First general UCET trip

I had been underground with the UCET ladies quite many times now. I had never done a conventional trip, which is open to all. But that was set to change when there was a western trip for everyone. It is a mine I like, and I thought it would be nice to show my face to the men of the club as well.

I showed up to a somewhat midge-infested meeting place. It was not a big trip; only eight of us would be there. And when we had all got kitted up we were keen to get in, leaving the midges behind.

The plan had been to split into two groups. There was a pitch down and, a bit further along, a pitch up. I was happy to be on the group that went up, with Gw.yneth, whom I know, and two of the blokes: Oggy and Greg. Never having been on a standard club trip I obviously didn't know them yet. And after going up we could later swap around and go down the other pitch.

It's a nice little pitch, and there is a bit of a level to explore when you get up it. Of our little group, I was the only one who had done it before. I'm glad everyone enjoyed it! And then we went down. Oggy went first. Me second. But then something unfortunate happened. I accidentally nudged a stemple with my shoulder. And  dislodged it.

Greg coming up 

Greg and Gwyneth on a traverse

You always try to leave a mine as you found it! It is industrial heritage, after all. I had a good go at wedging it back in, but I just couldn't make it work. And I was scared that if I would manage, it wouldn't be very secure, and it would come down a next time. Maybe with someone underneath it. I decided I had to send it down now, as I could control if there would be anyone underneath. I shouted really loud at Oggy to get out of the way, and then I dropped it down the pitch. I felt really bad about that. But I would have felt worse if later down the line, someone would have got hurt.

When we were all down, we had a look what the others were up to. It didn't look like they were imminently coming up, so we headed further into the level. We got to a beautiful stope with a lovely ladder in it. From there you can keep going, but it is quite wet. Nobody seemed to fancy it! So after some dawdling we went back. By then, the others were coming up. There had been a bit of a kit mishap and they hadn't got down all the way to the bottom.

Gwyneth in a high stope

Two ladies who had come up were keen on going even further up, so they headed for the pitch we had just vacated. Mary figured she had done enough SRT. Greg and Oggy went down. I wasn't all too. bothered about it; I had been there many times, and if people wanted to get out I didn't want to keep them. And when everyone had seen what they wanted to see we indeed went out again.

Outside we took a group picture, and then we went back to the cars. The midges and mosquitoes had beaten us to it! We thought they had been out in force before we went in. We hadn't seen nothing yet. I changed back into my civilian kit, and decided to then say goodbye and leave. The others were going to the pub afterwards, but their choice of pub was in the opposite direction of where I wanted to go, so I left them to it. 

Group picture

It had been a modest trip! But quite enjoyable. Very successful as my first trip with the general UCET crew!