Alderley Edge Copper and Cobalt mines 21/10/2012

[Danny Sutton]

First off, A Huge thanks to Joel for arranging this and Ed for showing us around.

Visited with.. Dan, Sean, Joel, Ed, Dean, Vikki, John N, Bella, Richard, Alison, Mike G and John O (if I've missed anyone or got anyone's name wrong, sorry)

This was a great trip for me as it’s like a 20 min drive from my house, so not only did i get to see a mine i’ve been after getting to for 2 years, i also got to stay in bed late.

I had arranged with Sean to get picked up at 9am, as I had packed all my gear the night before and knowing Sean would be at least 15mins late, it meant i didn’t need to get out of bed until 8.45, I get up, get ready and as expected Sean turned up at 9.15, i jumped in her mobile dustbin and off we went, turning up at the car park at 9.45, we weren't the first there, but also wasnt the last which makes a change for us.

shortly after everyone had turned up, people were in various states of..... well, people were in various states, it ranged from tired through to very hung over, i dare even say there may of been people there still sobering up for the night before. The plan was to do one of the larger copper mines, then when we had finished have a look at the cobalt mine, so how this got changed around and the plan was now to look at the cobalt mine first.

We had been told we didn’t need any SRT gear or even a caving suit, just to bring a spot of lunch, so when we seen Ed walking over in a full caving suit, complete with knee pads and a shovel, i began to think Joel had lied to us. Ed jumped over a fence and began to dig, Really, as soon as you see someone digging their way in, you know it’s going to be bad. A few mins later and he had got to a locked hatch, when he opened and said off you go, Joel went first, which was an interesting choice as he had never been in and didn’t have a clue of the route. At this point payback for his lies was had by throwing things down the shaft at him. He was followed by Lauren and then my self, at the bottom of the shaft I asked Joel if he knew the way, he said with confidence “It’s this way” and off he went, followed by Lauren and my self, turns out he was wrong, and we has slid down a tight passage for no reason, by the time we had managed to get back, everyone else was down and Ed was leading us in the right direction.

Half way around the cobalt mine was a shaft which exited the mine into the back room of the pub, as what i had seen of the mine so fay was wet, muddy and pretty much all flat out, and the fact i was dressed in a big fleece and tracky bottoms and dragging a silly oversized bag with me, i took this chance to exit, as did Lauren, Sean and Mike, we walked over to yet another shaft where Lauren said the rest would exit from, Looking at the people who did the full trip, i was glad i got out when i did, I sat enjoying the sun as people emptied there wellies of water.

Ed locked back up all the shafts while some people got changed and others dried off.

















Next off was Wood mine, this trip was pretty uneventful apart from John N’s references to Joel’s “tool” and Bella’s “beaver” and the conversation about Joel’s past experience of the adult entertainment industry (the video) , The trip was 99.9% walk around with a few ladders and a couple of easy climbs, It is a lovely mine with some impressive chambers and one of the most colourful mines i’ve been in, the walls are red and orange with hints of green and blue here and there. If anyone on here hasn’t visited it before, if you get the chance i would jump at it, I think the trip time in here was around 3.5 hours.

some pics.



























And for anyone who didnt have a clue what joels aldult entertainment experance was, it's this.


http://youtu.be/_lGH8TCE7yc

[John Oh]

Good trip report and great pictures Dan.

Just for the record, it was "West Mine" not "Wood Mine"

[Ian A]

Excellent read and excellent photos ... thanks Dan  B)

[Danny Sutton]

[quote="JohnO" post=10624]Good trip report and great pictures Dan.

Just for the record, it was "West Mine" not "Wood Mine"[/quote]

Yeh, i noticed that, but cant edit the post as the edit button is missing as the forum isnt resizing images any more.

[Joel Colk]

Brilliant Dan.

When on a trip, always go the opposite way to the one I'm going. I think that video can go away and disappear though now...

A good read and some great photo's as an accompaniment.

I will probably enter WEST mine into the knowledge bank later this week, please upload your pictures up there too.

[Danny Sutton]

so was this wood or west mine? you say wood, John N and John O say west

[Joel Colk]

Dan, I'm an idiot, it's west mine. Don't tell ed I got them mixed up again, he will slap me