Hillocks mine

The only thing I knew about Saturday’s mine, Hillocks in Derbyshire, was that it required full SRT kit and that I hadn’t been before. That was enough for me! 

Over breakfast in the cafe we had made a plan. The mine is essentially a big U. We would go in at both ends, meet at the bottom, and then come out on the other side. We would de-rig on the way out. And it was a part mine part cave, in Carboniferous limestone and the mine was old; it was largely made with pick-axes, and thus quite constricted. But some of the levels had later been widened with the help of explosives. 

‘Before’ picture 

It had been decided I would go in the direction that was seen as more sporty, with Sal, Liz and Bee. We went down a narrow irregular shaft with lots of rebelays. That was fun! And then some more, shorter pitches. All went well. And then we reached the bottom, where the space opened up. And really soon we heard the others. Together we went to a suitable lunch spot. I had loads of lunch with me, but was still full of breakfast, so I didn’t eat much. But I did drink. 

Liz about to start her way down from the surface

Hybrid level: original narrow level with the bottom widened using explosives

Underground group pic

Then we went on. We started on a pitch past a pesky rock, and then up a smooth lip without footholds, and all sorts of fun. Because we helped each other it all went well. And then we got to a pretty shaft where it was a bit awkward coming off the rope. And that brought you into a rather tight horizontal level. The end was a proper belly crawl! But from there on, it got wider, and not much later we were out. Mission accomplished!

Waiting one’s turn

Sal coming up the pretty shaft

Sal at the top of the pretty shaft

We walked back to the car and saw that the other group was already there. They had come out only minutes earlier. They had had fun too! 

We look a bit ominous in this picture 

I hadn’t done that much SRT in a while. It was not large distances, but a lot of short or interrupted pitches! It was fun. And although there was nothing in the way of artefacts or suchlike, it was a pretty mine!