Running in Dorothea Quarry

It's only half an hour away, but I rarely go to the Nantlle Valley. The last time I was there, I came through while hiking the Slate Trail. And that meant I didn't have much time to explore. We were doing the heaviest hiking day of the whole trip. We started at 7 am, and didn't stop until 7 pm. I think we covered 30 km and three mountain ridges. You can imagine that we had enough on our hands, and didn't make the day any longer by exploring. We just followed the route!

When an interesting event was announced in Penygroes (that will be the next blog post), I figured I should tag along a run in the general area of Dorothea quarry. I know it's beautiful! And I had barely seen any of it.

The event would start at 12:30, so there was time to do a run beforehand. My idea was to park up in Nantlle, go for a run, drive to the lake, have a little swim in order to freshen up a bit, have my lunch, and go to the event. But it didn't really work out that way.

I wasn't the fastest that morning, so I didn't have that much time for my run when I got there. But the area indeed is amazingly beautiful! I got really distracted by all the beautiful industrial remains there. I didn't really pull my weight running, to be honest. I made a big loop around one of the bigger flooded pits, and then extended the run by following a bit of the Slate Trail again. At least that was uphill! I would get a little bit of exercise doing that.

Entering the quarry territory 

Strange double bridge

Gloomy-looking selfie (I enjoyed myself! Honest!)

Scary cracking structure above the track

Engine house 

Flooded pit

Lonely ruin on spoil heaps

Hesitant sun over dormant landscape 

Quarrymen’s barracks, I suppose 

When I was done I drove to a little layby, which was near a gate that gave access to a gravel road to the lake. I really wanted to park close to wherever I would get into the water, given that it is January, and it is important to be able to get back to your warm dry clothes quite quickly. But that gate was really really closed! With barbed wire and everything. I also tied up the stream that comes out of the lake, but that looked really inaccessible for reasons of brambles. So I gave up on that. I just hoped nobody would have a finely developed sense of smell at the event. At least I had been so busy admiring the old quarrying relics that I wasn't anywhere near as sweaty as I would normally be after a long run. 

I also was running a bit late, so I just went straight to the event, and brought my bag in. I was sure there would be opportunities for munching on some sandwiches! And I was already contemplating a return. It is way too beautiful there not come back and do it all again!