Croesor Valley, North Wales.

A new sign post. If you follow this then you miss the wonderful view of the Croesor valley from the old tramway.

Croesor valley HDR. After a long climb up from the Cwmorthin valley we get a great view of the Croesor valley.

Looking between the rocks at the junction of the two inclines.

Close up of the junction. Slate would be transported in wagons to finally end up at Porthmadog for export around the world.

The old tramway at the top of the valley.

Walk around Rhiwbach quarry.

View across the valley in the early morning sun, very low in the sky at this time of the year.

A closer view of the distant slate dressing sheds.

Walking along the old tramway towards the top of the incline.

Looking down from the top of the incline. Usually slate was transported down inclines, this one is different, slate was brought up the incline. A gravity system was not possible here, at the bottom of the incline was a steam engine which provided the power. There would have been rails on sleepers from top to bottom for the slate wagons to run on.   The small pond to the left of the engine house provided the water for the engine's boiler.

Walk to Llyn Bowydd 5.

Without any prolonged rain this summer the lake is well down.

The remains of some tramway rail sleepers.

The Jetty. Water from the lake was used to drive the machinery in the slate dressing shed down in the valley. As far as I can make out, the flow of water was regulated from here.

A lot of rain will be required to bring the level back up.

Walk to Llyn Bowydd 2.

I have taken this stood on top of a "tip" which is a large pile of waste slate. As you can see, mother nature is slowly claiming the land back.

Looking down the incline on the left towards the dressing shed below. The incline would have had rails and metal trucks would have carried the slate up and down, powered by gravity in this case.

Continuing along the tramway towards the first cutting.

This cutting would have been dug out manually and probably with the assistance of some "black powder".

Walk to Llyn Bowydd.

Today is the start of my walk to Llyn Bowydd and the surrounding area. We will also be visiting the remains of the slate mining industry. Although it may not look it, we start off 500metres above sea level.  

What remains of the old TV repeater station.

Open cast slate quarry with an entrance to an underground mine.

On the right hand side is the "incline", mined slate would have been pulled up here to the surface.

This track once carried the tramway that was used to transport the slate to and from the dressing sheds.