Another Quaker walk

[heleninwales]

I was a bit stressed yesterday because it was Quaker meeting in the morning, then I was meeting J, a visiting American, to go for a walk together in the afternoon. J has tended to be a bit disorganised in her planning, though to be fair, once an arrangement has been made, she has stuck to it.

Of course that didn't stop me worrying that the plan would go awry. One worry was that J was getting a lift to Barmouth and was then going to cycle from there to meet me in town. Aas I tend to do, I was foreseeing all kinds of problems, like punctures or the ride taking longer than she thought it would. But all was well. J arrived in time to attend a chapel service in the morning and we met each other after lunch. The walk to visit some more historic Quaker sites went well. Afterwards I dropped her back into town and then did a bit of shopping before returning home.

This old stable caught my eye as we walked past.



This Quaker walk is much shorter than the one I took J on back in May and this one mostly involves not seeing things of historical interest. I had to just point at clumps of trees and areas of overgrown brambles and ferns and say, "That's where X used to be."

This is Dolserau Hall, now a hotel. Except this is not the Dolserau where Quakers met in secret in the 1600s. Of that Dolserau only the foundations survive, hidden in the clump of trees to the right of the Victorian replacement.



Walking back towards the main road, we passed the tangle of undergrowth that hides the remains of a blast furnace run by Quakers. It was built by Abraham Darby (the elder) of Ironbridge. There's an iron mine not too far away and they used charcoal for the furnace made from oaks growing nearby. We then walked as far as Dolgun Uchaf, another Quaker home during the days the Quakers were persecuted. That house still stands, but is probably much altered since those days.

We then retraced our steps to the gate leading into the Torrent Walk and climbed back up the steep valley with the river rushing below us at the bottom of the gorge. Very scenic, though there are many similar valleys locally. I'm not sure why this one became a Famous Named Walk.

I think the walk went well and J enjoyed it, even though it was quite short. But she did have to cycle back to Barmouth in order to get the train to Harlech, so a shorter walk was probably a good thing. Anyway, I left her in town with a friend and arrived home mentally tired after a whole day with people. How I used to do it in the past when I was teaching 5 days a week I don't know.

Comments

[cmcmck]

Of course the Darbys copped out after they made their pile and went C of E.

[heleninwales]

Interesting. I didn't know that. I'm really only dabbling in Quaker history and so far focusing only on the local Quakers. I suppose they were after respectability which being C of E would give them.

[kaishin108]

How fun to meet your friend and I am glad she made it on time! :)

[heleninwales]

She's more of an acquaintance than a friend. I can't remember now how we got introduced, but it was fun to walk with her. She returns home at the end of the week.