Why this ride
255 km from Talysarn to Talysarn, about 4 h 11 of riding. It goes by way of Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries, Harlech Castle, Bryneglwys Slate Quarry and back through Harlech Castle. Rivers set the line for much of the day.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Nantlle Valley Slate Quarry Landscape and Bryneglwys Slate Quarry
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 255 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 11
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Snowdonia Llanberis Pass
For about 41 km this is Snowdonia Llanberis Pass, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it — expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
Rider note
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 41 km
- Named road
- Snowdonia Llanberis Pass
- Pass
- Pen y Pass
Snowdonia Llanberis Pass
25 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it. Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 23 km
- Named road
- Snowdonia Llanberis Pass
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Nantlle Valley Slate Quarry Landscape
Look at the Nantlle valley from the road and you see a green bowl with a ragged grey edge, as if someone had bitten the mountain. It is a place where the quarrying went down instead of along. The pits here are enormous, cut deep below the level of the lakes, with sheer sides, and the biggest of them, the Dorothea, became a flooded hole of cold green water. On the skyline, tips of waste slate lean against each other like broken plates. This is part of the slate landscape of north-west Wales that UNESCO listed in 2021, and the quarries here are among the oldest in the area, producing roofing slate from the eighteenth century and earlier.
Read the complete Nantlle Valley Slate Quarry Landscape write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Nantlle Valley Slate Quarry Landscape is where the day begins. Next is Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries.
2. Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries
Blaenau Ffestiniog is a town built on, among and out of slate. Great grey tips of waste rock tumble down the mountainsides around it, old quarry inclines climb the slopes, and the houses, chapels and walls are all made of the same dark stone. For a century and more this was one of the slate capitals of the world, roofing houses from London to Melbourne, and since 2021 it has been part of the UNESCO-listed Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales. It is not pretty in the conventional sense, but it is magnificent, and on a day of sun breaking through rain clouds it can look like a lunar landscape lit by spotlights.
Read the complete Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries comes up about 41 km into the recorded legs. Next is Harlech Castle.
3. 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
about 64 km into the recorded legs you reach Harlech Castle. Next is Bryneglwys Slate Quarry.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is back through Harlech Castle.
5. 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 sits at 119 km, about halfway. Next is back through Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries.
6. back through Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries comes up about 215 km into the recorded legs. Next is Nantlle Valley Slate Quarry Landscape.
7. Nantlle Valley Slate Quarry Landscape
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Nantlle Valley Slate Quarry Landscape write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Nantlle Valley Slate Quarry Landscape closes the day.
Leg by leg
Nantlle Valley Slate Quarry Landscape to Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries
Nantlle Valley Slate Quarry Landscape → Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries to Harlech Castle
Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries → Harlech Castle is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Harlech Castle to Bryneglwys Slate Quarry
Harlech Castle → Bryneglwys Slate Quarry is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bryneglwys Slate Quarry to back through Harlech Castle
Bryneglwys Slate Quarry → back through Harlech Castle is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Harlech Castle to back through Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries
back through Harlech Castle → back through Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries to Nantlle Valley Slate Quarry Landscape
back through Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries → Nantlle Valley Slate Quarry Landscape is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.