Cwmorthin Slate Mine - 16th June 2013

[Tony Salusbury]

I've been planning to take my Dad to have a look in Cwmorthin since myself and Amy visited with JohnO, Iestyn and members of Llangollen canoe club a few months ago. We had planned to go on Saturday but when we checked the weather in the week it was forecast rain, so we put it off again and I worked overtime instead. On Sunday Dad had other plans that ended up being cancelled on Sunday morning so we decided to make an impromtu visit as the weather was not too bad.

We arrived at the car park at 10.10 and started the short uphill walk towards Llyn Cwmorthin. Dad hadn't been here before so he was busy taking pictures of everything on the way up (And I mean EVERYTHING!!!!) After what seemed like an hour Dad finally arrived at the entrance, we entered the code and in we went.

With map in hand, our plan was to follow the through trip route, as I kind of knew where I was going. We arrived in the first chamber and climbed over all the huge slabs of slate so Dad could have a nosey on the other side. We backtracked then headed to the crossroads and then scrambled up following the sound of cascading water to drop down into the top of the Old Vein Incline. We spent a while here lighting up the water falling from above and taking some snaps. On the camera screen the pics looked great but alas I was slightly disappointed with them when we got home   . We made our way 1 level down the incline and turned right into a short crawl and followed the passage. We then reached an area which was cordened off due to a huge piece of slate detaching itself from the wall. We decided not to carry on, so returned to the start and made our way down the slate staircase near the top of the Back Vein Incline. We decided to carry on to the bottom and make our way straight to Oakley and then we would work our way back taking photo's on our way.

We made it to the Compressor chamber and chatted to a middle aged couple who were exploring. We had some lunch then started our snap happy way back to the top. We passed a group from Go Below in the water section at the bottom of the incline then took some more pics of the flooded wagons and Dad walking along the scaffold bars. I wanted to go and have a look at the crane as I hadnt seen it before so Dad stayed put with the gear whilst I waded in and had a nosey. I'd left my camera with Dad so didn't get any pics in here but there's always a next time. The flooded incline to the level below with clear blue water also looked rather nice.

I rejoined Dad then we climbed up the incline 1 level at a time to take pics of the various bridges, upturned carts etc. We then headed back to the bottom of the slate staircase for another cuppa. Whilst Dad was supping I grabbed my bag full of spare lights and placed them about the staircase to hopefully light up the stairs for the photo's. Luckily the pics turned out really well  :cheer: . We then headed for the exit to find a Go Below vehicle parked up outside the gate, and the rain falling  . The time of our exit was 6.15pm.

The rain wasn't too bad so we popped to the old miner's houses for Dad to go paparazzi mad again, then we made our way back to the car, only for Dad to tell me he hadn't brought a change of clothes. Although he wasn't particularly dirty he wasn't sitting on my seats covered in crap. I got changed and we were attacked by what must have seemed like a million midges. Whilst I was changing Dad was sat in the car clapping his hands like a madman swatting midges. I jumped in the car and we drove into town to get a chippy tea, with Dad still swatting midges whilst I was in the chippy.

A great day out, we spent 8 hours underground. Dad found the whole place, both above and below breathtaking, so fingers crossed, I'll get him signed up as these kind of trips are right up his street.

Here's a few piccies.

[Tony Salusbury]

[Ian A]

Awesome  B)

[Danny Sutton]

nice one, I keep promising my mum i'll take my dad underground, but she tells me that i'm not to bring him back again.