The team arrived at 7:00pm comprising of;

John (Leader), Linda, Marc, Mark, Mike (Tops), Wesley, Tim, Jo, Andy, Helen & Ian

Kitted with belts, tails, shunts, ladders and ropes – we set off up the hillside, through the woodland and straight into the lower adit of Fish mine.

We reached the “Chimney” in double quick time where John began the process of changing into his “sticky” climbing shoes to freeclimb the first aven to secure the rigging and haul up the first electron ladder.

During this time, Marc (HSE) undertook a thorough risk assessment of the pot, examining the walls to determine their “gripability” as well as attempting a short and controlled ascent (back to one wall and feet walking up the opposing wall). Marc decreed the climb as “should be alright” and John began his ascent with a rope attached.

Whilst John ascended, other members of the team continued along the lower level passages of fish mine and came across some speleotherms forming (calcite flows and teethy curtains) as well as a rift which has been exploited during the days of mining. The passage soon became flooded and the water depth was considered to be deeper than we could calculate. From previous trips, it was known that the passage terminated just beyond the deep water (perhaps 30 or 40 feet) and so no attempt to cross was made on this occasion.

Some 20 mins and 50 or so feet later John reached the top of the first of the two “chimneys” and secured the first rigging and ladder and safety rope. Ian ascended to assist and John began the climb of the 2^nd “chimney” in the same manner.

The second “chimney” was a little taller (perhaps 60 feet) and the last 10 feet were particularly tricky to free climb. The second climb took around another 20 to 30 mins and, upon arrival at the top, John fixed another ladder and safety line whilst Ian secured the anchor between the two chimneys.

A number of team members then ascended the two chimneys being Wesley, Mark and Marc (John & Ian already having ascended) whereupon an exploration of the upper workings was undertaken.

At this time, the team members remaining  in the lower workings made their way out and headed to the pub to ensure pints were bought and available before last orders for the hardier cavers !

Meanwhile, Immediately at the top of the second chimney was a short passage of no more than 10-15 feet with another free climb of around 15 feet leading to an intersection of passageways.

This intersection was, essentially a crossroads. Having arrived at the crossroads, the passageway to the left was blocked immediately (having been back filled from the other side & impassable).

The passageway forward ran on for a good 100-150 yards, was around 4-5 feet in height with two high rifts manifesting along the way. The passageway terminated with a crawl leading to another back filled exit (impassable).

Coming back along this passage we noticed another passage leading upwards and above the passageway that we had walked along. This involved another short climb of around 10-15 feet and became very “squeezy and crawly” The passage forked (upwards and downwards) and we discovered we had reached the limit of the miners work before the mine was abandoned as we could see both the lead vein they were mining as well as (very clearly) their pick marks.

We returned to the crossroads and took the path to the right which was very “windy” and no more than 4 feet in height. This passage was uneventful except that it lead out of the mine although the very end was barred from the outside and the exit was impassable. At this terminal point the passage was a dirty belly crawl and huge spiders (and white sacs) hung from the roof, dancing on our backs – nice !

Just before this terminal crawl we discovered another “chimney”. This was much smaller in diameter than any of the previous ones and appeared to be around 20 feet in height. Mark ascended this and discovered it lead directly to the outside world. Mark and Wesley therefore left the system by this route.

John, Ian and Marc returned back down the first chimneys (pulling through the equipment) and left the system via the lower adit.

Having located an upper surface exit, UCET have now established a pull-through trip for a future visit and although the system is not large in terms of length and number of passage ways; it was very interesting to experience the formation of speleotherms in their infancy as well as clearly being able to see the last working days of the miners who worked there.

The last cavers (John, Ian & Marc) reached the waiting cars at 10:45pm.

Casualty report :

One cavers pants were filled by the unexpected appearance of two cavers at the upper crossroads.

The same cavers pants were filled again when another caver jumped out of the woodland whilst the final cavers were making their way back. A cluster if nettle stings were also suffered at the same moment as the caver dived for cover in the undergrowth.

There were no other injuries.

Acknowledgements