Woolly says – I awoke to torrential rain which didn’t bode well for the day, the last time we had been to Llanberis was during a downpour, was the area trying to tell me something!! With a slightly heavy heart I watched as Jo packed up our bits and pieces, donned her waterproofs and dragged a reluctant dog into the deluge. Just the run to get into the car resulted in one human and Alfie the Dog being sodden, as the heaters went on and we took the short journey to the slate mine I kept my paws firmly crossed that it might stop long enough for us to go round the site.
Our arrival seemed to upset the weather gods and instead of easing the rain got worse. Having taken the panting beast to do his ‘business’ as Jo calls it, we stood in line waiting for our time to enter.
There is nothing worse than being soaked to the skin and then having to wait fifteen minutes in the ever increasing rain while a jobsworth stood in the dry refusing to allow us and three others onto the site until the exact moment of our timed ticket, I hasten to add that there was no one in the place so he could have been kind and allowed us in earlier!
Woolly says – In an effort to lighten the mood I decided to tell everyone that was waiting all about the National Slate Museum, the workshops which served the needs of the quarry and its locomotives, were built in 1870 on land created from the continuous tipping of spoil from the adjacent Vivian Quarry, and as a replacement for the store sheds which were previously sited there. The quarry closed in 1969 and the site was opened on 25 May 1972 as the North Wales Quarrying Museum. It has the largest working waterwheel in mainland Britain, which I was looking forward to seeing. As Mr Jobsworth finally checked his watch once more and opened the gate, we raced into the first enclosed area where several minutes were taken in shaking off the excess water and cleaning Jo’s glasses so that she could see.
Once we had sorted ourselves out, we looked around the large room which had once served as the workers canteen, laid out as though ready for lunch there was little more of interest so braving the rain, we hurried into the next display area.
Hundreds of photographs lined the walls showing the quarry and its men working, socialising and living in the area when slate had provided incomes for every family in the area.
As we headed back outside it seemed if anything that even more water was coming from the sky and by the time, we had passed the non working water wheel and arrived in the timber rooms and smithies of the site Jo was drowned once again along with poor Alfie.
The areas told us how important timber had been to the miners and explained how the black smiths had forged pieces to keep the mine working, sadly none of the furnaces were lit to warm us up.
Having lingered in the sites shop to allow the human to attempt to cover all of her parts we emerged and raced back to the car.
There is nothing worse than having to sit in soaking wet jeans and boots and having put the heaters up to full in the hope that we might dry a bit we headed towards our next destination.
Woolly says – The beauty of the landscape never ceases to amaze me and as we motored along the county lanes it just seemed to get better and better. A toot in the distance heralded the local steam train and Jo being a bit of a steam nut promptly pulled into a layby, leapt out the vehicle and waited in the rain for the engine to pass in the distance. This seemed to cheer her up remarkably and as we set off once more the rain finally stopped and a weak trace of sunshine appeared.
I was really looking forward to our next place of interest although having emailed the place it might not be altogether suitable for our short four-legged friend, this we would have to see. Sygun Copper Mine is a Victorian copper mine which closed in 1903 but was renovated and reopened by the Amies family as a tourist attraction in 1986.
Mining in the area started in Roman times, with small-scale tunnels into the mineral veins, well if the Romans had been here it must be good! During the Industrial Revolution the tunnels were dug deeper into the hills largely due to rising demand for copper. In 1836 the annual production of ore was valued at £2,800. By 1862 2,000 to 3,000 tons of ore had been extracted from the mine.
As Jo collected her hard hat and tucked me into her jacket we set off into the hillside. The tunnels were small but at least we had electricity to light our way which is more than the Romans or former miners would have had. Underfoot was wet with a small open drain following us wherever we went.
At designed points there were commentary stations telling us about what life would have been like and even better were the stalagmites and tites that had started to form since the mines closure in 1903, they were in fact better than anything we had seen in the National Showcaves!
Next came the steps up to the next level, this is the area that could be panting boy’s downfall as the open gridwork would be tricky for his paws not to mention the fact that they were nearly vertical so even humans found it hard going. This didn’t stop Alfie the Dog as we went up and up refusing to let his short stature stop his enjoyment, even I was impressed with his achievement as we reached the top of the 186 steps.
Suddenly daylight appeared in the distance and as we tunneled our way out to be greeted by the most incredible landscape I sighed in happiness.
As we made our way back down the mountainside Jo and I discussed what a great place it was (photographs can’t do it justice) and the fact that we now seemed to have an orange legged dog!
With a final look at the beautiful surroundings we climbed back into the car and set off for home, some dry clothes and the chance to plan our next mini adventure.