Pont Llaeron, Bryneglwys Quarry, South Snowdonia
The
best starting points for a day out are:
Abergynolwyn – Small, free car park, pub, shop &
café
or
Ride the Talyllyn Railway from Tywyn
to its end at Nant Gwernol. The TR has leaflets describing the
way marked trails in the woods.
The
cache is located on one of the original routes used to take slates
from Bryneglwys quarry.
The tiles were loaded onto sledges that had a single set of wheels
at the back and pulled by horse over the ridge and down to boats on
the Dyfi near Pennal. The way to the bridge is now very
boggy. The bridge at
Pont Llaeron is a lovely spot to stop for a tea-break. There is usually a breeze here to
keep the midges away!
Just
downstream from the bridge are the remains of a sluice
gate. Water was sent
along a channel, cut into the rock, down to a reservoir of about 15
million gallons. If you
keep a lookout to your right on the way up, you can still see the
valve tower and dam.
The dam was deliberately breached after the quarry closed, as
people were worried that it would collapse and flood
Abergynolwyn. Please be careful near the water
channel, as some parts have steep and slippery
sides!
Once
you’ve found the cache you can follow the track, up zigzags
carved into the hillside, onto the Tarren ridge. When you gain the ridge, turn
right and walk up to the top of the small hill. There are great views of the Dyfi
estuary, Pynlimon and Cader Idris from
here. Looking south,
how many wind turbines can you spot?
If
you have time, follow the ridge to the summit of Tarren Hendre, with its cache
(GC10RC4). You can
then descend its NE ridge to a forestry road and turn left for home
or keep going carefully down to Bryneglwys Quarry. If you would like to find out more
about the quarry, visit the Talyllyn Railway Station in
Tywyn. Please do not explore the quarry
itself. Just before it
closed, large parts of the mine were deliberately blasted to bits
and are now very unstable!
If
you’re descending from Tarren
Hendre to find the cache, the best place to descend from the ridge
into the forest is where there is a small metal gate in the
fence. This
lies a little way (200m) beyond the
stile and yellow footpath arrow on the ridge fence.
Books
&
“Slates
From Abergynolwyn” by Alan Holmes
ISBN 0 901337 73 0 (The story of Bryneglwys quarry and the Talyllyn
Railway)
&
“A
Gazeteer of the Welsh Slate
Industry” by Alan John Richards ISBN 0-86381-196-5 (Brief
descriptions of every slate working in North Wales)