Author Topic: Walking  (Read 821321 times)

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Offline Hugo

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Re: Walking
« Reply #450 on: August 14, 2011, 09:34:05 am »
Llanddwyn Island walk

Offline Hugo

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Re: Walking
« Reply #451 on: September 02, 2011, 08:16:05 pm »
Today we met at the car park by Pont Cyfyng to walk up Moel Siabod from its south side as two of the group had not done the walk before. It was going to be one of those days we thought when Peter got his boots out of the car and found that the boots were both for the left foot but Geraint came to the rescue with a pair of walking shoes that fitted his feet.
After yesterday's brilliant sunshine we were disappointed to see very low cloud over the peak and just hoped that it would burn off by the time we got there.  We seemed to reach the building that's been under repair for years very quickly and then crossed the style to go on the old track where the gradient eased slightly.  At the old miners cottages we stopped for refreshments before carrying on to the start of the climb.
Here we split into two groups Harry and I going straight up the face of the quarry while Geraint led the others up on the arm of the quarry.  The cloud cover was worse now as we picked our way up the loose scree and finding the path wasn't easy but we seemed to make it quickly to the summit where we sheltered from the bitterly cold winds up there. Visibility was less than 50 yards now and getting worse. As we were waiting for our friends to catch up we sat in the windbreak and chatted to two guys who said that they were trying to get fitter and lose weight and we witnessed the stocky one eating a packet of Jaffa cakes before getting his cigarettes out!    :)
When our friends caught up and had their break we headed back down and followed the river back to the car park.  The annoying thing when we got down was that it was nice and sunny and there were no clouds on the summit. :(


Offline Hugo

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Re: Walking
« Reply #452 on: September 02, 2011, 08:17:47 pm »
Moel Siabod walk

Offline Hugo

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Re: Walking
« Reply #453 on: September 21, 2011, 11:40:33 am »
I enjoyed a short walk with the Retirement group yesterday. We walked along the Promenade in Llanfairfechan passing the lake on the way and we walked along the sea defences until we reached the bird observation huts.
On our way we saw numerous varieties of birds including White Egrets but once inside the hut we saw none,zilch, they must have known that we were arriving and flown away.
We didn't stay there long and made our way back.
It was a pleasant walk though and the streams and river that we crossed along the way were in full flow following the recent heavy rains and once back on the Prom we stopped for our usual coffee etc before returning home.

Offline DaveR

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Re: Walking
« Reply #454 on: September 21, 2011, 12:39:08 pm »
That's always a nice walk, Hugo. I often make it into a circular walk by crossing over the railway line and A55 at the end of the reserve and walking back along the old main road to the traffic lights in the middle of Llanfairfechan, then back down to the beach cafe.

Offline Hugo

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Re: Walking
« Reply #455 on: September 22, 2011, 12:48:59 pm »
I've done our walk a few times Dave but never done the one that you go on.  I take it that you have to go over the road bridge at the far end of Llanfairfechan and then walk on the old road passing Bryn Y Neuadd on the way.
That's a fair old walk and I'm afraid that a few OAP's in our group just wouldn't be able to make it.

Offline Pendragon

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Re: Walking
« Reply #456 on: September 30, 2011, 09:45:27 am »
What a difference a week makes.  Llinos and I took a walk up Llanfair mountains last week and although the wind was calm near the foot of the mountain as we climbed higher it became very stong, my ears were so cold I was getting that headachy feeling, we put our hoods up but soon realised our efforts were pointless and so unable to hear a word each other was saying and getting blown all over the show we called it a day and walked back down to the car and decided to go to the Penmaenmawr museum instead.  There is an abundance of information on the Quarry and of course the Graiglwyd Axe Factories, Druid Circle etc and glass cases filled with various finds such as stone age knives and other artifacts but surprisingly scarcely nothing on Braich Y Dinas.  Nobody seems to know where the Urns found by Harold Hughes have been sent and he found over 20 if I remember rightly.   One of the Urns I have since been told was on display for donkey years in a glass case at the Grand Hotel but no sign of it now or where it went sadly.  :-[
An old school teacher of mine Mr Dennis Roberts is the local historian for Penmaenmawr and Llinos and I got very excited when the curator in the Pen Museum informed us that Mr Roberts and fellow historians had rescued old victorian papers relating to the Quarry from a cellar in the old Darbyshires cellar in 2004 all these papers were available to view in the Llandudno Archives.  So next stop the Archives, unfortunately these papers were of no interest to us as they contained information on wages and accounts from that era. 
It's such a shame that such an important structure which covered a vast area over Penmaenmawr and Llanfair has not been documented in full or if it has it's incredibly hard to find.
Below are some old photos taken from an aeroplane in 1924 showing the zig zag path that lead up and through the huge fortress.  The last picture is of Harold Hughes who excavated Braich y Dinas but due to the onset of the Quarry was very pushed for time it was loaned to me by Rob Pritchard who says he has a folder full but is unable to locate them at the moment as he's moving house.

Only hindsight has 20/20 vision
Angiegram - A romantic notion derived from the more mundane truth.

Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for." -Bob Marley

Offline Pendragon

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Re: Walking
« Reply #457 on: September 30, 2011, 10:37:30 am »
Monday of this week Llinos and I armed with "Google Earth" images plotted excactly where Braich y Dinas would have been, we also wanted to have a look at odd little stone walls dotted around the far side of Pen mountain.  It was an excellent day but remembering the change in weather last time we took our waterproof coats (which we ended up carrying as it was sweltering up there).
Judging by our maps we realised that at some point we were going to have to trespass on Quarry land so we practiced our excuses as we walked up they ranged from "oh we do apologise we didn't read the signs" "yes we're here from Bangor Uni" but none sounded convincing so we settled on "I'm sorry has Tony Robinson not rang to inform you of our arrival" if nothing else we'd get our own way by making the Foreman laugh.  We needn't have bothered though we crossed over the Quarry without so much as a glimpse of any Foreman.
The views were breath taking as usual as you can see from the photos below. 
It's only when  plotting the area using old and recent maps and landmarks that you can appreciate just how much of the mountain has been quarried away and as we came over the brow it was blatantly obvious that my Dad was probably right and all traces of the Fort had vanished with the systematic onset of the Quarry, our hearts sank. 
However we weren't about to give up that easily after all there was still the stone anomalies we'd found on Google Earth. 
On the second pic you can see the yellow pin which points out a stone formation around the far side of the mountain we decided to have a walk round and take a look.
Only hindsight has 20/20 vision
Angiegram - A romantic notion derived from the more mundane truth.

Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for." -Bob Marley

Offline Pendragon

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Re: Walking
« Reply #458 on: September 30, 2011, 11:09:09 am »
According to old documents Prince Llewelyn and his few remaining men took refuge up in Braich y Dinas and even rebuilt some of the walls for protection during Llewelyns last stand (how interesting is that)  ;D Anyway back to the walls............It was very steep around the far side and I was glad Gezzy had bought me the walking sticks even if he was only taking the mik.  On the further most point we discovered what appeared to be a look out of some sort built between the bed rock, the wall itself is around 9' tall (that's not including the bottom wall) and 4' thick with a large pit behind it.  Thicker than any other quarry wall we had seen and located right on the side of the mountain, we sat on top of the wall and realised what an excellent vantage point its location was you could see for miles.  Bearing this in mind we decided that this must have been a look out point for Llewelyn and his merryfew remaining men.
I know what your thinking....... it was probably built to shelter quarry workers from the cold harsh winds as they sat eating their lard butties or maybe it was built for protection against rock fall? But as always I prefer my version of events and on Monday this week Llinos and I sat where Llewelyn did many years before and put up his last fight $walesflag$

Only hindsight has 20/20 vision
Angiegram - A romantic notion derived from the more mundane truth.

Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for." -Bob Marley

Offline Pendragon

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Re: Walking
« Reply #459 on: September 30, 2011, 11:15:58 am »
Just a few more odd photos from the Quarry walk.

The first photo was taken from Llewelyns wall.

The second is of the old quarry conveyor belt buildings.....it look like 2 really tall men having a chat on the top of the structure.
Only hindsight has 20/20 vision
Angiegram - A romantic notion derived from the more mundane truth.

Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for." -Bob Marley

Offline hollins

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Re: Walking
« Reply #460 on: September 30, 2011, 11:17:33 am »
Enjoyed reading your articles Pendragon and the views are incredible from up there. Great photos. Thanks!

Offline Pendragon

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Re: Walking
« Reply #461 on: September 30, 2011, 11:24:02 am »
Thanks Hollins.  I love the mountains between Llanfair and Conwy there's always something else to discover up there.  In the 50s a survey was carried out and students located 288 separate locations of interest by 2002 another 283 had been added.  There's some fascinating history up there.
Only hindsight has 20/20 vision
Angiegram - A romantic notion derived from the more mundane truth.

Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for." -Bob Marley

Offline Blodyn

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Re: Walking
« Reply #462 on: September 30, 2011, 06:08:10 pm »
That's really interesting, Pendragon, and the photos are great.  Would Braich y Dinas have been the pointy bit at the top of the mountain which can be seen in old pictures but which has now been lost to the quarry? 

Offline DaveR

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Re: Walking
« Reply #463 on: September 30, 2011, 08:26:42 pm »
The view from the top is fantastic!  $cool$

Offline Pendragon

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Re: Walking
« Reply #464 on: September 30, 2011, 10:11:05 pm »
That's really interesting, Pendragon, and the photos are great.  Would Braich y Dinas have been the pointy bit at the top of the mountain which can be seen in old pictures but which has now been lost to the quarry?
I'll be honest with you Blodyn that's what I think, in Alwyn S Evans book he says that the biggest enclosures were at the top and I always thought he meant the ones you see in photos.  The only thing is I've found a picture which shows quarrying very early on in that area and so now I'm wondering if they are just granite piles or not.  I'll get back to you.
Only hindsight has 20/20 vision
Angiegram - A romantic notion derived from the more mundane truth.

Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for." -Bob Marley