Slate Landscape

Today’s visit is to Wales’ newest UNESCO World Heritage Site - or at least part of it!
https://www.llechi.cymru

For years here in north Wales, the massive grey heaps of slate waste have seemed to be scars on the landscape, depressingly reflecting all too frequent rain clouds, but increasingly we’ve come to recognise these post-industrial landscapes as having a beauty of their own - and monuments to our heritage.  Not surprisingly, then, I’ve  been wanting to explore the Dinorwic Slate Quarry all year, and it doesn’t disappoint. 

Worked from 1788 - 1969 (I’m surprised the end is so recent), the glorious hills on Snowdon’s edge are now set out in vast terraces of slate-waste and areas of old workings. We start along some of the upper terraces, the mountains hazy in the morning light.  Huge slabs of rock rise up, columns left intact from countless explosions and the skilful hewing of the miners, providing climbing opportunities for some who happily ignore the ‘Danger: Keep Out’ signs. Elsewhere there are the remains of buildings - processing sheds, engine works, shelters. Below us are the rusting shells of rail carts the once transported stone up and down these inclines, their once straight rails twisted and abandoned. 

We walk further, through an intriguing triangular opening in a vast slate wall and find ourselves crunching over large cast-off slates rather than chippings, their harsh metallic sound echoing across the rock faces like the ghostly sounds of long-gone miners working.  Suddenly, the sounds transport me to another place entirely; The Memory Void of Libeskind’s Jewish Museum in Berlin, where in near darkness you walk over the  Shalekhet (Fallen Leaves) by Menashe Kadishman - 10,000 faces with open mouths, cut from heavy round iron plates. It was a sobering and emotional experience then, and it is now. Yes, this was the livelihood of thousands, but their efforts lined the pockets of the rich and built their grandiose mansions. 

Below us we can see the miners’ dwellings, on lower slopes, a gentler place. We make our way tentatively down a steep path which seems to once have been the route of a winch railway, and arrive at the twin rows of ruined terraces known as The Anglesey Barracks. Built for quarrymen who lived great distances away, these provided homes for groups of workers, many of whom came from Anglesey - hence the name. There’s more on this in the link below. 
https://historypoints.org/index.php?page=ruins-of-the-anglesey-barracks-dinorwig

Inevitably, it’s now the climb back up the mountain, and although we take a different route it’s just as steep. By now, my energy levels are non existent, so it’s a struggle; three steps and pause. It’s good the area is so beautiful, so rest stops provide a chance to capture butterflies or flowers or berries. Even on the slate terraces, nature’s been reclaiming territory. 

And so when we eventually make it home, I’m pretty shattered - hence my very late blip. In fact it’s technically now a back-blip! So please accept apologies for lock of comments; tomorrow will be a quiet day for catching up! 

My main is a view over the slate works and the lake, looking towards the mountains. In extras there are other views - yes, it was hard to choose again, a collage of Anglesey Barracks, and some butterflies and plants.