Day 6, garden and slate mine

After we’d browsed through the tourist brochures at the hotel, we made up the plans for the day. First we decided to visit a nearby garden, Bodnant Garden (https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/bodnant-garden). It turned out to be a very typical British garden. Or Welsh in this case. Impressive garden, with ponds and a small creek with water falls. Parts of the garden looked a bit wild, but that was clearly deliberate. We had a cup of tea at one of the cafes before we left. If you are interested in gardens, this is definitely worth visiting. The manor house looked impressive, but it was not open to the public. The plant names above are based on what we got back from PlantSnap app. So, no guarantee that it is correct.

The next stop was the Slate mountain (https://llechwedd.co.uk) near Llechwedd. Nice road, A470, on the way. Once there, we decided to take both the Quarry Explorer tour as well as the Deep Mine tour. Before that, we had a rather dull lunch in the restaurant. We’d strongly recommend that you eat elsewhere. After this, we had to wait for a long time until our tour finally begun. It turned out that our guide got ill. But they didn’t bother informing us waiting outside. Instead, another tour guide had to finish his tour. Then take a break, and finally take us on our tour. Not the best start, and the whole group were quite grumpy to begin with.

The Quarry Explorer tour took us on an ex-military truck up through the old quarry. It turned out that our guide was quite good, both as a driver as well as being a guide. He had previously been working in the quarry himself, so he knew it inside out. Some stunning views and interesting stories about the Slate mountain. On the top, we got a chance to get out of the truck and walk around. The ride is bumpy, no doubt about it. It’s also not well suited for those who has issues with heights.

After the tour in the quarry, we got back down to where we started. After a warm cup of chocolate, we moved on. A brief safety instruction and getting hard hats, we got into the train. This took us down into the mine itself. The level where we got to walk is situated at 150 m (500 ft) below ground. There are further levels, but they are water filled now. The guide, plus some movies along the way, gave a chilling insight into the life in the mine. After all, well worth the wait if you are interested in industrial history.