Discover the History and Beauty of Barlwyd Dams

walks

history

Barlwyd Shepherd's Huts are located near Barlwyd Dams that were built to extract slate from the Llechwedd Slate Mine. The two dams, Barlwyd Mawr and Barlwyd Uchaf, were initially used to power water wheels and, later, water turbine generators. Today, Barlwyd Mawr provides up to 360kW of green energy to the National Grid. Barlwyd Uchaf is only used for fishing.

You can choose from three different walks, each with varying difficulty levels. Walk 1 is the easiest, and Walk 3 is the most challenging. You can download the routes for all three walks below.

walk 1 - Easy

  • 7km Return

  • This linear walk takes you from your hut to either Plas Weunydd or to Llyn Fridd, a reservoir. On the way, you will get good views down the valley and see the largest slate mine in the world.

walk 2 - Intermediate

  • 10km Circular Walk

  • This walks takes you to the long abandoned Rhiwbach Quarry which, due to its remoteness, still has buildings and the remains of a village. On the way you will pass beside two of our reservoirs in a very unspoilt area and will often see nobody at all. On the return you go through Diffwys Quarry, the original quarry in Blaenau Ffestiniog, and on a good day can look all the way down the valley to the sea.

Walk 3 - Challenging

  • Circular Walk starting from the huts is 21km

  • This is aimed at more experienced walkers who are used to navigating by map and compass and crossing pathless terrain. Consequently fewer details are provided and the reader will need to select routes based on the map, their experience, and the weather. Moel Penamnen is the obvious hill looking down on all the huts and its summit at 614m (2014ft) gives far reaching views.