Into the Depths of Dinorwic
It was an overcast morning, the mist covering the peaks of the nearby mountains - seen from across the Menai Strait, Anglesey. Clair had been 'pottering' all week at home in her pottery studio, Bryn Teg Ceramics.
She had been working on her Adornments and The Llanddwyn Guardians.
We both needed a day in the mountains and decided to visit a hidden gem located in Snowdonia National Park, the Dinorwic Quarry which sits above the town of Llanberis.
Dinorwic was once a powerhouse of slate mining and at its peak was the second-largest producer of slate in the world. At its peak in the late 19th century. Dinorwic employed more than 3,000 men and was the second-largest opencast slate producer in the country. It even had a hospital on site for the number of daily casualties. It was a tough job but a valuable source of income for the region.
Today the quarry is open as a popular attraction for hikers & climbers with its incredible panoramic views over Eryri.
We parked up nearby, the workings from a bygone age could be seen all around, a harsh rough landscape with moody skies, the clouds today slowly floating across revealing hidden ridges and peaks from the nearby Wyddfa. Everywhere, an abundance of grey-purple steely slate.
On the main trail, you walk past large empty buildings no longer with their roofs. The building walls in a poor state, rendered crudely to reveal the hidden slate stone beneath. In the cracks lush green ferns grow, nature claiming back its home.
Walking, you find yourself as if in an apocalyptic movie or from a fantasy entering the mines of Moria. Scattered chimneys, abandoned skilled fortifications, creatively made, ominous caves, and eerily silenced tunnels.
Following an uneven trail up to a large cave. I find myself in a fantasy land, with waterfalls flowing from steep, sharp aspects. There amidst the stone, a living lonesome rowan tree atop a green mossy bank. Rooting down, surviving, its branches as if like fingers reaching up to grab the small amounts of sunlight, creeping through - a wonder in the harshest of terrain.
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