Sheep poo paper??

[Nemesis]

Honestly I'm not making it up - a new rural industry is born!

So although their wool may not be worth much another Welsh sheep by-product is apparently proving lucrative:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/5315904.stm

What next - use it for insulation?

And while in Wales:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/5320324.stm

Great - the only problem being I gather it's a slate quarry...

 

[Gervase]

The cafe on the top of Snowdon should be atomised - the existing building is ghastly, and anything to replace it will probably be horrible, too.
There's nothing more dispiriting than heaving yourself up to the summit via the Watkin Path on a foul day, with the mist and rain whipping round your face, to be confronted by a bunch of fat tourists who have chugged up on the train from Llanberis and who are now stuffing their faces with overpriced ice-creams.
But I never really was the milkman of human kindness...

 

[Nemesis]

Nowt wrong wi' a bit of curmudgeonly bile. Apart that is from trying to spell it with a hangover.

http://www.dazeofourlives.com/011221.htm

 

[biffvernon]

The great thing about having a railway leading to a cafe on the top of a mountain is that it leaves all the other mountains free from bunches "of fat tourists who have chugged up on the train from Llanberis and who are now stuffing their faces with overpriced ice-creams."

Honeypots are great for keeping practically all of the countryside peaceful.

Incredible that Portugese stone should have been considered at all. It's not as if there isn't plenty of hard rock within wheelbarrow range of the top of Snowdon. A near summit quarry would have provided another tourist attraction.

 

[Nemesis]

As Plumber's mate (who has surveyed the Welsh quarry where the 'stone' is coming from) has pointed out - it's a slate quarry, not granite!

So I suspect that it was cheap imported slate that was proposed, rather than the genuine article from a genuine working Welsh slate quarry.

 

[geoff]

8.3 million is a lot of money - mind you, mention grants and European money and £ signs start flashing in suppliers' and contractors' eyes....

It'll probably look so horrible it will win an award. Strange irony considering the other link - the paper is made of crap, the building will just look like it is.....

 

[Nemesis]

Here tis...


http://www.hightrek.co.uk/snowdonia/summit.htm


or at least that was the plan... could have changed by now.

 

[Nemesis]

Funny ol' game is farming though...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/5323190.stm

Wonder if the feathers in that French roof insulation come from somewhere similar?

 

[NT]

As far as I can see the poopaper makers have done nothing of value. They strain poo and add the resulting grot to standard paper pulp. Whoopee. Its not as if theres any shortage of pulp.

The liquid fertiliser could be liquified and piped direct from source rather than at their workshop, theyve added no value there.

And for all this crap they get a £20,000 Millennium Award for "social entrepreneurship".

!?!


NT

 

[worms]

My thoughts exactly, NT!

You can make good paper out of elephant dung and cow dung at a pinch (depends on the feed) but sheep tend to leave very littly in the way of useful fibre - so apart from that knit-your-own-yoghurt appeal I can see little benefit in the process.

That's not to say it won't make a profitable business, though...

 

[Nemesis]

I rather suspect that it may prove to be profitable because of the novelty factor!

 

[plumbers mate]

Snowdon itself is granite.
The building proposed to replace the "highest slum in the UK" as it's been called, is to be as friendly to it's setting as possible - renewable power source (that'll be rain powered then up there?) and built to a lower profile so it doesn't stick out like a building on top of a mountain.
As to getting there by train - it's better than a road. There are millions who would never have seen the views from the top without it - and there are those who slog to the top and ride down the mountain.
This year's quarry was Glanrafon near Ryd Ddu and we could hear and see Snowdon MR very clearly - also the Welsh Highland in Cwm Gwyrfai. What with two railways and the Peregrine Falcon fighting a buzzard and Ravens calling, it was a very noisy quarry!

The proposed source of the slate? well if a project is over a certain amount, tenders have to be sought from all of the EU. We had to do that at work for high powered photocopiers - except we got round it by demanding a 12 hour call-out time!
The new Hospital in Porthmadog was getting a metal roof rather than slate from 13 miles up the Vale as it was cheaper. Then the project was put on hold.

 

[Penners]

Crappy baaaa-thday to you.....?

Nemesis - where do you find this stuff? You really need to get out more!

 

[Nemesis]

Oh, I get out plenty. Just got back from a weekend in the Lake District. with car club. Need several days to recover.

Where do I find it? Google desktop - gives you BBC news headlines!