Wednesday 30th May – Home

For many years we have being saying that we must visit the Welsh national coal mining museum of Big Pit but we never seemed to have time when we were in the area. This time we had planned it better and the stop at Pandy allowed us to visit the museum on the way home. Blaenafon is a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its industrial landscape, which includes Big Pit.

We arrived early and joined those waiting for the first underground tour at 10:00 conducted by an ex-miner. We were the only English people included in a tour with a French school party from Toulouse. They were very well behaved and really enjoyed the tour. The young teacher worked really hard translating instructions and information from our tour guide especially when you consider all of the technical terms that she had to first understand before she translated them. It was fun hearing both the English and the French and I realised how little French I remembered from my school days!

The tour took us in cages down the shaft to lower levels and we then walked along a series of tunnels to see coal faces and equipment and to hear about the lives of the miners. We were told about mining in the 19^th century when women hauled the tubs of coal and children (boys and girls) worked from the age of 4. The children often started as 'trappers', chained to a ventilation door in total darkness and charged with the duty of opening the door for miners when they passed. The chain allowed them to find their way back to the chairs in the dark but also prevented them from leaving. As the only English speaking man in the party, I volunteered to act as 'trapper' as we walked around the mine, ensuring that every door was properly closed after we had passed through and I was given a 'payment' of a tiny piece of Welsh steam coal by the guide at the end tour.

After the excellent underground, we spent another couple of hours exploring the above ground exhibits which included a very good audio-visual tour of a simulated mine. Other interesting buildings were the winding house (still in use for the cages) and the bath house that was only installed in 1939, before which the miners returned home filthy. The museum told us much more about the life of miners and their families. It was shocking to find out that the life expectancy of miners' wives were at one time lower that the miners themselves mainly due to the hard work and poverty that they had to endure.

Big Pit is gives an excellent insight into coal mining in the Welsh coalfields, the underground tour is excellent and the museum and exhibits fascinating. It is really worth a visit and, incredibly, it is free. Go and see it soon whilst there are still ex-miner tour guides who can tell you about their lives.

So it was back to Somerset and the end of this sojourn. It will be great to see our family and friends and we are looking forward to the village celebrations for the Diamond Jubilee that include a street party and an ox roast!

Photos: An overview of Big Pit; The powerful motors of the winding house.

Tuesday 29th May – Pandy

We were impressed to find that the site had two documented walks direct from the campsite. These were available on A4 sheet with a map on one side and the route description on the other side. Both were on sale for 50p each with the proceeds going to charity. We chose the shorter 4.5 mile walk because it looked more interesting and could easily be extended if we wanted.

We walked passed the imposing Tre-wyn house with its large dovecote and following the quiet road to the base of Hatterall Hill, climbing steadily until we left the road to a path through woodland. The path became steeper especially when we emerged into open fields and saw the first defences of the Hatterhall Iron Age Hill Fort. Reaching the top we were rewarded with lovely views over the surrounding hills of Skirrid, Bryn Awr, Crug Mawr, Sugar Loaf and Blorenge, the latter of which seemed to have another Iron Age hill fort on its summit. We spent some time wandering around admiring the banks and ditches of the hill fort and the views from it.

Taking another path off the hill we made our way along more quiet roads and fields towards the southern end of Pandy village. Before the railway line we came to Treveddw farm with its lovely traditional Welsh Long House and outbuildings. Here I bought a dozen eggs and chatted with the farmer. The map showed that there was a Norman Motte close to the farmhouse and I asked him if he knew anything about it. Apparently it was an early Norman motte dating to 1068 and was very small, the wooden palisade enclosing an area only about 21 feet in diameter. Despite this, the high mound must have required a huge amount of manpower to construct. It can't really be described as defensive, it was just a statement by the Normans – we are here and we are in charge! Apparently the early mottes were often small, replaced later by larger construction. When I looked at an OS map a little later, I found many motte and bailey castles within a short distance of Pandy. This was the border land between England and Wales and the Normans would have been very keen to establish their authority in the area.

After crossing the railway line we joined the old road that used to be the A465 before a new and wider road was built a few metres away. We passed a small chapel soon to be converted to holiday accommodation and the Zoar Baptist Chapel where at one time they carried out baptisms in the River Honddu that runs by it.

We soon arrived at the turning for the campsite where we popped in to check out The Old Pandy Inn. The name Pandy is an old Welsh name for a fulling mill that was used to clean and thicken cloth, especially woollen cloth. The Old Pandy Inn has an old fulling mill attached to it but this has now been converted to a 'bunkhouse' used by many walkers who are walking the Offa's Dyke Path, part of which we had walked today. The pub was pleasant and we decided to slake our thirst after the walk and book a table for the evening.

The afternoon was spent relaxing and watching the many trains, both passenger and freight, pass on the elevated railway in front of the campsite.

The evening meal was good although I had to choose three times before I found a dish that was available. There is a large choice of pubs in the area and we were impressed by the menu of the hotel close to the chapels that we passed, also within easy walking distance of the campsite.

Photos: Typical British fields viewed from Hatterall Hill; View along the Hatterall Hill hill fort towards another hill fort on Blorenge; The Norman motte.

Monday 28th May – Pandy

We were in two minds as to whether to stay another night but Jane was really suffering from midge bites so we decided to move on.

We enjoyed lovely views on the whole journey south on the A470 and, despite it being a major road, it wasn't at all busy. It did however get quite interesting as we approached Dolgellau. On the opposite carriageway we started passing police motorbike outriders and police cars. Then there were fire engines parked in lay-bys and even a large breakdown tuck on standby. We were passing the Olympic Torch Relay and it was organised like a military operation. Traffic was stopped from joining the road in amongst the Relay vehicles. We must have passed at least 6 coaches all marked ‘Olympic Torch Relay’ although none of them appear to have any passengers. Eventually the torch-carrying vehicle passed us although we didn’t see the torch itself. Jane attempted to take some photographs as we passed the cavalcade but I haven’t included them as pictures of hedges and asphalt are not very interesting!

We stopped in the pretty town of Llanidloes for lunch, finding a traditional butcher to buy a joint of Welsh lamb for use later at home.

We left the A470 to head for Hay on Wye, then taking a minor road south through the Black mountains. This would eventually take us past Llanthony Priory but before then we stopped at Capel-Y-Ffin. Here was a view point with a spectacular 180° view stretching for many, many miles. Lots of people had driven or walked to this point to admire the view and we stopped for some time to look at it.

The road up to this point had been narrow but it became more narrow and twisty – a single track road with passing places. We were very lucky to only meet two other vehicles on the 12 mile journey and managed to manoeuvre around them.

We arrived at the Caravan Club Site at Pandy and settled into our perfect pitch in amongst the manicured grass. I find the club sites a little too perfect and full of rules and regulations but they are well equipped and comfortable.

Photos: The Market House in Llanidloes; The remnants of a stone circle at Capel-Y-Ffin, with the view behind; Another view from Capel-Y-Ffin.

Sunday 27th May – Beddgelert Forest Campsite

Another beautiful day with blue skies and strong sunshine. We had decided to do one of walks from 'The Best Walks in North Wales' book. This starts from Beddgelert but we started from the campsite taking a path through the forest and then over fields until it arrived in the village close to the railway station. From here we walked through the town, over the footbridge before following the river Glaslyn. There were lots of rhododendrons alongside the path and over the hills on the edge of the village and I would normally say that they were beautiful but we heard on Radio Wales this morning that they are a real problem in Snowdonia. They are not a native species and they exude toxins from their roots that kill all of the native plants. The leaves are also toxic which means that it has no predators. The National Park authorities are waging a war on rhododendrons – the place for them is in gardens not in the wild. Having said that, they did look pretty!

Walking up the valley we passed the once struggling Sygun Copper Mine, now no longer in production but a thriving tourist attraction. As we approached the tip of the lake of Llyn Dinas we came across the low mound of Dynas Emrys. This is the legendary home of Vortigern, the Celtic King who invited the Saxons into Kent and the same Vortigern whose valley we had seen at the bottom of Yr Eifl on the Lleyn Peninsula. The legend revolves around the building of the king's castle and involves the draining of a secret lake, two sleeping dragons (one red and one white) and Merlin before he became Arthur's magician. All good legendary stuff!

As we reached the lake we turned up the hill, the start of a long steep pull up Mynydd Sygyn until we reached an abandoned copper mine. Whilst Jane recovered from the climb I went off to investigate the mine and discovered adits (horizontal shaft), a vertical shaft and the main mine working where, starting with an adit, the miners had followed a vertical seam a long way down into the mountain. Standing at the top I could hear the eerie echoes of drips falling into a pond way down below. It was very clear and the views were excellent. It took us a little time to realise that we could see Snowdon on the way up and it was only with binoculars that we could see the figures that were crawling like ants all over the summit. The views from the mine were the best and we could clearly see the ridges used by some of the Snowdon walking routes.

After a break for lunch we set off south down Cwm Bychan, the valley full of small copper mine workings and one large mine with a very business-like entrance that obviously had a small railway going into it. The remains of an aerial ropeway, used to transport the ore, lay all down the valley from here and looked for all the world like a ski lift.

At the bottom of the valley we reached and crossed the railway before following the course of the Glaslyn River. This took us through the Aberglaslyn Pass where the wide Glaslyn bubbles over the rock-strewn river bed. This is a really lovely part of the walk and many people stroll along here from Beddgelert to enjoy the beauty. When the gorge came to an end we walked through open countryside to Beddgelert.

It had been a very hot walk and we needed to rehydrate, so a visit to a hostelry was most welcome. We had also promised ourselves one of the home-made ice creams from the shop in the village and we just had time to eat them before catching a bus back to the campsite.

When we arrived back we were invited for drinks with Iraj and Angela. After showers to make ourselves more presentable (and less smelly!), we had another very pleasant evening despite the hoards of midges attracted by the heat, lack of breeze and the tasty flesh on offer!

Photos: The River Glaslyn on the way to Lake Dinas; Lake Dinas – Snowdon is the peak on the extreme left; The copper mine workings at the top of Mynydd Sygyn.

Saturday 26th May – Beddgelert Forest Campsite

Another relaxing day mostly sitting around amongst the bluebells reading. I had bought a book called 'Place of Stones' some years ago second hand and decided to pack it for the trip because it is set in Wales. Written by Ruth Janette Ruck, it is the story of a girl who just after the Second World War moves from a town to run a mountain farm in Wales. I started reading it yesterday and I soon realised that it was set in Snowdonia and, checking on the OS map, I found that the farm was less than 3 miles from the campsite. It gives a fascinating insight into farming and life in rural, isolated Wales at that time. It really is a very good book but given that it was written in 1961 and my copy was published in 1975, I suspect that it is now out of print.

Being slightly more active than yesterday, we decided to visit Beddgelert. The campsite has its own station called Meillionen on the Welsh Highland Railway and at this time of year two scheduled trains pass in each direction. This allowed us one opportunity to visit Beddgelert for a couple of hours. We stood on the platform and put our hand out to stop the train as it is a request stop – rather fun to cause a big steam train to come to a halt just for us!

The train left Meillionen at 12:30 so we took a picnic and headed to the other end of the village, just over the footbridge, to a picnic area. Our Rough Guide book told us that this was the Rupert the Bear garden made to celebrate the fact that the author spent part of his life living in Beddgelert. There were no signs anywhere that mentioned Rupert the Bear but it was a very pleasant spot. We then wandered around the pleasant village until 15:00 when it was time to catch the train back. We had to inform the guard that we wanted to get of at Meillionen and he asked to to get into the guard carriage. Once we had set off he said that we could sit in the first class carriage for the short trip – very pleasant. Beddgelert to Meillionen is a very steep part of the line with an incline of 1 in 40 meaning that the steam engine has to work very hard. Black smoke billows out of the chimney and soot particles rained down on me as a crossed the open section between carriages.

When we returned we had a chat with our nearest neighbours. Last night Iraj and Angela and their other neighbours had spotted that the bird box mounted on a tree beside them had fallen apart and nine blue tit chicks had fallen out onto the forest floor. Campsite staff were called, the box repaired and the surviving chicks put back. We were concerned to find out whether the adults were still feeding the chicks and Iraj and Angela said that they had seen the adults going in and out frequently so hopefully the chicks will survive. We chatted for some time and we invited them over for a drink later and had a very pleasant, relaxed evening in excellent company.

Photos: A pretty row of terraced houses in Beddgelert; Our loco working hard up the steep incline out of Beddgelert; A celebrity sits in the First Class carriage.

Friday 25th May – Beddgelert Forest Campsite

It was positively hot last night and we had breakfast outside in the sunshine. It is amazing to think that three days ago we had the van heating on in the morning and we had done so for every day of the sojourn before that!

We had a really lazy day today sat outside reading with the most activity being a short walk around the site.

Photos: Our pitch was quite close to the Welsh Highland Railway!

Thursday 24th May – Beddgelert Forest Campsite

Earlier in the holiday we had dismissed the idea of going up Snowdon on the train due to the poor weather. We had reasoned that it was not worth paying £25 each to find the summit wrapped in cloud and with no views on the trip. However, the weather forecast for today was very good and we woke to blue skies so we decided to go for it. We knew that on good days the trains booked up very quickly so we set off for Llanberis, arriving just after 9. The board said that the next available train was 3 pm but when we went to book they offered us 12:30 and we took it. This gave us time for a quick visit to the National Slate Museum ten minutes walk away. I strongly recommend a visit here if you are in the area. Not only is it free, it is very interesting and the film, the giant waterwheel and slate-splitting demonstration should not be missed. The quarryman who gave the slate-splitting demonstration was a real entertainer and also gave me some good tips about splitting my slate - “split with the grain and make sure that the stone is wet”. He made it look so easy and the resulting slate tiles where incredibly smooth. I just wonder how mine will turn out! We didn't have time to see the quarry workers terraced houses or some of the outdoor exhibits – perhaps next time?

Back at the railway we boarded our train and discovered why they weren't advertising the 12:30 train as it was invaded by a party of Birmingham primary school children. They were in their final year and were actually very well behaved.

The views on the trip up were fantastic – across to Anglesey, down the Lleyn Peninsula and over many adjoining peaks and lakes. Everyone had taken coats expecting it to be cool at the summit but when we arrived at the top station there was not a breath of wind and it was hot. On the way we had seen many walkers on the various routes and they certainly looked warm with water bottles clutched in their hands. There was a very short walk up the hill to the summit and there we watched those that had walked all the way celebrating as they took the last steps. I was asked to take a group photograph of a family who had just walked up. One of the sons was part way through the John o' Groats to Land's End cycle, stopping off to walk up three peaks on the way! The family from Cornwall had joined him for this walk. The man's cousin had died of leukaemia and he was raising money for the cancer charity.

The journey up was accompanied by an interesting commentary but the trip down was commentary-free allowing us to chat with the other people in our compartment whilst still enjoying the magnificent scenery. A fantastic trip and well worth the money.

After a brief walk to a waterfall just above Llanberis, we drove on up the lovely Llanberis Pass and then down the next valley past the lakes of Llynant and Llyn Dinas through Beddgelert to the Forest Holidays Campsite one mile beyond. This is a lovely campsite on Forestry Commission land and we found a pitch backing on to the Welsh Highland Railway, surrounded by bluebells and lit by dappled sunlight shining through fresh green leaves of the forest canopy. Magical!

Photos: A steam train ascends Snowdon with the massive Dinorwig slate quarry in the background; A view from the roof of Wales; Jane and I looking as fresh as daisies after the strenuous ascent of Snowdon.............. by train!; the waterfall above Llanberis.

Wednesday 23rd May – Caernarfon

As we were leaving the campsite we were introduced to the latest arrival – one of the miniature horses gave birth at 5am. Our hosts then chased mother and foal around the field in order to catch the foal and establish its sex. It was a girl!

Travelling north we stopped off at the Indigo Jones Slate Works. This was fascinating but, although neat outside the entrance, the workshops and the land around them were a mess. We heard on the MP3 player commentary that every piece of waste slate was kept as it was sure to be the correct size for a future job. And this was the case as every available space was piled with pieces of slate of all shapes an sizes. Care had to be taken both in and out of the workshops to avoid tripping over stones. How they got away with Health & Safety inspections I don't know.

The slate works specialises in engraving slate for plaques, gravestones etc. as well as producing gifts in their well stocked shop. At the end of the tour there is an engraving workshop where there is a lot of information on how to engrave and it is possible to have a go yourself with a small piece of slate that you are given at the beginning of the visit. We both tried our hand but decided that we needed more practice. I bought a large piece of 'crazy paving slate' that looked good enough to split with the idea of trying to engrave a small sign. Another project or perhaps just another stone for my collection?

We drove on to Caernarfon, stopping at Tesco for more supplies before booking in again at the excellent Cwm Cadnant campsite. We had returned to Caernarfon today for a specific reason. Adele, the very helpful lady from CADW whom we met at Segontium Roman Fort last week, told us about a Roman cookery demonstration at the fort this afternoon and it sounded very interesting. We arrived just after 4 pm and preparations for the half past four start were well under way. We met Adele and some other people from CADW and also a National Trust archaeologist (the site is jointly owned) and had interesting chats with all of them. The demonstration itself was put on by a commercial organisation (www.bubblingstove.co.uk) that consisted of a husband and wife team. The husband provided the muscle power whilst the wife, dressed in a thin white Roman dress despite the fact that it was decidedly cold, did al of the cooking. She actually does demonstrations of cooking over many ages from the Iron Age to more modern times with Medieval cooking being her favourite. She cooked and we ate Must Bread Rolls (with wheat and Spelt flour); burgers (mutton, stale bread, wine and fish paste); vegi burgers (figs, feta cheese, stale bread, wine, almonds, honey); Pickled cheese (feta, red wine vinegar, honey, thyme, almonds and figs) and fried cheese (feta, bread, honey). Unfortunately, there were few genuine visitors there but this meant that we had a very personalised instruction and lots of samples! It was a really good afternoon and I came away inspired to do some Roman cooking of my own and to check out the Bubbling Stove website.

Photos: Erasing an incorrect inscription by planing the slate plaque; A slate plaque ready for painting or gilding with gold leaf; Our Roman tutor; Pickled cheese.