Hi, myself and few friends are planning a visit around wales to visit the mines that are scattered all over south, mid and north Wales. We are thinking of starting in the south and working up to the north to finish off with some gold mines.

Can any welsh members or members familiar with the Welsh mines, maybe message me directly or on this thread with mines that are particularly worth a visit? Preferably with a location so that i can plan a route from each mine around the country until we reach the northern gold mines?

I have a few maps and locations given by Kitt when we drove down to collect his caving and climbing gear he had for sale 🙂

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That's a tall order. Driving South to North Wales can be pretty slow so trying to fit three areas in over three days could seriously limit your exploration time.

Myself, I'd spend a day in Mid Wales and do Ystrad Einion and Bwlch Glas, then a bit move North and spend a day doing some gold mines, then come up to Blaenau and spend a day in slate.

However the answers are always going to dependant on the level of SRT of the group and the sorts of mines you're into exploring.

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Basic SRT with 2 of us having a wider knowledge. That is the impression i am getting, starting mid wales and moving north just in from the west coast, we are travelling down thursday night and returning home on the monday afternoon, evening.

Thanks to Kitt we do now have more than enough equipment to take on more difficult but at this stage of our experience, think that the more difficult mines should take the back seat until the summer when we have all undergone a more advanced SRT training course 🙂

Moel fferna is on the list in the north i can't remember the names of those in mid wales but Kitt has kindly marked a few on an OS map he gave us along with mine maps and sections. Would you says its possible to 2 mines a day 2 in mid wales 2 gold mines and 2 slate mines?

Bear in mind we have no fixed address for the weekend just a tent and roll and the car if need be :guns:

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Taking Moel Fferna as an example, it's a big mine that would take you most of the day. If you're energetic enough, you could then fit a smaller one in during the evening - Penarth being the obvious choice as it's nearby. But if the Welsh weather does its worst, and you take a soaking walking to and from Fferna, the evening trip might seem less attractive.

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moel fferna is 100% having a visit as i've heard its absolutely epic, to be honest by the time we get to the slate mines, it will be nearing the end of our trip and will probably finish us off!

thanks for the help though, i think i have a number of names and locations now, enough to plan a route and find places to camp or park over night to sleep and drink some beers 🙂

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Moel Fferna deserves a full day, agree with Willy do Penarth as well if you're not knackered, but spend a good time down MF or you won't see it all.

Would probably not recommend Bwlch Glas if you're not all SRT confident - the ladders are very easy (but need a safety line). However the proper SRT pitch will need you to take your own rope, be happy rigging it, and be happy ascending something like an 80' complete free hang.

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In terms of other ideas, check out the photos on here. Generally the more there is to see the more photos there are!

Here for example is a list of the 150 or so slate sites on the SH map sheet that have got photos - click "Show as Map (Google)" and it'll plot it as a map for you.

https://www.aditnow.co.uk/Database/?MineName=&SoundEx=False&Country=232&Zone=25&Type=0&Mineral=9&Initial=&Content=True&Order=AZ&Records=50&Page=1 

(you'd have to change the sheet to SJ if you want to see Moel Fferna, Penarth etc., on that list)

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Cwmystwyth and Frongoch are fairly close together in mid Wales, and then take the very scenic ride over Nantymoch to Talybont and do (mild SRT) Alltycrib. Bwlch Glas top level is extensive, the SRT down to the lower adit is a bit 'professional'.
On the way over there is Henfwlch just off the Nantymoch Road.
From Talybont, Ystrad Einion is just up the road towards Mach.

Nice little cluster of mines fairly close to each other. No locks but please get CAL permits for the ex forestry mines.

I look after these mines so please do not touch any tools or in situ ropes etc that you see underground.

There are wild camping places around there but not at Cwmystwth please, and beware the midges around Nantymoch and up Cwm Einion. There is a large grassy area up at Bwlch Glas and it seems fairly midge free.

As an afterthought, the idea of doing everything in a long weekend is, well, a bit far fetched. There is enough here to keep you going.

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That is absolutely brilliant, and i guess i worded it badly by saying do it all in one weekend! We are certainly not going to achieve everything in a month let alone a weekend from all the info available that i have found so far.

Do not worry about anything being touched, we are all sensible (when needed) and understand the importance of conservation. How would we go about getting CAL permits would this be possible before the weekend or would it be best to leave those until later in the year with not being a BCA member or having our own insurance?

Will midgies really be a problem at this time of year? the weather forecast is a little on the wet side according the met... damn the midgies :lol:

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Ah, I assumed you were planning for the summer!

I dont think the midges will pop up until May, depends on the weather.

http://rakelane.anduin.org.uk/cal/index.html 

There are no locks but its nice to play the game.

A bit of travelling advice as well.

South Wales to mid Wales is quite a drive, mid to north is about an hour, if that. Nice ride past Dolgellau and your gold mines.

The "no touch" refers to my own tools and ropes etc, I had some aggro at Frongoch a couple of years back. I was not well pleased.

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Just some thoughts.
You could spend a long weekend at Cmystwyth and not see it all!
Especially if you are looking to understand and appreciate the workings, not just run in Lefel Fawr to tick the box.
If you think Moel Ferna is big you ain't seen Cwmorthin, where again you can spend much time.
Remember you must get, and return, a key for Cwmorthin.
Don't get over excited at the prospect of gold mines. They are not very special inside (I.M.H.O.) Apart from one which is sealed! :smartass:

Lefel Fawr, with a most amazing piece of hard work I have done which you wont even notice, which was the intention all along.

Riddles
:lol:

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If you want to do Cwmorthin, the key is available for a deposit from Go-Below Underground Adventures at Conwy Falls, near Betws y Coed. Be warned, it's MASSIVE and you really need a guide for one or two trips to show you the way. There is a map of the workings on the Friends of Cwmorthin web site.

Would suggest you cough up and pay for a guided trip around Cwm, the Ultimate Extreme trip is brilliant - extreme traverses, zip lines across chambers where the bridges are long gone and the finale - throwing yourself off a ledge into the blackness with a 25m drop. Oh, forgot, you're wearing a harness attached to a line and the wind brake kicks in to slow you down after about 10m...:devil:

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I would spend the whole trip in one area like North wales and batter Cwmorthin, Maenofferen, Rhossyd and Wrysgan or Mid Wales and do Foel Grochan, Abercorris and Ystrad Einion.
But the wild camping is best around Cwmystwyth mine and Henfwlch mixed metal mine and we spent a great weekend there wild camping and visiting said mines.
Thursday to sunday gives you a good time frame.
EDIT..there is also some good camping to be had near Abercorris and Foel Grochan on Corris mach loop, it is where the RAF and USAF practice low fly, commonly known as the mach loop, we have camped there with no problems and very close to aberllfenni, just a 15 minute lungbusting hike but on a weekday you can see the lowflying jets...its all fun.

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If that's not enough you could throw in the C.R.T.T. to make it interesting. :lol:

Think they'd need to hone their SRT skills a bit before doing the CRTT... :devil:

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AFter Moel fferna if you want something a bit different from slate Hendre isn't to far away, interesting and fun mine.

I'd get a bit of SRT under your belt before doing Bwlchglas. Easy going down but the return trip is a long free-hang culminating in an awkward bulge over which a waterfall normally pours. With three jumars it is easily overcome with a bit of experience in their handling. First time I tried it (back in the deep mists of time) was with two 5mm Prusik loops and that's not an experience I shall ever be repeating!

Theres a deviation in now makes it easier to get over the lip. I havent been down for years simply because i dont like it. But when I did do, I hung an electron down over the lip.


On my own as usual
:o

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Thank you all for the assistance we had the best weekend ever even though the weather was evil :lol: Stopped in a tent in Corris on the Thursday night after driving down after work and went a hike around the hills the next morning finding some very large holes above the Corris mine entrance which was gated for public tours. We paid a visit to the corris mine explorers cabin but it was closed :(

From here we travelled down to talybont in the hope of getting signal to retrieve the coordinates for our next mine target, Bwlch Glas, we arrived just as darkness fell and managed to drive all the way to the quarry of Bwlch Glas, so we parked up and geared up ready for the lung busting hike up the hill in 0 visibility thanks to the rain and wind.

We found adit 1 on the lower level but didn't fancy the waist deep water so continued up to the second adit which was only knee deep for a few meters. Once inside here we fully explored the level before descending down the absolutely epic ladders, it was at this point that i wish we'd saw your warning about the SRT training as only 2 out the 4 of us were confident in being able to get back up so we stopped our journey here and returned back up the ladders to the exit.

From here we decided to travel at night to Dolgellau where we spent the night in the cars as the weather was no tent friendly still...

The next morning we woke up to see absolutely stunning scenes that we couldn't see driving at night, it turns out we were on the wrong side of the river so we set about finding the layby on the road above the gold mine.

Once there we hiked down the mountain to the mine and found an adit open under a wooden foot bridge, unfortunately we got wet for nothing as about 50m in and there is a heavy duty blocked walls met with the rancid eggy smell so we quickly made our exit and continued around to the building where the main adit is gated with bad air warnings...

We saw a local with his kids walking and he sent us on our way to an opening he used as a kid to get inside but we couldn't find this so gave up and returned to the cars via a ridiculously steep path up the hillside.

From here we needed internet again so headed north to the more populated Porthmadog where we restocked on food and beer at tesco before heading on our journey over to Moel FFerna. We found a route that the cars could handle and found ourselves 3km behind the quarry site where we parked up and stayed the night.

Next morning we set off on our journey to Moel and my god what a site that is. Blew all expectations away the spoil heaps were huge and after an hour of looking for the tree above the shaft we set up the ropes and hooked up a ladder we found in one of the buildings on the quarry. Easy to get down not so easy on the return trip!!!

Once inside oh my!!!! EPIC, HUGE, STUNNING! The artifacts left inside were excellent photo opportunities and after finding a few crawl spaces we had fun using our remaining ropes to drop down the levels rather than climb the spoils to each level. We spent a good 7 hours inside and really could of done with more but decided we needed to head home back to derbyshire as i had a uni assignment to complete, my mate had bad toothache and the other 2 had decided against taking another sick day from work haha!

Overall had the best time in Wales and didn't even touch it like you all said :angel: We shall be making an extended return visit when the weather is little more merciful.

Again i cannot thank you all for the advice and locations wouldn't of been able to find them without your advice :thumbsup:

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