There was another ladies’ trip! In the west. And it concerned a mine I hadn’t been to. Exciting! It didn’t seem big, but I was keen to see new ground in good company. So after work I drove to the meeting point, where I already saw some caving-suited ladies. I changed too.
This mine falls under the responsibility of a local caving club, and there were some members of that club there to show us around. They stood out a bit, because they were men. One of them showed us a map, and told us what to expect. And then we went in. One guy, Rich, stayed with us. There was a good group of us! I didn't know everybody's name.
Most of the mine is basically just an adit. It still has some rails in, but also a fair amount of mud, so your best bet is balancing on these rails. We went down the ladder and did just that. And I noticed Hydrobia and leeches in the adit! I don’t think they intended to be there. But the place is tidal and all sorts can wash in.
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| The main adit |
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| Leech and Hydrobia |
It also struck me that whole adit so far was through glacial sediments. I thought it would be bedrock. And we did read bedrock at some point, but I was quite amazed how much of the infrastructure was in loose(ish) material. And that was one point where the ceiling had come down. That was right underneath the road, and you could look at the road surface from below. A bit spooky!
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| Adit with good stone work |
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| Beautiful Victorian trash |
We went into a rather nice bit that went dead, and then went towards the far end of the main adit. We got to a collapse. It was quite muddy. Liz was at the front. Rich, who seemed to know her, ushered her on. She wasn’t keen! That should have been a hint. The rest of us pushed on. Gwyneth ahead, me third.
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| In the sticky mud |
It got a bit cartoonesque. We slithered over a mound, and ended up in really sticky mud. At every step you risked losing a welly. And Gwyneth vanished into the next collapse. It was a crawling jobby. In the sticky mud! But she didn’t see a way on. Rich insisted it was there. She asked if I wanted to have a look, so I slithered past her and the other lady and did. Nothing! We retreated.
I suppose Rich had just been playing with us a bit. We now understood Liz. She probably knew! We were very muddy now. And we joined the rest for an explore of the rest of the mine.
The highlight of the trip was a flooded shaft. Spectacular! And otherwise it was nice to see the whole mine at that level, but nothing could touch that shaft. And there was a little bit of workings in the level below, but we didn't go there as Liz checked it out and said the water was up to her knees, and nobody really fancied that. So after a group picture we headed back to the entrance.
Once out we did another group picture. There was the option of going to the pub afterwards, but I did not take that. It was a tiring week! I went straight home. It wasn't even far; not much more than half an hour. But I needed my sleep.
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| Surface group pic |
It's always nice to be out with the ladies. And to see new ground. I did both! And I just dumped my dirty kit in a big bucket in the conservatory to worry about later. Work called again, and then running, and then more work, so it would be a while before I would be in the position to clean it, and check if I accidentally would have brought any leeches with me in my boots!
