Quiet valleys in the sunshine, sheep grazing on the valley floor and the slopes above, and the idyllic silence broken only by the whistle of a steam engine and the rattle of old coaches coming down the line. These are sights and sounds which have always been a part of holidays in Wales. But there is so much more to the Welsh countryside than the preserved steam trains that run through it. The Welsh landscape is one which has been used for different purposes for many centuries. Although today we see mostly grazing land, slate, copper, manganese and even gold mining all have left their mark on the countryside. And the preserved railways are usually where they are precisely because of the industrial heritage of the landscape. Valleys which are quiet and rural today were bustling centres of Victorian industry 150 years ago. The 20 walks in this book have been designed to start and end at a railway station on one of the preserved steam railways in North and Mid Wales, so they can be combined with a ride on one of the railways.