Going Underground
Some of Mark’s ancestors must have been miners, or perhaps it’s his caveman instincts coming out, but he seems to want to go down every hole in Wales (steady on). Last year we visited the National Show Caves (Dan Yr Ogof), the Dolaucothi Gold Mines, the Big Pit National Coal Museum, Electric Mountain at Llanberis, the Sygun Copper Mine near Beddgelert and finally the cave underneath Carreg Cennan Castle near Llandeilo. We also visited the Blue John Cavern in Derbyshire as well.
This year’s first underground excursion took us to the Llechwedd Slate Caverns in Blaenau Ffestiniog.
There are two tours to choose from both of which take about half an hour. We did the Deep Mine tour first which involves climbing into a tiny train that takes you down a very steep shaft into the depths of the mountain. You wander through various caverns listening to atmospheric recordings about the lives of the quarrymen. I found myself wondering what had happened to the vital statistics - it turns out that the ‘how big, how deep, how long’ questions were saved for the Miner’s Tramway tour. This in my opinion is the more interesting of the two tours as it is accompanied by a live guide who can answer questions, plus you get to ride on a really cool little train that rattles around the tunnels like an underground rollercoaster. If you’re short of time and can only fit in one tour I would recommend you choose the Miner’s Tramway.
On the whole though, Llechwedd Slate Caverns was my least favourite underground excursion so far. I found it a bit pricey for what we got. I might be being a bit unfair because we went out of season and the Victorian Village and Miner’s Arms pub were shut so we didn’t get the full experience. Of course, I could also be suffering from ‘hole-in-the-ground’ fatigue.
One good point was the cafe - they were very friendly and accommodating considering they were obviously just about to close, and prepared us a really yummy, warming and delicious bowl of ‘Lobscaws’. This is a traditional Welsh beef stew and is just what you need on a damp, grey day in Wales.
If you’re really committed to going underground in Wales, as we seem to be, maybe you should check out - www.wales-underground.org.uk.