Yesterday my daughter and I managed the longed-for walk somewhere new, and explored a circular trackway around the abandoned limestone quarries at Carmel Woods (now a Nature Reserve).
These limestone quarries were an important source of income for the Ammanford and Llandybie areas up until 1990, when they finally closed down and fell silent. Lime was essential for building work, limewash for painting, and above all, for sweetening pasture land - much of it with acidic soils in this area of Wales. For a full history, see
HERE.
The trackway led us to the old quarry face. We passed several ruined buildings which had been in use during the quarry's lifetime.
Silver Birch and Hazel are always the first to colonize abandoned sites -quickly followed by Sycamore and Ash.
The trackway climbed steadily through the woodland.
Moss has softened the sharp edges of the quarried rockface.
Little rosettes of the wild Aquilegia.
View from the top of the quarry looking back down the valley.
The path took us ever upwards.
Looking across towards Carreg Cennen, which you can just see in the photo below, centre.
Entrance to a cave system in the limestone.
Our path back to the car led past the lake.
Footings of an old cottage, probably connected with the Quarry in former times.
My darling daughter
We ended up at
Goldstone Books, at the back of a little industrial estate just round the corner from Tesco's. They had an interesting and sensibly-priced bookshop front-of-house but it was the stock behind closed doors (sold on their website) which was tempting and out-of-bounds! I was good and just bought two books for £3, and T bought her boyfriend two books he had been looking for (£4). T goes home tomorrow, so I shall miss her, but her sister returns home for three weeks next week, so I have that to look forward to.
These limestone quarries were an important source of income for the Ammanford and Llandybie areas up until 1990, when they finally closed down and fell silent. Lime was essential for building work, limewash for painting, and above all, for sweetening pasture land - much of it with acidic soils in this area of Wales. For a full history, see HERE.
The trackway led us to the old quarry face. We passed several ruined buildings which had been in use during the quarry's lifetime.
Silver Birch and Hazel are always the first to colonize abandoned sites -quickly followed by Sycamore and Ash.
The trackway climbed steadily through the woodland.
Moss has softened the sharp edges of the quarried rockface.
Little rosettes of the wild Aquilegia.
View from the top of the quarry looking back down the valley.
The path took us ever upwards.
Looking across towards Carreg Cennen, which you can just see in the photo below, centre.
Entrance to a cave system in the limestone.
Our path back to the car led past the lake.
Footings of an old cottage, probably connected with the Quarry in former times.
My darling daughter
We ended up at Goldstone Books, at the back of a little industrial estate just round the corner from Tesco's. They had an interesting and sensibly-priced bookshop front-of-house but it was the stock behind closed doors (sold on their website) which was tempting and out-of-bounds! I was good and just bought two books for £3, and T bought her boyfriend two books he had been looking for (£4). T goes home tomorrow, so I shall miss her, but her sister returns home for three weeks next week, so I have that to look forward to.
