Sense of Adventure. Exploring Wales. Carmarthenshire.

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Carmels Hidden Gems!
For years, I have noticed a little blank square on the O.S. map. One day about eight years ago, I decided to take a look. It was an old quarry with quarry walks around it. Little did I realize the exciting little adventure that would unfold beneath my feet. The quarry is beautiful. It is one of those places that you enter not knowing what to expect, and ends up being many times better then ones expectations from a visual perspective. If only I could paint.. Maybe I can? I need to teach myself some art! (Oh gosh! I just have to teach myself some art now!) At the bottom lies the remains of a narrow gauge railway which may have been used to link the quarry to a main line standard gauge railway a few miles away. I believe it once did. Another two quarries are also in the area. They were quarrying for limestone, as a couple of miles away used to be large limekilms. I met an elderly gent on the trains, who used to find out when my shifts were so he could follow me around as we loved to chat.. (If I had the time. He would try to time it for quieter trains. It must have been other staff who worked it out where I would be and which train I was working). He told me that when he was a little boy, he remembers the lime kilms in operation and the whole area would have white clouds of lime floating through the air. The lime would make ones eyes sting. He grew up as a child around there.
Now following the quarry walk, one walks along the quarry floor where a pleasing stream of clear water makes its way out. It seems to come from no where... There are lillies and water based plants around a certain area on the quarty floor. The stream is shallow but wide giving a lovely pleasing effect. Following the trail there is an ore schute above left. I forgot to mention the remains of a turnout embedded in concrete at the little car part entrance. Park carefully and six cars will fit in there. Park without care and just two will fit.
Gouing past the ore schute remains, the vastness of the quarry opens out and WOW! It looks great! Following the trail one turns left and then left again as one starts to climb on the quarry road. This road was made to take vehicles up. You soon climb to where the top of the schute is. Then keep going. The road steeply climbs up and round... A branch leads off to the right whichnis fenced off. I did once have a quick look and it goes to the middle level. The fence (Which was down when I had a look but has since been repaired) is there because there is a drop from that level to the floor where someone could fall off.
Continuing on, one climbs up to the top where one can see magnifiscent views. Bring binoculars! The views are breathtaking! If one happens to be visiting around the month of April, maybe May, wild strawberries are to be found with their delicious sweet taste! The views... One can see Carreg Cennen Castle from there! One can also see an interesting rocky outcrop within the quarry. One interesting feature seem from both above and below is the flat slab of rock which slopes at about 45 degrees or a little less. Also the little caves...
Did I mention caves? Ahh. Now here is where a little bit of ancient Welsh legend comes in. It was said that a certain Welsh leader (As I write I don't remember the details but I am writing to give the gist of it. Feel free to research further) was in the caves and would come out when Wales was in trouble. It was all thought of as a Welsh legend. We have lots of these old stories in Wales handed down from one generation to the next. However, a caver explored in the early 1800's and found that whilw exploring arrow passeges, it opened out into a cave where fourteen tall skeletons were found. They were males and it was puzzling, as there aas no way they would have been able to get down there unless they had been alive due to the complexities of rhe cave system. Also, as they were extremly tall people, it was also puzzling how they reached that cave in the first place. Could they still be waiting with their leader to come out when Wales needs them?
The caves there have very small passages which are said to be unsafe near the entrance, so have not been explored that often. If one continues on the trail from thw quarry top, back down again take care, as the narrow trail that continues is a little steep and uneven, but well worth it. One passes very small cave entrances... How humans explored them if it was those entrances they went down in... Don't try it!
Carrying on following the path, and descending further, one can either follow the train back to the carpark or, one can veer off towards another nearby exciting feature. One passes a small lake. Or is it a large pond.. Or is it... Wait. What is it? It has no inlet or outlet. What is going on? Ok, if very full the water may overflow... But... Now my friends, this is a real gem. You will have discovered mainland Britains only turlough! A beautiful little lake with its own unique qualities. It finds its own level. Limestone here. For further research and explanation check it out on the internet.
Then after the exploringnis complete, a short walk down a minor road back from the turlough to the carpark and one is ready for the next adventure! Happy exploring!

P.S. For those who don't know where Carmel is, it is about three or four miles north above Crosshands and the quarry is to be found down a country lane leading off the main road. Bring a map just incase. Is relitively easy to find if you have a map. It is not signposted so don't rely on signposts. Even the car park and turlough are not signposted... So a decent map is the best plan.

Ah!, The thrill of a little adventure!

I lye in bed with adventure in my thoughts.

I can see typing mistakes that I missed.
Mum is a writer.

It must be this new medication -- I thought the subject line included "... Exploding Whales ...".

Wales usually stays still. Could be the medication! Haha.

There are other gems in Carmarthenshire too. Cenarth for one.

I've been to those lime quarries, it is quite bleak up there. Camarthenshire is lovely but the camber of the roads is all funny and the verges are dark. Driving in winter always felt like taking your life into your own hands.

Sadly, some car parks are now card payments only so certain areas are no go zones. While Carmarthenshire itself seems to be coin only so far, nearby Pembrokeshire has places like Tenby now "No-go" zones because of this, and Swansea area is now the same. It is sad because no one can trust machines. If they swollow coins, one has lost a few pound, but if they are hacked into or malfunction with card, ones bank account can be emptied! (Used to have enough issues with card payments via the train ticket machines).

Fortunately I have not noticed Carmarthenshire turning to card only payment yet.
I don't know about the legality to this as here in Britain it is illegal to refuse coin of the realm as a payment method.

Mmmm....here's an article on the cash v card issue: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... ay-by-card

And here's one on old laws, LOL: https://www.cheshire-live.co.uk/whats-o ... t-16302109