Wrexham County Borough 60 - Minera Lead mines /Christmas has passed us by /missing baguettes , fresh croissants and french patisserie /Misty and moisty

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Misty and moisty . That is what today felt like . I believe misty and moisty is a line from a Steeleye Span song . One misty moisty morning . . I cannot remember it but someone mentioned it to me . It seemed somewhat apt today . There was a little mist over the fields and mists seem to be the norm over the last few days . The wind has been keen today . Blowing me from side to side . Into the hedgerow and the grass verges . I felt as If I were fighting against it all of my Christmas morning walk and again today . The wind blew me from side to side . . Moisty - well yes that summed it up well too The wind felt damp as if it carried rain within it . As I breathed the air in it felt moisty as it hit my lungs . The mist hung around the ground and trees appeared through it . The moisty drips dripped off the trees . Christmas had gone in a whisper . Presents opened , the tree was lit , the Christmas dinner made . How soon we forget about it and want to get it out of the way for another year . How soon we hate the Christmas cards littering the shelves and how soon is it before we start to complain how fed up we are with the tree gathering dust . It is time to pack them all away for another year and welcome in 2022.

I missed the Christmas in Europe more than I imagined I would . .I missed my morning walks to the boulangerie and the smell of the freshly baked crusty bread and croissants . I miss the colourful Christmas displays in the shop window and I was reminded how much I missed it when I watched the programme Escape to the Chateau where the family many of whom I dislike spent a few days in Alsace . Savouring the mulled wine, the Christmas traditional markets and cakes and brought back so many delights to enjoy over the holiday . What if we had been able to go ? What if ?

New Years eve had felt like a damp squib . No New Year parties in pubs or get togethers in restaurants . Boris had said it was OK to do it in England but Wales was virtually locked down . Not that we would have gone anywhere but it seemed that tradition had gone out of the window . No fireworks displays . Many cancelled in favour of the next big event . The Queens Platinum Jubilee where we have been promised an extra Bank Holiday to cheer us all up.

We made a plan for 2022. We need to go somewhere at once a month . On one day we go out for a meal or to visit a castle, a stately home or a visitor attraction . Because of house renovations and Covid restrictions we have been restricted for most of 2021. So today begins the new regime . We will go out. We will defy the First Minister . We will try to get back to normal and we will do something . What if Covid stops us ? What if the First Minister puts in more restrictions? We will worry about that if it happens and treat it all with the contempt it deserves. We will even plan our Turkey/Greece holiday . Nothing is going to stop us now .

So today I googled and tried to find somewhere close enough to visit. We could have gone to Acton Park which would have brought back many memories of walks in the 60's. Of stopping at Sams cafe for a milk shake and to put 6d in the juke box . Where we looked at the motorcycles and climbed on the back for a ride out to Llangollen or Rhyl . Instead I found the Lead mines at Minera . 20 minutes away . A country park with many walking trails and the remains of a once thriving lead industry .

What could go wrong ? Silly Sat Nag- that is what . I dont know why I programmed her for the lead mines as we knew the way . We drove and must have fallen asleep as we passed the correct turning which she ignored completely and came off at the wrong one . She insisted that she was going towards Brymbo and we quickly realised that she was taking us to the wrong lead mines . That was despite inputting the correct details and double checking them . She was adamant they were in Bersham . Yes there were lead mines there but not the ones we wanted . We back tracked and got on the right road again . Through Legacy and Aberoer , Past the water tower and eventually arriving at the rather large but not empty car park . I was surprised at home many dog walkers or mountain bikers were out . But with the size of the park we had acres of room to ourselves .

We had been assured that the area would be a fascinating glimpse into an industrial part of the Clywedog Valley . At the head of the Clywedog trail this was the starting point of a six mile walk down to Kings Mills via the Nant Mill and Erddig Park . A walk for another day . 53 acres of grassland and wooded areas had a backdrop of Mineral Mountain and the park boasted a restored beam engine house , a boiler house and a winding engine . We set out on the rather wet and muddy path . The heritage centre was firmly closed as it was a bank holiday . We climbed up the path towards the workings and the engine house . It appears that below Minera was a valuable metal that people had used for over 8000 years . Lead or plwm as it is known in the welsh language . We were standing close to one of the original main shafts as we looked over at the workings with overshoot water wheels and extensive stone buildings . It was so quiet you could hear the birds sing . Very different from the noises and smells when the site was in full production. The valley would have been dirty , noisy with the sounds of clanging and rattling and the voices of the workers . It was difficult to imagine what life must have been like for a lead worker whose life expectation would be short, Curtailed early by the heavy and demanding dangerous work and the poisonous lead they were mining . The lead was deep here but further up the mountain it lay close to the surface making it easier to mine .

The first written record of lead mining dates from 1296 when Edward I the scourge of the welsh hired workers to work on his mines in Devon . Those ordered to leave left but some stayed behind and continued mining in the area until the Black Death of 1349. As we stood overlooking the workings with their signs of Perygl - danger it was hard to contemplate what life was like around the time of the Black Death . Wagons still lay here on their tracks . It was as if time had stopped and the miners would return at some point . Much work had been done to the lower site to make it safe and interesting to anyone with an interest in industrial history .

The boom time for the mines was the 18th and 19th century but like many mines there was always the risk of flooding . Minera mines were no different . The nature of the beast here was limestone and limestone meant underground rivers . Underground rivers led to flooding . Pumping out was costly and it was clear here to see just how much money was pumped in to build the massive engine house , equip it with the most modern of beam engines and provide the coal to run the engines day and night . Still Iron Mad Wilkinson lived down the road and this part of Wales had coal in abundance . Unfortunately for Iron Mad Wilkinson he pirated the beam engines and forgot to tell Boulton and Watt . They sued him . The good times ended for a while . We stood right up to the remains of that beam engine and the massive chimney built close by. The mines began to flood in 1914. The price of lead fell and the machinery was sold for salvage . How so much remains on site is a mystery . Much had been rebuilt and consolidated following restoration . A lunar landscape of toxic materials once lay all over site . Reclaimation took place , excavations and the site brought back itno use again as a recreational area .

What was there not to like about a walk in a wood, the industrial history of the region explained , reasonable Winter weather and a chance to blow those cobwebs off ? . What if we cannot do it again because of Covid ? Not a chance - Covid is not going to stop us . We are planning the next trip out as we drive home .

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