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Another good turn out for this one, with fifteen of us in total . 1st time for some, 2nd time for some of the others and 3rd time for a few of us.
Went for the early o'clock start, wich saw us parked up in Tanygrisiua at 8.00 o'clock to get kitted up, bit of a dull and misty morning but at least we were not swealtering in the heat on the way up.

Once up at the entrance we split into two teams due to numbers and set off to sample the array of obstacles that awaited us. After the two abseils we soon arrived at the zip wire , which i think everyone enjoyed, it was then onto the first lake which has now had the ladder rack bridge re installed so no need for a dinghy now.

After crossing the next couple of bridges, including the infamous Bridge of Death we arrived at the next lake which involves the abseil into the boats. Was impressed to find somebody has now taken a canoe in there, once across this it was the short prussik back up to regain the passage way again. As this rope was in a poor state we replaced it with another rope before carrying on.

The last section is fairly easy going with a mix of up and downs untill you eventuall come out into daylight at the Twll's from hers its a bit of a slipy descent down an old inclined level to got down to the Rhosydd Adit level for the walk out, at least it was a better day when we exited and after a long walk back down to the cars it was time for a cup of tea before the long drives back home
Trip time 3hrs
Samantha Mason, Emma Beecroft, Christine Wilson, Sharon Abbott, Susan Blackburn, Alex Wallman, Paul Geddes, Pete James, Gordon Aitken, Nigel Steel, Stu Weston, Rich Rae, James Blake, Dan ?, Keith Mason

wow! big turn out! must be a great trip.

Cheers keith, A great trip.
2nd group took about 3 1/2 hours on the through trip, Max number in canoe was 3 in our group.

first class weekend superb trip and with great company , lets try cwmorthan mine next

What we should really do is pick 2 mines, then cave both days. this would make the drive more worthwhile

Not one to miss if you get the chance Ian! ....... I'd do it again, tomorrow, if I got the chance brilliant!
I’m Looking forward to next year’s ………………….or/and anything similar?? In the meantime

A big THANK YOU to every one involved. Well organised, very enjoyable trip.

Some interesting diversions on the journey down to Wales.
Meanai straits were nice to see:blink:

Weird little diversion that almost returned us back to our route except for the dug up road /temp roadwork’s bridge and large piles of chippings in between us and the road!!!….. but no problem really to a Mondeo full of determined cavers!

Pleasant pub crawl the night before. In spite of nearly being involved in a ‘cave in’ in the first pub. I had to laugh when everyone was more concerned about rescuing their beer, before thinking about the danger of the pub collapsing on their heads.

The bunkhouse was good too. Apparently a lot better than last years? Only Pete’s snoring to complain about. LOL Thanks to Alex for supplying biscuits and beer.

Richard and Nigel had a 'kettle boiling race'; but Nigel had an advantage - after emptying the pubs of beer mats(kindling) the night before.
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The walk up was good exercise. Seemed like about 2 miles? - In spite of the mist Keith managed to find the entrance and the other group straight away which was some achievement in itself.
Susan was undaunted by the mist and started to take photos anyway.
There’s plenty of old mine buildings on the way to see. Some in better condition than others. Two gable walls might not be there next time we go?!
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I loved the zip wire across the Lake.
Then straight on and across a suspension bridge, fantastic.
Those two ‘bridges’ are misnamed -‘ Former location of a bridge, now location of a multitude of ropes and a twig’ would be more accurate. But everyone enjoyed the challenge!

The first former ‘bridge’ was crossed using a double pulley left for our use by the first group.. This was new to me and good fun to use.

On the second location of a former bridge, it was a bit like the Krypton factor. With a choice of about four ropes and wires with a rebelay in the middle. Alex jumped on without any delay and crossed using strength and determination pulled himself across hand over hand. But decided a pulley would be better on the second half. (Reflecting on it we could‘ve saved a minute or two by attaching a cord to return the pulley again but there again; but it hardly seemed worth it for 15’? ).
Don’t know what the first party did?
Paul showed us his 'pull on both rope and steel wire and flail like a windmill technique' to move the pulley across. Which was quite impressive. -Hope we have it on video?

After completing the second ‘bridge’ we went straight onto the abseil into …….a full sized Canadian canoe! Which saved Stewart having to blow up his dinghy.

It made Paul laugh when I said 'should I land on that little landing stage next to the canoe?' - which turned out to be some sort of lurching to the left raft.(one barrel missing off it?)
Then a magical ride in the canoe across the lake.
A bit like some sort of fairground ride. – Although those Canadian canoes are very unnervingly wobbly. I think this aspect was the only bit of the trip that felt vaguely threatening.

With Alex, Pete and Pauls excellent route finding skills - based on their last trip, our party was able to navigate our way out of the exit/entrance rather than the adit? opening mentioned in the original article - but it was not easy/obvious route to find right at the end.
At the final junction Pete immediately identified which was the right exit route pointing out a pin prick in the distance of what proved to be the longest straightest tunnel yet to the exit. It must have taken 15 mins to walk it? And it was 6” deep in water.
....... Just to make sure my boots were filled with b---y freezing water (which is the only time they were so I was glad to have chosen to worn them instead of wellies in the end.

We had a good look around the buildings at the exit. Pete advised me that it was a beautiful view on a clear day- but we had to descend into the clear views of the lower valleys before we could appreciate what lovely weather we had had.

A lovely 30 mins? walk down ,in warm sunshine, perfect temperatures. And then even a welcome cup of tea from Keith at the car to finish.

What a great weekend. Thanks again to everyone involved.

Brilliant trip, I can see why it was so popular now and found most parts enjoyable rather than frightening!

Photos here:
picasaweb.1d5920f4b44b27a802bd77c4f0536f5a-gdprlock/emmabeecroft/CroseorRhosydd#

Thanks to all for a great day, especially Keith for organising and Paul for instigating.
Emma

P.S. Did anyone else see the steam engine on a transporter on the motorway? I thought Rich was going to run us off the road!

I was ready for dodgy, wobbly stone pillars supporting a roof that could collapse any second. I was prepared for the sound of falling stone. I was half expecting to have to find an alternative route out if the normal exit was too dangerous, but what I didn’t expect was for this to happen while we were all in the pub on Saturday night.

The trip through the mines on Sunday would be safer than sitting in the pub if lorry drivers were going to keep driving into it.

Susan and I both enjoyed the mines and will definitely do it again.

A great weekend thanks to all involved.

Cheers!

Nice photo's Emma, glad you and Rich enjoyed it

Emma , can i use some of your photos in the video pleas

Alex and I set off Saturday on a leisurely drive down, unsure of the weather, but no worries clear sunny skies. To make the most out of our weekend we planned a walk/climb up Tryfan which we thoroughly enjoyed. Meeting up with the gang 5.30 ish at the barn. Accomadation was more padded (or that might have been the beers) than last time with electric plug sockets, shame nobody had any electrical appliances such as a kettle. But most impressed with the economical Kelly kettle that would burn anything that came to hand including the beer mats from the night before. We managed to get fish and chips Saturday night in the village before they closed at 9pm. The walk back to the barn (although some cheated) was very interesting in collectables and lighting.
This was our second trip and equally as brilliant as the first, looking forward to the next, thank you to everyone who was involved. Brilliant photos Emma, a weekend to remember.

Excellent pics Emma and great trip, thanks for organising keith and Paul, thanks for driving Stu and thanks for the kettle tips Rich. saw that steam loco Emma, i think it was an Ivor class loco

nsteel wrote:

i think it was an Ivor class loco

Nigel are you sure it wasn't a Thomas the Tank

Some photos from Susan


picasaweb.1d5920f4b44b27a802bd77c4f0536f5a-gdprlock/alexwallman/WalesWeekendAprilCrttTryfan?feat=directlink

more to follow

paulgeddes wrote:

Emma , can i use some of your photos in the video pleas

Yep, no problem, providing you edit the video of me favourably

Can someone enlighten me to what happened at the pub, why did it fall down?

PAul G 'lets try cwmorthan mine next'

Is there more to be had? Can we organise something?


Damian is there anything like this on the South Wales trip?


Alexr The pub was hit by a HGV - nearly took out the whole of the stone porch. But nobody left the pub and no beer got hurt in the process. Think Paul may have a photo?

Keith
(i) Thomas the tank? surely it'd have to be Ivor the engine - in Wales?
(ii) Agree to doing two days of mines next year!

gordona wrote:

Damian is there anything like this on the South Wales trip?

You mean a big boys' adventure playground? In a word ... no!

Isn't most of North Wales on narrow gauge?

Sue could i please use some of ur photos aswell please,
seems i had a fault with my video camera and cant use a lot of the film i took oh well ill have to go back and do it again

whats up with the camera paul?

seems the seal behind the lense has given up the ghost ,

its a bit on the rough side but here it is, quality is reduced to speed up the upload to youtube plus seems the inside of my camcorder steamed up so the video bits are not as clear as they should be

thanks to susan and emma for the photos

Excellent, as usual.

Thanks Paul.,

Great video, I can see why we got lost in the daylight bit when we were doing it as we carried on climbing up and out into a large quarry. We then spent a while lost outside trying to find our way back in before heading on in where we came from.

Eric jones was on Country tracks on Sunday morning, can probably be found on iplayer.

Cwmorthin is excellent, recommend it.

Also, Rhiwbach is a great through trip, you go in through a big vaulted entrance that's barred off (there's a slightly unstable bypass to the locked gate), and come out much further down the hill in the woods, to follow a little paved path that was used by miners. I think you can do it the other way round, but we didn't manage to find the lower entrance from the outside as it's quite well hidden.

Nice one Hannah
Sounds like it could make a nice weekend

cwmorthin could be interesting, the walk up from tanygrisiau is a pain the gradient used to be more interesting when the old slate works were still there.i stayed at the old eldon cc hut by the llyn half a dozen times.i even went out with the lecal mrt caving and mines rescue in 1995.I found it vry unstable but enjoyed the trip popping in and out of adits all above Ffestiniog and surfacing opposite Llechwyth .