Day 25 14/7/19 Blaenavon Big Pit and Brecon Mountain Railway

Decided to revisit the Big Pit today and do the underground tour which we had been to late for a few days ago.

Started off well, went to stock up at Wallmart then set the GPS to go to the Blaenavon Iron foundry ruins (how we had found the Big Pit a few days ago). But, the other day we came from Swansea, today we came from Cardiff so we found the foundry ruins first, no problem, find Big Pit in GPS and set new destination. Followed some very narrow streets through Blaenavon until we found a sign saying “unsuitable for vehicles”, unfortunately we were half way up and had no way to turn around so kept going. Eventually we discovered the GPS had brought us to the back gate of the coal mine, probably OK when the mine was operating, not much good now as it stopped in the middle of a field.

Another Welsh building that caught Maritta's eye

Blaenavon Iron Foundry ruins

Found the back gate of the Big Pit, we actually need to be about 300 metres past where the "road" ends

Finding our way back, surface was concrete once

Down a steep hill, it was about here we saw the sign saying "unsuitable for vehicles" when on the way up

Almost back to civilisation

Retrace our steps and find some signs to the Big Pit, eventually finding the front entrance. Today being Sunday there was quite a crowd but the wait was worth it as the underground tour was very informative and the guide, an ex-miner, was very knowledgeable and also funny.

Big Pit saw mill

Looking towards where we were before (when lost)

Ready for the mine

Ex miners really enjoy there role as guides

No pictures in the mine as although they no longer extract coal it is still a coal mine with all its associated risks and rules. Therefore, no cameras, watches, car keys (anything with a battery), cigarettes, matches and anything else than can cause a spark is allowed in the mine. They even have two canaries on the site, if there aren’t two canaries available in the mine office then no-one is allowed into the mine (The mines swap canaries from time to time and there was much excitement amongst the volunteers as next week was canary swap time.)

A lot of the volunteers have a mining background or come from mining families, our guide was a 4^th generation miner, he started in the mine in the 1970’s and although he had worked at a number of mines, the Big Pit was his favorite.

A couple of para-sailors where enjoying the valley

From there we went to the Brecon Mountain Railway. This is a narrow gauge steam railway that threads its way into the Brecon Beacons. The route is very picturesque and takes about an hour for the round trip.