Bryneglwys Slate Quarry and Gorseddau and Prince of Wales Slate Quarri

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Bryneglwys Slate Quarry

   High above the village of Abergynolwyn, in a side valley where the sheep outnumber everyone, the spoil heaps of Bryneglwys tell you that this quiet corner of southern Snowdonia was once an industrial place. Slate was cut here through the second half of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth, and the whole reason the little Talyllyn Railway exists is to carry it down the valley to the coast at Tywyn. The quarry finally closed just after the Second World War, and the railway, which should have died with it, was taken over by volunteers in 1951 and became the first preserved railway in the world. You can still walk up from the old incline at Nant Gwernol into the quarry workings, past roofless barracks and wheel pits, with streams running through all of it.

   Read the complete Bryneglwys Slate Quarry write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Bryneglwys Slate Quarry is where the day begins. Next is Harlech Castle.

2. 2. Harlech Castle

   When Edward I built his castles in Wales, he was not interested in subtlety. Harlech, raised between 1283 and 1289 by the master mason James of St George, sits on a rocky crag above the dunes of Cardigan Bay, with concentric walls, massive gatehouse and round towers that still look ready for a siege. It is one of the castles of Edward I in Gwynedd listed by UNESCO, together with Caernarfon, Conwy and Beaumaris. The sea once came almost to the foot of the rock, and a staircase down the cliff allowed the garrison to be supplied by boat; the coast has since moved, and now there is a broad plain of dunes and a golf course between the castle and the water.

   Read the complete Harlech Castle write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Harlech Castle comes up about 63 km into the recorded legs. Next is Gorseddau and Prince of Wales Slate Quarri.

3. 3. Gorseddau and Prince of Wales Slate Quarri

   High above Porthmadog, in the empty upland between Cwm Pennant and Cwmystradllyn, two abandoned slate quarries sit like ruined castles on the hillside. Gorseddau and the Prince of Wales quarry are part of the Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales, which UNESCO listed in 2021, and they tell a story of big hopes and quick failure. Gorseddau in particular was developed in the 1850s with money and ambition, a tramway and a grand multi-storey mill at Ynys-y-Pandy whose roofless stone shell still looks like an abbey. The slate turned out to be poor, and within a couple of decades the whole enterprise had wound down.

   Read the complete Gorseddau and Prince of Wales Slate Quarri write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 88 km into the recorded legs you reach Gorseddau and Prince of Wales Slate Quarri. Next is back through Harlech Castle.

4. 4. back through Harlech Castle

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Harlech Castle write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Harlech Castle, late in the day. Next is Bryneglwys Slate Quarry.

5. 5. Bryneglwys Slate Quarry

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Bryneglwys Slate Quarry write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Bryneglwys Slate Quarry. That is the ride.