A fabulous 12-mile hike around the disused lead mines near Dylife in Powys, Wales.
Date walked: 26th February 2015
Distance: around 12 miles
Map used: OS Explorer 215: Newtown & Machynlleth
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The mountain road between Llanidloes and Machynlleth must be one of the finest drives in Wales, passing by the Llyn Clywedog Reservoir, the extraordinary Twymyn gorge and finishing with a steep descent with the hills of Snowdonia ahead of you to Machynlleth, one of Wales’ most pleasing market towns. Drive it sometime but not when you are in a hurry..
Bob and I met at the isolated hamlet of Dylife, now consisting little more than the recently re-opened Star Inn and a graveyard. In 1857, according to Kevin Walker in his excellent “undiscovered Wales”, over 1,000 people lived in the village; there were two chapels and a church, a school, a vicarage, three inns, ninety -two houses a grocery,butcher post office and smithy.
150 years ago Dylife Mine, was one of the largest lead producers in Europe. Production finished in 1901 and the comprehensive demolition of the mining buildings and the village was completed around 1911.
Crossing the road, and following the river Twymyn, we negotiated the bumpy ground that had been the ‘dressing floor’ of the mine, where the lead ore was crushed to make it easier to process.
Above the river, we scrambled up the spoil heaps to inspect the fenced off remains of a building and a deep narrow pit which was the site of Rhod Goch (the Red Wheel, more commonly known as Martha Wheel). This once contained a wooden waterwheel with a diameter of 63 feet (said to have been the largest in Britain) which powered water pumps and the haulage system for the ore.
Apparently we could have seen the entrance to the mine if we had dropped down to the river at this point and walked along its banks for a bit. Instead, we followed a wide track above the river for a few hundred yards….
….contenting ourselves with a view of a gushing cascade opposite.
We did have to return to the river at the top of this little valley and squelched over boggy ground ……
…..and then forded the river by a broken down stile to enter a steeply climbing reed-filled gully.
At the top a pond formed by a dam ….
…. and a culvert which would have led to Martha Wheel….
….were signs of the engineering associated with the mine. In fact the culvert drains from Pwll Rhydyporthmyn – a reservoir created to ensure the constant flow of water to the waterwheel.
All this was by way of introduction to the mining works. Walker directed us back to the quiet road which we had crossed a mile or so back.
A modern sculpted mile-post of stunning ugliness ……
…..marked where we took a sharp left turn down a farm track, the peak of Plynlimon ( I think) silhouetted on the horizon. (see my walk from about a year ago)
Our route joined Glyndwr’s Way and which headed west off our path (I had walked this path from Knighton to Machynlleth many years ago). The spectacular Dulas Gorge was hidden from sight by the moor, but the views to Snowdonia were impressive enough.
After less than a mile from the road we passed by Glaslyn Nature Reserve, a little collection of signs and markers providing the visitor with something to distract them from the wild beauty of the place.
After passing Glaslyn our path turned east; Glyndwr’s Way leaving us to cross a moor and find higher ground.
We kept to a wide farm track, passing (according to Walker) the remains of spoil heaps and mine shafts, though all we could see was undulating boggy moor. The path descended to a group of modern farm buildings.
To the side of the big shed was the site of a waterwheel pit for the Nanddu Mine Mill, filled with rainwater and probably home to an isolated community of frogs disinclined to rock climbing.
A stile warned us to attract the machine operators attention before crossing but there was none, so we didn’t.
The path dropped down the steep side of the Clywedog gorge, bringing us closer and closer to the thrashing water of the river.
When we reached the river the spectacular waterfall necessitated a pause for admiration ……
…..and presented an opportunity for me to try out a new piece of kit.
This clever little plastic tube is called a LifeStraw and contains a long-lasting filter that makes mucky and potentially contaminated water fit to drink. This river was neither but it was very cold and my fat blue straw worked well after a bit of a suck. Conclusion: every walker should have one in their pack (it weighs about 100 grammes) as an emergency water supply (the company also donates to the good cause of bringing them to parts of the world where it is saving lives). It might also make your knees damp.
A footbridge crosses a tributary of the river and we climbed again up a stony path, the side of the gorge opposite clothed with a plantation of conifers making up Bwlch y Garreg-Wen.
As we approached the workings of the Dyfngwm Mine the steep scree slopes were bare apart from some rough grass and patches of bracken and gorse.
Walker says that lead was almost certainly mined here from Roman times, though the busiest period of exploitation was in the early 1700’s. But whereas Dylife ended production in 1901, here, the mine being owned by Germans, the Franco-Prussian War caused it to close in the 1870’s. It got a second lease of life in the early 1930’s but this was short-lived and it was finally dismantled in 1935 as the price of lead had fallen making it uneconomic to continue.
We scrambled down the loose stone to explore the ruined buildings, trying and failing to imagine what it must have been like when this isolated place was a centre of industry.
A group of sandbags had been weathered to their base, making a honeycomb pattern on the ground.
Here and there odd bits of rusted metal revealed nothing of their origin or purpose.
A group of metal stakes half way up the hillside could have been a remnant of all sorts of larger a construction.
Fascinating and somewhat eerie. I came across an adit (shaft) that perforated the side of the hill, its route now filled with cold green water.
At the far end of the workings a new gate replacing a discarded stile gave us a marker that we thought Walker had clearly identified but what was not obvious was where to go from here.
I was probably giving insufficient attention to our instructions. We took a narrow path in the scree that proved only suitable for sheep, and thin, armour-plated ones at that.
Here gorse had taken hold and its sharp spikes were up to chest height at times.
Walkers final two pages were wasted on us; we found ourselves wandering around more grassy and pleasant terrain, still populated by the occasional ruin.
A steep ravine with a stream rushing down to join the river required fording.
My GPS told us where we were but by then there were no clear paths so we climbed up in roughly the right direction until we reached a plateau of reassuringly open countryside and vaguely familiar views.
We came across a track that was confidently going somewhere and on the basis that from there we could probably work out how to get back to the cars we took it.
It eventually reached a farm which we could happily identify on the map (its called Hirnant) just off the road and a mile or so from our car park.
The sun was low by now and its light added an orange tinge to the hilltops. We had a good finish, though, as the best viewing point for the Twymyn Gorge was just before the car park.
It was around 7pm when we finished so we were well overdue a pint (rather more, actually), in the Mount Inn at Llanidloes, where were were staying for a couple of nights. More of that in the next post.
rough and rugged and that’s not just yer friend. Like the industrial remains and especially the sandbag imprint – Paul Steer there’s a painting in that image?
Yeah Bob can look a bit rough; wouldn’t look out of place in a crowd of marauding football fans. But he’s a kitten. I love these post industrial walks.
There is indeed Julia ! But Charles has the copyright and had the original vision – it’s a work of art in its own right I believe.
I can’t believe you haven’t had more comments, what with all the action man pics, the drama of being saved by GPS, the really creepy Hirnant farm and a great finale picture. But what are all these displacement activities when you should be nailing the WCP?
Not much point having a QR spot at Glaslyn as there is no phone or internet signal there.