Cwmorthin
SOLITUDE IN THE SLATE LANDSCAPES OF WALES
Read time 3 mins
Each summer, millions of people visit the mountains of North Wales, jostling for space on the routes up Snowdon. Yet, a short drive away lies Cwmorthin –a secluded valley of great beauty, on the Snowdonia Slate Trail near the village of Tanygrisiau, in North Wales.
To walk in Cwmorthin is to travel back to the dawn of the industrial revolution when the landscape of North Wales was transformed by the large–scale extraction of Slate to ‘roof the world’. All that remains now is the ‘industrial sublime’– abandoned quarry buildings and great avalanches of Slate tumbling into the tranquil lake.
Walking through this silent landscape, which once felt the constant quake of Slate mining explosions, it is easy to reflect on our troubled relationship with nature. But there is beauty here too – spoil heaps that glitter after summer showers, lone trees standing mournfully by ruined chapels, and the loose music that the slate makes under your feet as you walk.
Photography notes: Fuji GFX 50RPRACTICALITIES
A four mile, moderate, out-and-back walk.
Start at the car park at the bottom of the Tanygrisiau slate tips (Leave the A496 when signposted for Ffestiniog Power Station. Turn immediately left through large slate gateposts and follow the road around past the Lakeside Café. Follow the bend to the right and drive over the railway crossing. Go over the bridge and then leave at T-junction. The car park is on the left.
See the route on All Trails.
This walk forms part of the Snowdonia Slate Trail, a wonderful multi-day hike.
STAY
Grapes Hotel Blaenau Ffestiniog
Miners Cottage Blaenau Ffestiniog
Queens Hotel Blaenau Ffestiniog
Oakley Arms Blaenau Ffestiniog
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