Rare underground trip

Since graduation I hadn’t seen Lydia anymore. We didn't find a good moment to go underground before she would move back to London, and once she was in London, opportunities became quite limited of course. But suddenly I got a message; she was coming back for a visit. Was there a potential for underground trip? And I decided to make time for that.

She had suggested to go that Saturday, as her host would be away then. I was going to have dinner with the usuals then. Originally we were going to go out for dinner, but family circumstances of the chef had prevented that. So the plan had changed to me cooking. That meant we couldn't do a particularly long trip! But short trips can be good too.

She decided on a few small mines she hadn't been to. That sounded like a good idea! So Saturday morning I picked her up and we drove to a windy and rainy valley. She hadn't been to any of these minds, so we sort of relied on my memory, and that was a bit hazy. Hence first scouting out the area a bit. And we found two viable entrances. One I quite clearly remembered, and the other one I vaguely remembered. I seemed to remember they both went, but neither of them went very far.

Delapidated barracks

Gloomy valley 

We went back to the car to change into our kit, and then we went back to rig the first entrance. And we had a little explore! It was a nice little mine. There was some scrambling to do, and lots of little levels to explore. One thing that didn't go so well was that Lydia's light went out. Luckily I had a torch around my neck; I gave that to her. That way we could finish the explore. 

Lydia descending

Interior with flooded winze

Level with blue staining

By the time we came out I was hungry. We had left lunch in the car. But we first decided to check out the other entrance as well. I was chuffed that we could explore all of it without overtopping my wellies! And again it was a pretty little (part of a) mine, with some good staining. And the hand torch had enough charge for it, although it started to indicate it was running out. Oh dear.

Level with more blue staining

We came out, and as it was raining again, we sat inside the car to eat lunch. We wanted to do one more mine! But that was quite vertical, so that meant we needed to sort out Lydia's light issue. I have a spare torch on my helmet, and I said that if we could fix it to hers, we could still go. That would mean there wasn't any redundancy in the system! But it isn't a big mine. I had faith. 

I would also like to point out that I have been mining for almost 15 years, and quite a lot of it on a lecturer’s salary. That way you can afford to have three solid sources of light on you. As a recent graduate that is harder.

Lydia did manage to fix the light over her helmet, so we will go! As this last mine was very wet, I changed into my self-draining boots. And then we went in.

It is a bit of an obstacle course! You first wade through Walter, then up a ladder, then up a rope through a shaft with a lot of woodwork, then you use a metal pipe to reverse a little winze, closely followed by another rope ascent, and then another one that you can also do via a chain, and then you have reached the last pitch which normally starts on a chain ladder and then goes up a rope. This time, there was something amiss. The rope had knots in it! That is weird. Knots in ropes are good for free climbing, but why would anyone want to free climb this? And more importantly; if you have notes, you cannot press up but the robes earlier and did not have notes. So why would you want to have knots in only one of the ropes? You can't get through the entire mind without having equipment to travel along non-knotted ropes. So why this? But we only had two options; turn back, or do it, and I chose the second option. 

I must admit that I found climbing up there really hard work. It started ok, but when you get higher you get more tired, and for some reason, the knots were further apart there. You needed to have some good reach for that! And that is not something I am famous for.

I was really glad when I got to the point where this space becomes so narrow you can wedge yourself in. That was the heart bit over! But I know I am stronger than Lydia, and given that I had really struggled here, I figured I should try to avoid her having to do the same thing. So I pulled up the rope and started taking all these knots out. It looked like they hadn't been in there for too long! They hadn't been pulled overly tight yet. Fortunately. So in a few minutes I could throw her the rope back. And she could come up in relative comfort.

That brought us to the level of the exit. We made our way out, and back to the car. I was skiing to get out of my wet clothes, go to the loo, and then drink some tea. I had been wearing SRT kit since the morning and that complicates toilet visits!

There is another mine in the area, and we could even see it, but I wasn't overly keen. I knew I had to take off all my kit for a toilet visit, and I didn't think I would want to put it back on afterwards. We also didn't quite have the right equipment to make the most of that mine. And there is a limit to how many mines you should push if you have no backup lights whatsoever. I also knew I had to be home to prepare for my dinner guests! So we changed, had a little bit of tea and cake, and then we set off again. I thought it had been a success!

I don't know when we'll see each other again, but I'm sure that day will come. Maybe we can do another adventure then!