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Monday 14 March 2016

Cwmorthin Quarry, Blaenau Ffestiniog, March 2016

Cwmorthin Quarry, in fact not quarry but a labyrinthine mine system with many miles of tunnels and caverns lies in Wales, the area is said to be the inspiration for Middle Earth in JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.

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Visited with Tbolt, Blacksnake and a young whippet of chap only know as HDarby, our guide into this Welsh underworld was the ever mole like explorer Blober - it is said he has traversed this mine system in excess of 50 times - which was as well, the place is maze and a sure deathtrap for those without without an experienced mole person.

Not many photos of the mine itself, the trip was more of an endurance test with downward scrambles and long climbs up over broken slate, at one point a recent roof collapse hampered our upwards exit.

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All that remained was for Blober to lock up the mine to keep riff raff like us out of the place.

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An excellent trip out, a big thanks to the latest Team Weasel recruit Blober for his 10/10 explore packed with history, insight and the bonus of safely bringing us to the surface.



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