We had pre-booked tours of the quarries and the slate mine so on arriving we collected our wrist bands and joined a group of about 20 people for the first part of the tour.
We all boarded a 4x4 military style truck and headed into the mountains to the top of the quarry.
Elvid, our driver and guide was so knowledgeable about the history of the area and made several stops during the hour or so journey so that we could get out to explore and admire the view.
Elvid told us how during the WW2 paintings from The National Gallery in London were bought to one of the quarries we visited and stored in one of the deep underground caves to protect them from bombing and prevent them from being looted. You can read about it here.
Many of the building which were used during the time that the quarries were in use remain, albeit as ruins. The machinery remains in many. Elvid told us that an application for UNESCO World Heritage Site status has been submitted for the area and if obtained they hope to get funding to bring some of the buildings back into use in some sort of use.
After our tour of the quarries, we returned to our start point for a free cup of hot chocolate before being kitted out in hard hats for our trip below ground into a disused mine.
We boarded a train which took us 500 feet into the Llechwedd Deep Mine. Elvid led us through the chambers for about an hour or so telling us about mining in the past.
It was a really good trip which we finished off with another ice-cream!
Blue Banana, Strawberry Ripple and Orange Choc Chip flavours. 😋
Before returning home we decided to drive to Bennlech Beach for a walk. On the way we stopped for a bite to eat and whilst in the car park a rather cheeky seagull took quite a liking to our car.
At Bennlech we walked along the beach. The tide was out. This time we were lucky and found a crab in the rock pools.
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