Aberllefenni

[shotlighter]

This appeared at the weekend on Youtube.

Certainly an "interesting" use of the place & he's really got some bottle!
Just amazed they got permission.

[Cantclimbtom]

WOW

[alex17595]

Just amazed they got permission.

You can get permission to do anything if you have enough cash

[moorebooks]

Just amazed they got permission.

You can get permission to do anything if you have enough cash

They are riding down the steep inclines and spoil tips, I very much doubt they sort  permission to do that. I have have walked up and down those slopes and by the big chasm. I also enjoyed a late night trip into the mine at midnight once and looking up through that hole on a cloudless night sky is somewhat awe inspiring

[ChrisJC]

They did seem to be riding down quite well worn paths, although I guess the paths could have been made by foot traffic.

One thing is for sure - one slip into that large chamber, they won't be having a 2nd go.

Or any of the other chamber openings in the hillside!

Chris.

[shotlighter]

They did seem to be riding down quite well worn paths, although I guess the paths could have been made by foot traffic.

One thing is for sure - one slip into that large chamber, they won't be having a 2nd go.

Or any of the other chamber openings in the hillside!

Chris.

Just the thought of coming off a bike at speed onto slate waste, makes me shudder.
The cuts can be bad enough just falling onto it!

[Fishes]

I thought this place had scheduled monument status?

[Llanigraham]

I understand that they were up there for a couple of days and had ridden and prepared the "trail" well before it was filmed, which is why some of it looked well used, and I am sure they had permisssion to do so. Certainly in the past he has made sure that everything is done properly and legally.

[ChrisJC]

This is just down the road, and by the same bloke:
https://www.dyfibikepark.co.uk/
Perhaps he's going to expand to Aberllefenni.

Chris.

[Llanigraham]

This is just down the road, and by the same bloke:
https://www.dyfibikepark.co.uk/
Perhaps he's going to expand to Aberllefenni.

Chris.

Where he has worked hand in hand with NWR, the Councils and the National Park Authority to make sure everything is "right", which is why I am sure the filming at Aberllefenni was all above board.

[Fishes]

I'm not really up to speed with things in Wales but as a mine site of some importance wouldn't it fall under Cadw?

[RobinGriffiths]

Cadw are too busy monetizing their castles.

[Cantclimbtom]

This is just down the road, and by the same bloke:
https://www.dyfibikepark.co.uk/
Perhaps he's going to expand to Aberllefenni.

Chris.

That website looks some impressive biking. A lot of hard graft must have gone into that. Hope his business does well, not been a great 12 months for businesses, especially tourism dependent ones!
Edit: and he's way outside the usual tourist trap sites too

[AR]

I'm not really up to speed with things in Wales but as a mine site of some importance wouldn't it fall under Cadw?

Cadw would have been consulted if this was being done properly, and if they felt monument consent was needed they would have dealt with processing the application. I'm not sure whether the final grant is something that's been devolved to the Welsh Assembly, if not it's the Culture Secretary who makes the decision on whether to give permission.

[Stuart France]

I thought this place had scheduled monument status?

No, the quarry generally and slate workings are not SM, only the Water Balance Incline which is edged in red on the map here:
http://lle.gov.wales/map#b=europa&l=3;&m=-3.81622,52.67736,15

Find out more about the local mining history in general and nice photos including aerial ones here:
https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/275917/archives

And where the Access Land is (edged in brown at 1/25000 and 1/50000 scale) here:
https://streetmap.co.uk/map?x=276706&y=310067&z=0&sv=SH7670610067&st=5&mapp=map&searchp=ids

[Llanigraham]

I'm not really up to speed with things in Wales but as a mine site of some importance wouldn't it fall under Cadw?

Cadw would have been consulted if this was being done properly, and if they felt monument consent was needed they would have dealt with processing the application. I'm not sure whether the final grant is something that's been devolved to the Welsh Assembly, if not it's the Culture Secretary who makes the decision on whether to give permission.

It's a devolved matter so nothing at all to do with Westminster's "Culture" Secretary.

[Cantclimbtom]

It's a devolved matter so nothing at all to do with Westminster's "Culture" Secretary.

Don't worry, they can centralised it soon and by centralising these things (National Parks administration next) there can be significant cost savings and efficiency improvements to improve service, a centralised call centre can bring a faster pickup time and 24*7 coverage too which gives much better customer satisfaction.

"Hello, my name is Dav, thanking you for calling Caddy Whales. Please advice me on how you spell Abbey Lenvee and where in The England UK, you are situated and I will help you on same"

Better service all round, don't fight inevitable progress!

[Stuart France]

Cadw would have been consulted ... It's a devolved matter...

Well, yes and no.  First of all, Cadw is a "trading name" of the Welsh Government so to speak, not a separate legal entity.

Most of the scheduling in Wales took place a long long time ago before the devolved government existed.  Cadw, i.e. the government, decides what and if to schedule and the landowner concerned then has to react accordingly, and in turn their visitors.  It's not done in the order where visitors ask landowner to get their land scheduled, then the landowner asks Cadw to schedule it, etc.

The full list of Welsh Scheduled Monuments where we have identified some underground mine or quarry or cave aspect is here:
http://www.cambriancavingcouncil.org.uk/pdf/newsletters/2018/historic-sites.pdf

The above list does not generally include those sites where it is the built surface features that are the scheduled objects of interest, such as the old quarry inclines or works buildings, as is the case at Aberllefenni, Bryneglwys, Rhiwbach and so on, because these things are not underground.

[Paul Marvin]

Whatever the rights or wrongs of this, I do have to say the quality of filming is very good indeed , and if you notice the very good plug for RED Bull of course failing at the start only to have a sip, and then flew down . Certainly gave him wings , the sponsors would have loved that . I know a guys that are also sponsored by Red Bull and if you dont do something more extreme than last time in your chosen sport, then you will lose the contract   

[cavemanmike]

They'll probably try the same at Dinorwic next

[Cantclimbtom]

They'll probably try the same at Dinorwic next

I've watched pretty young kids cycle up that concrete cableway (or whatever it is) on the first big incline you get to (behind long sheds) when you walk in from Bus stop. Then turn around and come down again. If only I had a bike with big tyres and disk brakes and had a hill like that when I was a kid. Those rock hard Raleigh front brake rubbers on thin chrome rims wouldn't have been up to the job, I would never have stopped.
Even the Raleigh Bomber wouldn't have been up to it. I remember some kid zooming down a hill proudly on his new Bomber shouting to his mates at the top of his voice "Watch This! Back-pedal brakes" then he back pedalled, the back wheel locked, he totally lost it, slid across the road and ended up lying motionless with terrible road rash while all his mates were rolling on the floor wetting themselves with laughter. Kids of today , they don't know how lucky they are.

[Speleofish]

In the early 19602, we used to cycle around old slag heaps in Northumberland. Most have now been landscaped or levelled but in those days they were quite steep and very unforgiving to fall on. There were two schools of thought: wear shorts and get horribly scraped; or wear jeans, get slightly less scraped but get into trouble with you parents when you got home with your jeans in tatters.

The extra excitement was that some had slow burning, internal fires with a thin crust over the surface. I never encountered one but our parents used to tell horror stories about them (though I think it was really an attempt to persuade us not to wreck so many pairs of jeans).

[SamT]

The Athertons (2 brothers and the sister) are massive news in mid wales.  All world champs.  They have their very own hillside in mid wales where they build stupendous trails host the Redbull Hardline every year.   I'm sure they've got quite a lot of clout locally and I'll bet they did ask permission.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCew-XynokXzvaLr-zRV8APg

https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/videos/dan-atherton-hardline-course-introduction



Rachel is hardcore!!

[ChrisJC]

Presumably they do more and more ludicrous stunts until they kill themselves?

Skating down past the quarries on razor sharp slate with fatal drops within a few feet is only going to end one way...

Chris.

[Cantclimbtom]

Good idea ChrisJC!
They should go back to Aberllefenni and repeat the same route but on rollerskates. You should suggest it. That will up the ante.

And to top that they'd need to rollerskate down the side of Twll Mawr holding a heavily sweated 4oz stick of gelignite in each hand after product placing a Red Bull first of course