Author Topic: Walking  (Read 821129 times)

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Offline Hugo

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Re: Walking
« Reply #780 on: July 21, 2012, 02:46:27 pm »
Thanks Yorkie and Pendragon for your comments. I know that I am lucky in many ways, such as living in this beautiful area and having the health to do these walks.  I'm retired so I also have the time to spent on doing what I like doing.
It's nice sharing my travels with people as some may never have done the walks and others who have done them may now be unable to do them for one reason or another. I know Micox would swap places with me if he could and that is why I do things when I can because one day I won't be able to do them also.
I have enjoyed reading about your walks too Pendragon and I am continually amazed by the things that you have found above Penmaenmawr and beyond. It's opened up other ideas for me and my walking friends  and one day we'll get round to doing some of them but there are only so many walks you can do.

Offline Jack

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Re: Walking
« Reply #781 on: July 21, 2012, 04:11:19 pm »
Great photos Hugo, blimey you were lucky with the cloud!  I don't think I've ever been on the summit and not been in low cloud obscuring the view.  My favourite route up Snowdon is via the Watkin Path and then back down the South Ridge as it is always a bit quieter than the other routes mind you haven't been up there for ages, must try and get out more!


Offline DaveR

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Re: Walking
« Reply #782 on: July 21, 2012, 08:42:18 pm »
Near the bottom of the path we stopped at a wonderful cafe called Pen Ceunant that is owned by my friend Steffan.
Think I'm visiting there on Tuesday.  $good$

Offline Hugo

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Re: Walking
« Reply #783 on: July 22, 2012, 12:44:11 pm »
I'm sure that you'll enjoy your visit there Dave.  We were chatting so much Steffan, Wayne and I,  that although I took a photo of Steffan with my friend I forgot to take photos of his lovely home and cafe so I've enclosed a photo of a brochure that he gave me. 
Don't forget to take your camera as there are lovely views from the cafe.

Offline DaveR

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Re: Walking
« Reply #784 on: July 24, 2012, 07:16:47 pm »
Went with my friend Louise for a walk around Dinorwig, Llanberis today.Parked in the car park by Llyn Padarn. We took  a slight detour to see the Snowdon Mountain Railway leaving the station, then walked around to where the entrance to the Power Station is, then took an old Miners Path up into Dinorwig Quarry. After a verrry steep climb, we found the old Barracks where Miners stayed during the week, then came out on the main access road through the Quarry. Time for a breather and a few photographs. Carried on along through the Quarry and, boy, is it massive - the second largest slate quarry in the world - we covered a mere fraction of the whole site. We followed the road down to where it joins the main road at the head of Llyn Peris and walked back into Llanberis. By this time, refreshments were sorely needed, so we headed up to Pen Ceunant. Louise knows Steffan well, so we were given a special dispensation to drive up to the cafe. I'd not met him before (although he thought he knew me)and he's certainly a real character, a pleasure to talk to. A very pleasant walk on a very pleasant day.  :)
« Last Edit: July 24, 2012, 08:47:44 pm by DaveR »

Offline snowcap

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Re: Walking
« Reply #785 on: July 24, 2012, 10:45:11 pm »
brill photo.s again Dave thanks.

Offline Hugo

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Re: Walking
« Reply #786 on: July 25, 2012, 06:12:00 pm »
Great photos Dave and thanks for taking one of Steffan's Cafe.   It's a good job you were able to park the car at the cafe because it's a fair hike up there especially after that walk that you had just done.
Those Anglesey Barracks had names carved by the doors and a lot did seem to come from the Anglesey area so that may be the reason why they were called that.
Dinorwic Quarry employed over 3000 men at its peak and many of these workers lived locally or caught the quarry train on the Padarn Railway to work each day.  However men from Anglesey, in particular, required to lodge or barrack at the quarry each week.  They left home early on a monday morning and returned on saturday afternoon.   Provisions for the week were carried on their journey.  One of their homes for the week was the Anglesey Barracks high up in the quarry.  Anglesey Barracks consists of two identical blocks of 11 units facing each other across an unmade street.  Each unit has a living room with a fireplace and a bedroom with space for four men.  Amenities were few - no electricity, soft mattresses, toilets or running water, just basic furniture and little else.  Windows were provided only onto the street.  This way of life survived until 1948 when an unannounced visit by the local Public Health Inspector saw the barracks condemned as unfit for human habitation.  After that the quarrymen from Anglesey travelled daily by bus.  The, now derelict and ruined, barracks may still be viewed today by following the marked paths in the Padarn Country Park at Llanberis.

Offline Blodyn

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Re: Walking
« Reply #787 on: July 25, 2012, 10:36:22 pm »
Hugo and DaveR, thanks for those very interesting photos and accounts of your walks on Snowdon and at Dinorwic. 

The Snowdon Ranger is one of my favourite paths up Snowdon.  It's not as spectacular as some of the others but it's usually quite quiet. 

Offline hollins

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Re: Walking
« Reply #788 on: July 28, 2012, 12:07:26 am »
We have some friends staying with us from Switzerland. They took themselves up Snowdon today and were lucky to get these views.

Offline Hugo

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Re: Walking
« Reply #789 on: July 28, 2012, 09:28:46 am »
Lovely photos Hollins and I hope your friends had a great day on the mountain.

Offline mull

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Re: Walking
« Reply #790 on: July 28, 2012, 09:53:53 am »
Remember when I worked in the Marshalling Yard at Warrington in the 1970s one of the track maintenance boys was from Anglesey.
 
In his younger days he had lived in these barracks during the week going home each weekend.

As the slate industry closed down he end up emigrating to Warrington and started work with BR.

Wish now I had recorded  some of his tales .

Offline Hugo

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Re: Walking
« Reply #791 on: July 28, 2012, 10:15:56 am »
The walk we did yesterday was taken from Chris Draper's walking book on the Conwy Valley. It was the walk entitled Bobl y topiau (people of the tops) and the lost village of Ardda. It caught my imagination as I had never previously heard of this abandoned medieval village. The walk itself started in Trefriw and went uphill through the forest and ended up at the Chapel in Tal Y Bont. It is a demanding walk with steep ascents and descents and has rocky and wet sections on it.
From the Fairy Falls Hotel in Trefriw we walked uphill and took the forestry road on the right. After a mile and a half we went up a very steep bank passing an impressive stone tower and continued our way upwards passing mine entrances on route. There were fallen trees everywhere and any trace of a path had been washed away with the recent rains. We resorted to scrambling on all fours at times as the ground was extremely unstable and slips were becoming frequent. Eventually we reached a house called Blaen Y Wern which is still without mains water,sewage,electricity and gas and the public footpath goes right through the garden of the house.  We enjoyed a very interesting conversation with the lady owner and she told us all about the history of the area. Coming out of her small holding we came to a surfaced road that ironically we could have driven to anyway and thus avoided the dangerous climb through the forest!
We turned right and walked past Cae Celyn with it's stunning views over the valley below. and then came to the chapel of Ardda. It was built in 1845 on land donated by Thomas Pierce whose body lies in the grave with the decorative iron railings.  Tyddyn Wilym is where the Bard Gwilym Cowlyd lived and also Dr Thomas Wiliems who compiled the first Latin - Welsh dictionary and tipped off Sir John Wynn about the gunpowder plot but sadly it has been casually razed to the ground.  We crossed over the Afon Ddu and the leat and walked along the track and under a pipeline and headed past a pretty abandoned cottage called Coed Sadwrn Cottage and then turned right before Coedty Dam.  After crossing the Afon Porthllwyd we descended quickly but stopped to look at the exquisite waterfalls and rockpools and then continued downhill until we reached the Chapel and the end of our walk.   If I was doing the walk again I would bypass the dangerous forest section and drive to the top and park up there.

Offline Hugo

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Re: Walking
« Reply #792 on: July 28, 2012, 10:19:27 am »
Ardda Walk

Offline Pendragon

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Re: Walking
« Reply #793 on: August 01, 2012, 11:49:24 am »
I'm definitely going to do that walk Hugo.  hHow interesting and excellent photos once again  $good$
Only hindsight has 20/20 vision
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Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for." -Bob Marley

Offline Hugo

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Re: Walking
« Reply #794 on: August 01, 2012, 01:05:04 pm »
Whatever you do Pendragon don't do the part through the forest.  I followed the directions to the letter and the steep path up from the main forest track is dangerous.  The friend I walked with is a Ranger from another forest and he was nervous when we were doing it and since then he has spoken to Forest Rangers for that area who have  described it as horrendous!
Apart from the mines which are well fenced off, there is a danger that there may be other shafts that are not exposed.
If I'd have known all that I would have bypassed that part and parked my car by Rhibo or one of the other farms and that would have given us to spend more time up the Cowlyd and Eigiau Valley where the ruins of old buildings litter the hillside.
Having said that we would never have met that lovely lady in Blaen Y Wern.