Moelwyn quarry

The Ffestiniog Power Station (Welsh pronunciation) is a 360-megawatt (MW) pumped-storage hydroelectricity scheme near Ffestiniog, in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. The power station at the lower reservoir has four water turbines, which can generate at full capacity within 60 seconds of the need arising. The scheme has a storage capacity of around 1.44 GWh (5.2 TJ) at maximum output for four hours, and the capacity to power the whole of North Wales for several hours.The station, commissioned in 1963, was the first major pumped storage system in the UK. The upper reservoir is Llyn Stwlan, 170,000 cubic metres (6,000,000 cu ft), which discharges 27 cubic metres per second (950 cu ft/s) of water to the turbine generators at the power station on the bank of Tanygrisiau reservoir. The building of the lower reservoir increased the size of Llyn Ystradau and flooded the route of the Ffestiniog Railway which had to build a deviation around the reservoir and power station. The plant is operated by First Hydro, a UK company owned by a joint venture of International Power and Mitsui & Co., and has an average efficiency of 72–73%, i.e. it uses 39% more electricity (when pumping the water back up to the Llyn Stwlan) than it actually produces.

Coedydd Maentwrog, on the north side of the Vale of Ffestiniog, is the largest wood in the Vale (which runs from the coast at Porthmadog inland to Blaenau Ffestiniog in Gwynedd). The national nature reserve consists of two separate sections: Coed Llyn Mair, and a group of three forests (Coed Ty Coch, Coed Bronturnor and Coed Glanrafon). It offers a variety of habitats, rising from the wooded valley onto open moorland and reaching towards the foot of Moelwyn Bach mountain. A nature trail and a network of public footpaths (some of which are steep and slippery when wet) are features of the reserve. Animals such as the rare lesser horseshoe bat and the wood warbler can be spotted here, and the gorge is noted for its liverworts and lichens. The reserve is located near Maentwrog, and is accessible by car via the A487. It may also be reached year-round by bus and by train from Easter to November, with occasional service during Christmastime and school holidays.

Dduallt railway station (English: Black hill) (pronounced [ˈðɨ.aɬt]) is a passenger station on the narrow gauge Ffestiniog Railway in northwest Wales, which was built in 1836 to carry dressed slate from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Porthmadog for export by sea. Dduallt is at a height of 540 feet (160 m) and a distance of just over 9.5 miles (15.3 km) from Porthmadog.

Tanygrisiau railway station (grid reference SH683449) is a passenger station on the narrow gauge Ffestiniog Railway The line was built in 1836 to carry dressed slate from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Porthmadog for export by sea but official passenger services began in 1865. The station serves the slate mining village of Tanygrisiau and was opened in March 1866. It closed to passengers on 15 September 1939. The new station opened for passenger traffic on 24 June 1978 and was the passenger terminus until 25 May 1982. Tanygrisiau station is at a height of 669 ft (204 m) and a distance of 12 miles 10 chains (19.5 km) from Porthmadog. The new station is on a different alignment and grade from the old, the two alignments joining just to the north of the Blaenau end of the station. The old line was on a continuous downward gradient from that point through the station, but the new line is on an uphill gradient (to pass the nearby power station) and is more sharply curved. One of the old buildings still remains, visibly lower than the new trackbed. Tanygrisiau station has an operational passing loop but is normally operated as an unstaffed halt and trains only call on request. Intending passengers are advised to check with the Ffestiniog Railway Company before embarking on their journey. The station is close to the Cwmorthin water falls, and the train passes Tanygrisiau hydro-electric pumped-storage power station and Llyn Ystradau.

Moel-yr-hydd is a subsidiary summit of Moelwyn Mawr in Snowdonia, North Wales and forms part of the Moelwynion. (Strictly the mountain is not actually in the Snowdonia National Park as it falls within the exclusion "hole" around the former slate town of Blaenau Ffestiniog.) The mountain overlooks the village of Tanygrisiau and Tanygrisiau railway station (a halt on the Ffestiniog Railway) from where the mountain can easily be ascended.From the 1830s until 1946, Wrysgan Quarry was worked on the north east flank of the mountain. Substantial underground chambers were driven beneath the summit.

Wrysgan quarry was a slate quarry near the village of Tanygrisiau, Blaenau Festiniog, North Wales. It was worked intermittently from the 1830s, and was worked continuously from c.1850 until 1946. Wrysgan was an underground slate quarry, which was located on a small inaccessible site, some 1,390 feet (420 m) above sea level, to the west of Cwmorthin.

Campbell's Platform (grid reference SH673418) is a private, unstaffed halt on the Welsh narrow gauge Ffestiniog Railway, which was built in 1836 to carry dressed slate from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Porthmadog for export by sea. It is 9 miles and 7 chains from Porthmadog and is at 510 feet above sea level.

Coed Cymerau National Nature Reserve is a wooded area of approximately 26 hectares on the north side of the Vale of Ffestiniog through which the River Goedol runs. There is one path that runs through the forest but the rest of the area is primarily native broadleaved woodland and thick undergrowth, adjacent to the nature reserve is Coed Cymerau Isaf which is owned by the Woodland Trust.

Deep Sleep is an underground hotel located in Wales. It is built 1,375 feet (419 m) below ground level, inside an abandoned mine in Cwmorthin quarry in Snowdonia (Eryri) National Park. It was opened in April 2023 and claims themselves as the deepest accommodation in the world. The mine where the hotel is located was abandoned and left to rot in the mid-twentieth century.

Tanygrisiau is a village and area within Blaenau Ffestiniog in the upper end of the Vale of Ffestiniog in the county of Gwynedd, north-west Wales (52°59′12″N 3°57′25″W). It can be found along the southern side of the Moelwyn mountain range and dates to around 1750. It joins onto the semi-urban area of Blaenau Ffestiniog, and is in the community of Ffestiniog; located between 650 feet (200 m) and 750 feet (230 m) above sea level. it is in the electoral ward of Bowydd and Rhiw which had a 2011 census population of 1878. The village itself has a population of around 350.

Cwmorthin quarry was a slate quarry west of the village of Tanygrisiau, north Wales. Quarrying on the site started in 1810. In 1860 it was connected to the Ffestiniog Railway. In 1900 it was acquired by the nearby Oakeley quarry and the two were connected underground. In 1970 it closed along with Oakeley. There was small-scale working in the 1980s and 1990s, and the mine finally closed in 1997.

Moelwyn Bach is a mountain in Snowdonia, northern Wales and forms part of the Moelwynion. It is connected to its parent peak Moelwyn Mawr via the Craigysgafn ridge. It overlooks the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog and the Vale of Ffestiniog.