A walk through the woods and a gold mine

[heleninwales]

As I said yesterday in my post about the various fungi we spotted, we did another circular walk starting at the George III hotel. First we had to cross the wooden toll bridge which is Grade 2 listed and dates from 1879. If you wanted to, you could stay in the little wooden cottage that, along with the toll keeper's hut, belongs to the bridge.

Comments

[puddleshark]

What a wonderful walk. I love coming across old workings, half-lost in the woods. Though they're mostly 19th century clay-workings round this area.

[heleninwales]

There are a lot of old gold mines on that side of the estuary, the most famous being the Clogau mine. The Clogau jewellery company claims that their items contain Welsh gold, but it must be homeopathic amounts because no mining has been carried out for decades.

[sartorias]

Oh, my how lovely!

[heleninwales]

It was. A great mix of industrial history and nature.

[lab_jazz]

It's all so lovely lush and green

[heleninwales]

There was an aerial photo taken during the summer drought, and while England looked very brown, Wales was still all green. But since the drought ended we've had a good bit of rain, which is why the fungi have all sprouted.

[kazzy_cee]

Lovely countryside you have!

[heleninwales]

We are down at the southern end of the Snowdonia National Park. It's not as mountainous here as the area actually around Snowdon, but we prefer the slightly gentler hills and woods.

[eve_prime]

How wonderful! I was born in one of the places where rhododendrons are native and common - the plants are very tall and rangy, and the flowers are pink. We had an annual Rhododendron Festival every May, with two parades and a carnival.

People visiting from elsewhere have to be told, though, not to use rhododendron branches when grilling food (as in, what you'd hold a hotdog or marshmallow on).

[heleninwales]

I'm sure they're fine in their native habitat and there will be insects and creatures that can live on or amongst them. Unfortunately they are an alien species in Wales, though they do love our climate.

[eve_prime]

I am remembering a version of Rebecca with a huge rhododendron garden - wherever that was filmed was very hospitable to them too.

[heleninwales]

I think the book was set in Cornwall which has a similar climate to Wales. They seem to like our wet climate and mild winters.