Penarth mine seems quite a nice one for the relatively inexperienced and isn't that well-known despite having been explored for over 70 years. There are a few pics in the album and a couple copied below. It's quite close to Moel Fferna and has the advantage of being walk-in rather than requiring SRT.

New Year's Eve Eve's trip to Penarth was with SimonRL and featured several diversions to the sales in Betws-y-Coed and Vanoord's usual confusion about finding somewhere to park, which culminated in us trying to walk through a farmyard,
giving up, going back down the hill, driving to park in the village of Llidiart y Parc (right on the A5 where there's a bit of verge the locals use) and then walking up the lane at the back of the village and then along the footpath.

The footpath is a wee bit muddy and slippy and eventually brings you to the slate tips - it's then a case of heading up a bit until you meet the mill, traversing around the plateau until you find the pit and then finding the entrance - it's the left hand hole as the right-hand one has a 20' drop on the far side of it.

Penarth is described as a nice 2 hour trip for a Sunday afternoon and I'd mostly agree with that, although a little longer is handy if you want to muck around with a camera. The mine was worked on three levels and has an incline up to the top level, although the incline seems to have been built just before the mine closed in 1932 as there are no workings above it!

The mine is very similar to Moel Fferna, in that it was worked in veins of slate that are very close to the horizontal - think more like a stone mine than on of the 'traditional' Ffestiniog slate mines, with some odd pillars and butresses holding up the roof, including the "Fang": Penarth was worked on two veins, which are connected by a pair of tunnels on the middle level. One is now collapsed and blocked where it crosses a fault but the other is intact. Quite surprisingly for a mine closed over 70 years ago, there is a lot of metal left in the workings, including several winches and enough rail track to navigate around the mine.

The passing of time has meant that a lot of feet have trampled through Penarth and thus the tips and passageways are well trodden-down. That hasn't stopped the place from being covered
in grey mud, which can make photography a bit more challenging - but there are some nice exceptions, such as this patch of bright rust which has been leaking for generations:

All-in-all a nice little mine and it seems quite suitable for the relatively inexperienced. Possibly not worth a long trip for the hardened mine explorer, but I'd agree that it makes for a nice Sunday afternoon trip.

Isn't that route a public footpath though? A bit dodgy if they have dangerous dogs on the loose! Probably illegal even! :guns:

Isn't that route a public footpath though? A bit dodgy if they have dangerous dogs on the loose! Probably illegal even! :guns: