Croesor - Rhosydd

Wednesday January 4th 2012

Members present: Andrew Vick,  Catherine Moody

I’d been wanting to do this trip for nearly 3 years! For various reasons, planned trips had been put back and put back, but finally we were going to do it – and it didn’t disappoint! :) The only bad part was that I didn’t go fast enough on the zipwire. I only had the option of going first or last. I opted for first but didn’t know how fast it would go and didn’t want to crash into the wall at the end so took off a little gingerly, but then lost momentum before the end and had to pull myself the rest of the way. Meanie Andy wouldn’t pull me back for another go :( Lesson here: just fling yourself across! Some of the bridge crossings were rather scary, but fun at the same time!

Matt E had written a comprehensive description (18th Jul 2010 http://www.yorkcavingclub.org.uk/trips/) of the route through the mines which we took and found very found useful. However, they’d told me stories of having major problems getting out of the exit, and then finding the way back to Croesor and the car again. From talking to a few people and reading more trip reports, it became apparent that this was by no means the only exit. They had exited into the Twll, whereas the adit entrance, you can just walk out of and it lands you back on the footpath. We decided we would try to find our way to this exit. Armed with a description found on mine-explorer, to cut a long story short, we succeeded! The other difference to the YCC trips are that instead of parking at Croesor, we parked at the Rhosydd end, near Tanygrisiau. This was partly because it was where Andy had started from when he last went (many many years ago), because there is a cafe at the bottom for breakfast. Also I think in other ways it is better – you can get the walk between the entrances out the way at the start, and while the weather is likely to be better (and you definitely have daylight) which will make navigation easier. You also know that when you get out, it is only a short, easy walk downhill back to the car.

Below I have written 3 sets of descriptions for anyone who wants to do the same as us:
Tanygrisiau to Rhosydd
Rhosydd adit to Croesor entrance
Chamber of Horrors to the Rhosydd adit

For the walk between the entrances, no GPS or map was required. All we had was Andy’s hazy senile memory (I was slightly concerned when we stopped at Rhosydd and he revealed that actually he wasn’t that sure of the way). We kept looking behind to remember the way back in case we had to backtrack but as it turned out it was very straightforward. With the descriptions below you shouldn’t have any problems finding the way.

NB. The in-situ ropes were all fine (the first pitch must have been replaced since the last time YCC were there) so we in fact didn’t need any of the gear we took other than the pulley. There was also a raft attached to the pulley system in the chamber of horrors, so we didn’t need our boat (there were a few deflated dinghys at the start too, but we didn’t bother to check the condition of these). HOWEVER it would be still be very unwise to embark on a trip without being prepared and taking a spare rope and a boat – things change all the time in there so you shouldn’t take your chances.


Tanygrisiau to Rhosydd
Travelling south on the A496 from Blaenau Ffestiniog, take the turning on the right after Tanygrisiau (or on the left if travelling north from Dolgellau) signposted to Ffestiniog power station then immediately left. At the head of reservoir is a cafe (a good place to stop for brekkie, so I’m told). Keep following the road past the power station then round a sharp right-hand bend then over the railway line. The road starts climbing up the hill then just after a parking sign, crosses over a river. Turn left just after the bus stop and follow the road as far as you can. There are several parking spaces just before the gate at the end of the road. Beyond this is the slate track which you want to walk up to get to Rhosydd.
NB. The above route to the parking place is not the shortest, but takes you past the cafe. If you’ve already eaten, you could just go directly into Tanygrisiau then follow Cwmorthin Road.
The track first passes Cwmorthin quarry. When you reach the lake, follow the left shore and then up the incline at the far end. Keep following the obvious track, past a waterfall, until you reach the Rhosydd workings. As you walk though the buildings, the adit is an obvious entrance to your left.

Rhosydd to Croesor
From the Rhosydd workings to Croesor it is almost directly southwest. A compass may be useful in poor weather but these directions alone should be sufficient.
Running up behind the Rhosydd adit (to the right of the adit as you face it from the outside) is a steep incline (bearing South). Follow this to the top, and then continue in roughly the same direction until reaching another incline. At the top of this you will find 2 prominent stone pillars, the remains of the winding house (a good wind break!). From here, look across slightly towards your right and you will see a fence with a ladder style over it. If it’s misty, contouring a short way around the edge of the cliff will get you there. Cross this style and continue straight across the boggy field to the edge of the ridge. Down in the next valley you will see the reservoir; at the head of the reservoir is the remains of the old damn. Find your way to this (there is a footpath, but it is not always obvious. If it’s misty, you could just walk down the hill to reach the edge of the water, then turn right to get to the damn). Follow the footpath over the damn (more precisely, between the 2 walls of the damn) then once over, follow the obvious footpath round to the right and over the next ridge. The footpath then drops down fairly steeply to the Croesor works plateau. Once reaching this, go left and walk infront of the buildings until finding the remains of a mill wheel, next to which is a grill with some bars missing – this is Croesor entrance.

Chamber of Horrors to Rhosydd adit
From the rope at the end of the Chamber of Horrors, follow the tunnel then go up the second incline on the right (if you try to go any further you’ll reach a blockage). At the top, turn left then pass through several chambers and a couple of collapses (at one point along the way is a track going up an incline with some turntables at the bottom), until you see daylight above you to the right. Again, climb up the incline, but do not be tempted to exit here – you will end up in the twll - a deep depression which is very difficult to get out of, and is in the middle of nowhere on the mountain top. Instead, head across the chamber then back down to “ground” level. Go through the tunnel, passing through several more chambers with increasingly larger openings. When the tunnel ahead becomes blocked, your way on is down the incline to the left. Working your way down the slopes and across a couple of tunnels will take you to the level of the Rhosydd adit. I think there are several possible ways to get down to here, but just follow your nose and you can’t go too far wrong. At the bottom is a large prominent cog, and water running through the chamber. Exploring upstream, you will find several building works and interesting artefacts. Heading downstream will take you in a straight line for several hundred metres until emerging at the Rhosydd adit, the end of the trip!