Penrhyn Slate Quarry and Bethesda and Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Penrhyn Slate Quarry and Bethesda

   The Penrhyn Quarry is a hole you can see from a long way off. For much of the nineteenth century it was the biggest slate quarry in the world, a huge series of grey terraces cut into the mountain above Bethesda, and the roofs of half of Britain and of cities as far away as Hamburg after its great fire came from here. Its owner, Lord Penrhyn, was a rich and stubborn man, and in 1900 his quarrymen began a strike that lasted three years, one of the longest and bitterest labour disputes in British history. The community of Bethesda, named after a chapel, was split by it, and the memories are still sensitive. The whole slate landscape of north-west Wales was listed by UNESCO in 2021.

   Read the complete Penrhyn Slate Quarry and Bethesda write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Penrhyn Slate Quarry and Bethesda 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 57 km into the recorded legs. Next is Bryneglwys Slate Quarry.

3. 3. 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

   about 121 km into the recorded legs you reach Bryneglwys Slate Quarry. Next is Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal.

4. 4. Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal

   You hear it before you understand it: water running in an iron trough thirty-eight metres above the River Dee, on stone piers so slender they look drawn rather than built. Thomas Telford and William Jessop finished the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in 1805 to carry what is now the Llangollen Canal across the valley, and more than two centuries later narrowboats still glide over it, steered by people trying very hard not to look down. There is a towpath on one side with railings; on the other side there is only the edge of the trough and air. Walk across if you have a head for heights. It is one of the strangest and best ten minutes in Wales.

   Read the complete Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal, about halfway. Next is back through Bryneglwys Slate Quarry.

5. 5. back through 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 through Bryneglwys Slate Quarry sits at 237 km, about halfway. Next is back through Harlech Castle.

6. 6. 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 comes up about 356 km into the recorded legs. Next is Penrhyn Slate Quarry and Bethesda.

7. 7. Penrhyn Slate Quarry and Bethesda

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Penrhyn Slate Quarry and Bethesda write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Penrhyn Slate Quarry and Bethesda closes the day.