More Penmaenmawr quarries

For our third date, Neil and I went exploring the abandoned parts of the Penmaenmawr ‘granite’ quarries. We had only done the westernmost bits of it. And I was keen to see the east as well. That also looked like it would be a bit less overgrown with gorse and other prickly vegetation. So when we had decided to go to see talks in Penmaenmawr on a Saturday morning, I thought it'd be good have another look there afterwards. We would be at the perfect location to start something like that.

We ended up busy with the axes until well in the afternoon. And it was a very hot day. We almost packed it in! But we in the end decided to have a little look. And we set off. Without much difficulty we found the path that gives you access to where we wanted to go. Soon we reached the first abandoned mind building. And pretty much immediately, also modern parts of the quarry. But there was no work going on, and it didn't seem like the quarry minded very much that people would explore there. There was the occasional token "keep out" sign. And right behind the big modern piles of aggregate, old mine buildings loomed. 

A looming mine structure 

We wondered how we would get to these buildings. From below, they were basically an imposing wall we couldn't scale. So we tried an old incline. That was full of brambles, gorse and roses, so not very comfortable! But we made it up. And from there we saw the strangest incline I had ever seen. It seems to be made of concrete. Since when were inclines still a thing in the age of concrete? We went to have a closer look.

The strange incline from a distance 

Close-up

We hoped to be able to get to the next level as well, and it turned out we could easily climb up the edges of the incline. From above, the incline looked totally Victorian, made of the local stone. Strange! Maybe the concrete had been retrofitted for extra strength or something. But Victorian inclines are normally solid, and this one stood on legs.

Looking up the incline 

And looking down

We had a scamper to the top, and had another coffee break there. There was such a lovely breeze there that prevented us from getting overheated at all. That was lovely! And then we checked out some more drum houses and the likes. And we saw that there was another level above us, but it was getting late, and we figured we had to go back to our respective cats.

Two drum houses

We took a much more gradual incline down than we had clambered up, and from there we took a bit of a detour that also kept us out of the thorny plants. It was a comfortable walk.

Altogether we hadn't spent an awful lot of time there, but I am sure we have seen most of what is to see there. After all these years I have finally explored there! And now I also know what the ways are to getting there. If I want to come back I know how it's done. Success! 

Neolithic axes day

Neil might have been talking about stone axes since the first date. So when I got an update email from Heneb, the body that the Gwynedd Archaeological Trust was absorbed into, that mentioned a day dedicated to stone axes, I made sure to mention that to him. Unsurprisingly, he was enthusiastic, so we decided to go. It was a day to mark the end of the Landscape of Neolithic Axes project, in which I had done a day of volunteering. I was keen to see where it had got them too! 

We met up in Penmaenmawr. We wanted to see the talks, which were held in the local community hall. It was already quite busy when we got there! I wasn't surprised, but Neil was. We got ourselves a cup of coffee and a biscuit and then it started.

Jane starting the day

I really liked the talks. The first one, by Jane who had been leading the day of volunteering I had done, basically gave an overview of the project. They had found some interesting stuff!

The second talk was by a Sheffield PhD student called Alison who had basically been analising the finds of the project. One of the things she had done was measure up all the flakes created during axe making. She had also asked an experimental archaeologist to do some axe making, and she had measured his flakes as well. She had concluded the smaller flakes just don't get preserved. They might just travel down the slope and leave the site.

The third talk was by a lady who had officially retired from the National Scottish Museums, and who was a self-confessed axe nerd. She talked a lot about jadeitite axes, where they were from, how they were made, what they were for, where they had ended up, and things like that. These were veritable objects of beauty. And that seemed to have been important; none had any signs of wear and tear. 

I thought all of them were very interesting! And Jane said that there was an exhibition in the local museum, and that behind the museum the experimental archaeologist would do workshops. So we went! First to the workshops. And where that was taking place we found John, the archaeologist I have met many times in the context of such public events. Including the day of volunteering at an excavation. He said that in order to join the workshops you need to have signed up, but that it was quite possible that there would be no-shows. If that was the case, we could join! And there were no-shows. So in spite of us not having had lunch yet we seized that opportunity and sat down with James, the axe expert, of Ancient Craft. 

The idea was that John and a companion had gone to the site where it was clear Neolithic people had been sourcing the stones they would work into tools, and carried a whole lot of them down. With James's help we would try to each turn one of them into an axe. Gloves and goggles were provided.

He first demonstrated how it is done, and then set us to work. It was fun! And none of us are particularly good at it, but that didn’t matter. I was quite happy how I was working on the narrow end, but my stone had a thick end as well, and I really struggled to do anything constructive with that. James saw me struggle and volunteered to take the difficult end off. So he did.

Towards the end he went around everyone, and if they weren't happy with what they had produced he would improve on it. In the end everyone could go home with a satisfying axe! 

By then we were starving, and we found a place in the shade to have lunch. And then we had a look at the museum. The museum didn't really show us anything we hadn't seen in either the talks or the workshop, but it was good to see, anyway. There was also a room dedicated to an apparently very famous local train crash in 1950. I didn't know about that at all. 

This day had worked out a lot better than expected. The talks were fab, and we had accidentally managed to get into a knapping workshop. What’s not like?

No plastic treaty

There are a few countries whose economy relies a bit too much on plastic production, and therefore the whole world will have to live with more plastic pollution than necessary. This is the sort of thing that makes me despair sometimes. It is so obviously a universally good thing to tackle plastic pollution. Plastic is a pain. It has infested the whole world including our bodies, it disfigures our landscapes, it poisons people who feel the need to burn it, and it piles up in enormous quantities that are difficult to tackle with any of the ways we have of dealing with it. We need a plastics treaty. We don't have a plastic treaty. We don't even have a road towards further negotiations towards a plastics treaty. 

We would also be a lot closer to reducing greenhouse emissions if it wasn't for a few nations who benefit financially from just keeping burning with abandon. We will be closer to a global minimum of all sorts of tax if it wasn't for a few tax havens who don't like that, and some companies who don't either. There is so much power in money, so if money is made from something destructive, it's so hard to get rid of that destructive force.

I think we'll be going to hell in a handcart all the way until we are there. I'll see how close we get in my lifetime! I am very likely to see some really freaky climate events before I pop my clogs. And a lot, an awful lot of plastic pollution…

Cwmorthin: deeper than ever

Cwmorthin has close to 30 levels. Most are inaccessible. The top 10 or so levels can’t be accessed because of collapses, and the lowest ten or so are flooded. The Goldilocks bit is in between. But the mine is connected internally with Gloddfa Ganol, an active quarry, and they had been ramping up the draining. You can’t drain their quarry without also draining Cwmorthin. So there now was a level accessible that normally wasn't. I was keen to see it. And Miles was willing to show me.

I thought it wasn't going to be very cold, and not crawly at all, so I was just wearing outdoor trousers with some old waterproof trousers over the top. That also meant going to the loo would be a lot easier than in a caving suit and a furry suit. 

Miles drove us up to the Manager’s Office and there we kitted up. For him this pretty much just meant putting on wellies. I was putting on my full SRT gear as I don't really like carrying it around in a bag.

We went in. I hadn't been for a long time! Since January, to be precise. And I noticed that my harness was threatening to slide down. I figured that that is the disadvantage of not wearing a furry suit. Your circumference is suddenly a lot less. So at the bottom of the stairs I just put on my shoulder strap and that helped. 

We went down the incline and headed inbye, on one of the main through routes. At some point Miles remarked this would have to be re-routed at some point in the future, as a chamber below was slowly collapsing, and will threaten the integrity of that route. That is going to be a big thing!

Before we headed into the new level, Miles suggested we have a little tea break. We were not far from the Deep Sleep. That sounded snug to me! So we went there and had a cup of tea, and the cake I had brought. There was also a tourist trip around that came in to have a look. The place looked a bit different, as it normally has a flooded chamber next to it. That chamber obviously wasn't flooded now. 

At some point we started to descend where we previously wouldn't have been able to. New terrain! For me, at least. It didn't start spectacular. There was still a thin layer of clay on everything, but otherwise it didn't look spectacular. But we walked around and we soon came to a chamber with a staircase in. That was spectacular! Miles said we had previously seen that from above, when the top of the staircase had stuck out of the water, with Lydia, but I didn't mention the staircase in my blog post. But never mind, it was glorious now. There was also a continuation of that staircase even further down, but that was in really bad condition.

One of thee we first views in the new level

The amazing staircase

Remnants of the staircase further down. Notice the new water level

We moved on. It was nice to walk somewhere that was normally so inaccessible. I was hoping to see some original graffiti; there would have been no opportunity for passing tourists to accidentally rub it off, or purposefully add more scribblings to it. But I saw none, possibly because of the thin layer of clay on everything.

After a while we came to a level struggling to stay in existence. The walls and ceilings seemed to be caving in profusely. This was not a place to linger! We carefully squeezed underneath a beam that just about managed to stay in position, and then came into a chamber with a lot of rubble. A bit beyond that there would be a zipline. This had been intended to be negotiated from the other side, so we would have to go uphill. That is hard work! Miles went first. I tried to follow. I was facing backwards so I wasn't quite sure when I got there. At some point I was struggling a bit, but I heard Miles ask if he could help me. I said yes and he pulled me in. I was almost there, but I think these last inches might have been difficult without help.

The level is starting to show signs of weakness 

Miles on the zipline

We got off the zipline and continued. First up an unstable scree slope, and then to a rope up a slab. Now we were back at a level that had been accessible before. We started making our way back to civilisation. That did evolve a rather trying traverse that I didn't recognise. But a bit further on, we clambered out of a chamber in a way that I did remember. And when we popped out of that chamber into the level, Miles asked me if I knew where I was. And I knew roughly. I wouldn't have been able to tell you if we should go left or right though.

Miles starting his way up the slab

The trying traverse

We went left, and I recognised some more features. And not an awfully long time later we were back in the more conventional parts of the mind. And from there we just trundled back to the entrance. 

It has been a great day out! It was lovely to see new terrain. And it was nice to catch up with Miles. And we got some adventures as well; it had been a while since I had done a trip that involved ziplines and trying traverses and things like that. Success all around!

Back to the Manager’s’s office 

I said to Miles that I hoped we would manage to meet again before the year goes out. You can't take that for granted with Miles. The previous time I had seen him had been in January. And I also told him that if they keep pumping, and drain yet another level, I hope he would let me know, and we would be able to explore that as well. We'll see!

Finally: y Lliwedd

I've lived in North Wales for 11 years and I had never done the full Snowdon horseshoe. Or yr Wyddfa horseshoe, I should probably call it. That's not right! I really wanted to do it one day. But it's a bit of a hike on your own. But then I had someone to do that with, and it was summer so I had time. So it happened!

I suppose it is time my date should get a name. It is Neil. He came to pick me up from home, and together we went to Nant Peris to get the bus (the same bus as I had got with Vahid) to Pen y Pass. It was supposed to be a good day for it. Dry and mostly sunny, but not too hot. The day before it had been scorching.

We both rocked up in shorts and with a lot of water in our backpacks. I had about 6 litres with me! The disadvantage of doing a mountain ridge walk is that you don't come across any water along the way. But the start of the walk was actually quite cloudy.

When we started on the Pyg Track it was quite busy. But we got to the junction with the path to Crib Goch it became a lot quieter. We also rose out of the clouds. There was the occasional person that overtook us. And we came across a little group that we overtook.

When the clouds started to lift, still on Pyg Track

This group was worth mentioning. It was led by a mountain guide, and not just any of them; it was Rusty from Snowdonia Walking and Climbing. We had a little chat as he recognised me from the trip I had done with his company, although it had actually been led by one of his other guides. But there had been an incident on our trip with one of the participants, who had slipped, arrested his fall with his arms, and then had ended up with an arm that looked, but did not feel, like he had cramp. I brought that up. Rusty could tell me he had actually torn a tendon off his bone. He had needed surgery, and had been out of action for about a year. Oh dear! I had occasionally thought about this chap, and had wondered what actually happened to his arm, and whether it had hinder him after the trip. Unfortunately, I now knew that the answer to the second question was yes. 

By this time we were scrambling up towards the ridge. And on my request we had a cake break. Fine now my breakfast was a while ago. And the views were good. The ridge is always beautiful! And towards the south we could only see clouds, from above. Towards the north we could see the valley.

Clouds to the south, view to the north

When we got beyond Crib Goch we got a view on the ridge on the other side: Bwlch Ciliau, and y Lliwedd. The former was the site of a waterfall of clouds, but the latter was clear. We were still in blazing sunshine, and I was getting slightly uncomfortable. But we continued.

Impressive clouds cascading over Bwlch Ciliau

When there was a junction where you could either follow the ridge or skirt a bit below it, I suggested we skirt it, as I had done the ridge with Vahid. But that might not have been a good choice. The path became vague and seemed to vanish. Maybe we just lost it. But we were traversing a rather steep slope with quite a lot of scree. That's a bit uncomfortable! And I was getting hungry again. And when we found a nice piece of grass we had lunch. The views were even better now! 

After lunch we reached the ridge quite soon. And that was where it got busy again. And busier when we joined the Llanberis Path. And busier when the Miners’ track joined. And busier by the summit. We skipped the selfie queue and headed for the Watkin Path. And that descended into the cloud quite quickly. 

Busy on the summit 

It was lovely to get some cool! And the path starts steep and loose but that’s ok. We didn’t get much of the potential views but so be it. And at some point the pass becomes a lot less steep. It became a really gentle walk! And that way we came to the junction where the Watkin Path heads down the slope, while the path over y Lliwedd heads straight ahead. I was entering new terrain!

Y Lliwedd turns out to be not very scrambly, but it had pretty impressive cliffs. It was a nice path! We came over the two peaks still in the clouds. And we encountered something that looked like flying ants day gone horribly wrong. Carpets of dead and dying winged ants! I’d never seen anything like it. It was a bit sad.

On y Lliwedd

Ant massacre

Lower down we came out of the cloud, and sat down for second lunch. The view over Llyn Llydaw was amazing! And the sun wasn’t too hot. 

The clouds lifting

Llyn Llydaw 

We comfortably trundled down to the Miners’ Path, and then back to the car park. It had been a lovely hike! In good company. And I still had water at the end of it. All good! One ridge ticked off my to do list. I could imagine doing it again, but then coming down Watkin. I’ll have to look into how to sort that with buses. But for now this will stand as our biggest adventure yet! 

The lake from close up

IR panels: update

Well! I wish I could say, after four days of having a workforce in my house, that the work is done. Unfortunately, it is not.

The idea was to put panels, in full working order, in my upstairs bedroom, at the top of the stairs, in the living room, in the landing, in the little hallway, in the master bedroom and in the storage space downstairs. And move any lights that needed moving to make space for the panels. And move my infrared mirror in the bathroom down.

When the men showed up on the first day they said that it was more work than the people planning this had anticipated. They said probably four days. But these are over now.

So what has actually happened? I have the agreed panels in the two bedrooms, in the hallway, and at the top of the stairs. They are wired in, but they don't have thermostats yet, so they don't yet work.

Living room: partial success

In the living room, I have two out of the intended three panels. Because of the Victorian ceiling beams, I need the smallest panels they sell for that room. They only had two of these. That also means that the landing has zero, as it needs the same size. The storage space doesn't have any but I'm not sure why.

In order to put the panels in, the wiring had to be put away. That generally meant: cutting into the plasterboard of the ceilings. And the installer has sort of stuck the bits he cut out back in, but it obviously doesn't look very good yet. That will require some serious working with filler, and painting over that. Or hiding it in different ways. And some of the lights could just be moved in such a way that I don't have to do anything with it anymore, but in some places I need to put a whole new light in. 

The ceiling in the landing

Master bedroom: partial success

I had told the installer I had an online meeting at 3 pm, so then I wouldn't be available for input. He didn't wait for me to end that meeting, and just left when he had done what he intended to do. So we couldn't have a handover.

He also left several panels in the conservatory. I suppose that is mainly some panels that were intended to replace the small panels, but I refused these. I had been quite specific about wanting the panels between the ceiling beams. And there seems to be a big one there as well. I'm not sure what that is doing there! I think only the two bedrooms were supposed to have big panels.

The installer had been hoovering fanatically before he left. It is true that he removed the vast majority of the mess he had made. But he had made so much! I knew I would have to mop the lounge, the landing, the hallway, and the bathroom in order to prevent walking the remainder of the dust through the entire house. I probably should do the stairs as well.

Signs of valiant hoovering, but I’ll have to redo it

Altogether, I had expected more result in less time. The lady with whom I had agreed this said it would take two days, maybe three, so that is what I had blocked out in my diary. But four days have passed, and the installer will have to be back for a fifth day. And that will only be for what can be done soon. I assume that involves the thermostats.

The small panels seem not to be in stock until December. So in winter, there will have to be another round, to finish off the job properly. I suppose that won't be as messy. The wires are already in position! I suppose fitting the actual panels wouldn't be that much of a job. So I think most of the disruption is behind me now. But two days and everything is done it's quite different from at least six days, spread out over at least five months. Oh well. Not much I can do! I'm sure it'll all be worth it in the end…

Gladstone 9 recce as social run

I am not going to run the Gladstone 9 this year. I am otherwise engaged. But it is a beautiful route, so when I saw online that the organiser of the race, Ellie, was going to do a recce on a Monday evening, I decided to come if I could. And my infrared panel men, who were still busy, had left early enough for me to have time to change into my running kit, get into my car, and make it on time.

Group pic by the pub

I didn't think it was going to be fast, but that is ok. We gathered at a pub, which is not actually the start or finish of the race but has much better parking, and went from there. In the beginning I took the lead. I know the way! And at appropriate points I waited for the others. It was a bit of a muggy night with lots of insects, but lovely enough.

Just over a kilometre in, Ellie’s dog Gwil started bringing people little sticks he had found. I know he loves fetching! So I obliged. I didn't care too much that meant that every 10 seconds or so he comes back with the stick and wanted it thrown again. That is a lot of stopping and starting. But with this group not being so fast I had faith I would manage to keep up anyway. And so it went! And I periodically found him a new stick, if he had either lost the previous one, or I decided what he brought was too small to effectively throw.

When we got to the flank of Tal y Fan nobody ran. It’s steep! And at the summit, Ellie saw her blood sugar levels were low. That meant the end for throwing sticks for Gwil. His main job is being a blood sugar monitor, not a stick fetcher. He was a bit reluctant to accept this. But it happily coincided with the downhill bit; I am rubbish at that, so I wouldn't be able to keep up with the others while also stopping all the time to throw a stick on this stretch. 

The climb

At the summit 

And down again 

Ellie navigated us through the treacherous bit between Tal y Fan and the stone circle. There isn't really a path, but she knows which sheep tracks to take. I'm not sure if I could reproduce this! But if I do this race again, I will probably take an actual path that runs further west. It is a detour, but I am sure that for me it would be quicker.

When we got to the Stone Circle we were back on good paths. We went up my nemesis Foel Lus, and went down from there. By the path that goes to start and finish, Ellie explained to those who didn't know the route that we would skip this bit. I was happy with that! It is one of those very narrow paths through high bracken. Not my favourite. Now we just went down the slope, back to the pub we had came from. I paid extra attention! This had been where I had got injured in spring. I recognised the spot. This time, obviously, I managed to stay uninjured.

Selfie by Ellie at the stone circle 

On Foel Lus

Evening sky

Some people went for a drink in the pub, but I had ran out of bread at home and was a bit peckish. If I would go home straight away it wouldn't be too late to make myself a baked potato. So that is what I did.

It had been fun! It's a beautiful route, the people were nice, and I got to play with a dog. And got some exercise in. What’s not to like! And who knows; maybe I will do this race again in some year to come. I might even remember some of this recce then…