Rhosydd slate quarry - wales - 2-6-13

[Danny Sutton]

Rhosydd slate quarry â€" Visited with Ant, Ian and myself, with a small apperance from Andy.

Rhosydd slate quarry is located high up on Bwlch Cwmorthin, a high pass separating the valleys of Cwm Croesor and Cwm Orthin. The quarry worked from around 1840 as a surface quarry and underground workings around 10 years latter, running for 80 years.

My day started at .7.30 with a knock on the door off andy, after doing our normal rounds of the shops, banks and massage parlours we were on our way, we had arranged to meet the others in the lakeside café at 9.30, we were going to be late, as usual.

We were just coming into blaenau ffestiniog when we spotted the giraffe statue, this started the giraffe debate, did they really help in the slate mines of north wales, some people like myself say yes, Andy disagreed though. Looking at the size and shape of the chambers in rhosydd, I would say the quarry could of never been worked without them.

We eventually got to the café where we found Ian getting some sausage, he was moaning and groaning, it was hard to say if he was enjoying it or not, but he really wasn't happy, they had given him beans! Ant was ordering his breakfast and Andy had already consumed half a pig on the drive over to wales, so there was only me to sort out. I ordered mine, we ate and headed out to the cars.

We drove up to the parking area, got our gear, and set off on the walk up to number 9, we were about 100m off the old waterwheel building when we herd a crunch! OH MY GOD, it was serious, Andy's leg had snapped in 11 places, there was bone sticking out of the side and it was as floppy as a elderly gentleman's love stick. We told him to rest a while and gave him some super glue to see if it could be fixed, Ant continued up the hill as he had some hidden treasures to find.

A short while after it was decided that Andy was to old to be caving, we made him a crutch from the neck of a dead giraffe and sent him back to the car, the rest of us continued up to the quarry.
We entered as you would expect through number 9 adit, we got to the end and turned left, there has been some serious collapses recently but Ian seemed to know where we were going, one collapse had opened up what I was told had been sealed for years, we entered it via a climb, in here we could see clear evidence that giraffes had been used for mining, they used to sit on their heads so they could reach the tops of the chambers, when the giraffes were nearing the end of their lives, they would use their legs and necks as props.

The problem we had in here was it had been sealed for a long time, there were various pockets of bad air and Ant was having problems breathing and died, so we made our way out of this area, we headed back the way we came to the bottom of an incline where ant was reincarnated as a horse, we went up to explore the west side of the workings, I had walked through here loads of times, but had never done any exploring, Having a good look around, we found various miners tools, including a cannon and various pogo sticks, Ian says they used the pogo sticks to bounce up to the roofs of the chambers where they couldn't get the giraffes in, and they would use the cannon to shoot the slate down.

We spent around 3 hours in here and had a good look around, we headed back out down the 6.3km long number 9 adit, the going was tough and hard work, but we had a horse, so we mounted up and rode him out, once out we were greeted by a family of travellers who purchased our horse for £9.

the walk back to the cars was problem free, right up until the point we got there, to find Andy was missing, as I knew where he had left his keys I wasn't to bothered, I got the keys, opened the car and got changed then headed home, if anyone goes to the area and finds a one leggied Andy, could you pick it up for us.
All in all not a bad day.

Pics.



**Please be aware, all of the above may of been posted with some creative license and may not be based on fact

[mike leahy]

cradking photo's dan. f.a.f. report you been on those drugs oyu gave to andy :lol:  :lol:

[Ian A]

Great report, almost accurate except we could not sell Ant for £9 ... they were not interested. Why spoil aan accurate report and make something like that up ?   :dry:

 :kiss:

Ian

[Anthony Britner]

I Think i'll keep away from Ian. I always seem to die in his presence!