near the quarry itself.
