24th may-great masson.

me,bri and ken went for a trip down great masson,we decided to take our two caving spailes with us.
between the 3 of us we got the down the climb in. we went down to look at the gate too the show cave,looking at verious parts on out way.we also found some n ice bluejohn in there.
on the way back out we met anouther group that had just come in,bri showed them were the way on was,
when we got back to surface we saw a second group who were putting a pope on the entrence to help them back out,they said they were going in the crawling way,wich we had never found so they showed us were that was,its actually in a compleatly diffrent place to were we were looking!



bri and ken.



me and dan

5th june-spinney level

was looking through the guide book and camje across spinney level,and as we hadnt done it before we decided it was time to go and have a look.the guide book said the water was no more than knee deep so we were debating wether to go in our boiler suits or furry and oversuit,im glad we chose the furrys! as it was just a little deeper than knee deep lol more like waist deep in places!we took dan and stig with us not expecting that they would need to swim!
the entrance was full of flying thingys that liked to dive at your lights,thurther in theres some really pretty calcited bits aswell.
near the end theres that 40ft ish drop to one side,i stayed that side of it wilst bri went and had a look on,i didnt want to risk trying to get the dogs the other side of it,and stig sisnt seem to want to go near it either.
on the way back little dan the paniel was feeling the cold and wasnt able to swim through the water without any help so i put my arms under his belly to give hima little hand. once out we dryed off the dogs and wrapped them up in towels and they were soon warm again. dont think il be taking them in there again,its a bit to wet for them!



me,stig and dan by the entrance.



me and dan in a passage.



pretties on the wall.

6th june- whapping/cumberland

me and bri decided to go and have a look at the maze series in whapping,as theres a lot more down that section of the mine that i havent yet seen,we seem to see something diffrent everytime were down there.
we found lotts of pretty/shiney rocks down there,looked through a few passages,sat around for a wile,took some pictures and tryed to navagate this time using a map,wich we never have before,we think the map we have is a little wrong tho,as it shows the maze part we were in back by the entrance,and it just didnt add up!



flourite

8th june-jug holes streamway

i have been in jug holes before but never been in the streamway series so me and bri decided to go and have a look.
we went down the climb in,and headed through the boulders,through the crawl and into the main passage,there were some pretty looking bits on the way,then we decided to climb up the banks and have a look up there. there was a flat out wet crawl that shows to lead to another chamber but we didnt do it as we only had our boiler suits on,the map shows there is a way around it but we didnt have it with us as its in the guide book.


pretties.


pretty bit off at the side of the wall.


water dripping into a mini pond.


water dripping into a pond.

9th june-hillocks

me and bri were in hillocks not long ago and found that the crawl to the fist pitch was begaining to get rather low and very wet due to being clogged up by gravel etc,so we diecided it was time to dig it out, we started doing it yesterday. bri started by breaking up the floor at the begaingin of the crawl and then i took over when he went through the crawl and started clearing stuff by the pitch,when the bucket we had was full he emtyed it down the picth etc. next time we go well dig it out a bit more and then one of us will go sown the picth to sort out the stuff we put downt here. we thought it was best to put it down the pitch rather than the climb before the crawl as its likely it would be knocked down again.


bri digging

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Blimey Ditzy... you've made me just want to run out and get me lamps... enjoyed that! :thumbsup:

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this all sounds familiar.. I was in Mouldridge, Masson and Spinney Level on 29th / 30th with ttxela... some pics on mine explorer.

Spinney level is a truly rank entrance 😞 with smelly mud and mossies everywhere. There are some really nice gour pools forming in the floor in a couple of places, so be careful of those.. they are hard to see on the way out. Some really nice gour formations on the side too, very small and delicate. The stone and timber stemples are quite special, in one place the timber stemples have completely rotted away and only the calcite which flowed over them remains... very fragile, and quite what is holding the stacked deads abovebvthem, good question 😮

has anyone been either down the winze, or up the raise? The raise contains some really delicate calcite formations, we were thinking about putting a camera up on the end of some drain rods to see what we could learn, does anyone know? The winze looks as though it has been entered before, and may contain two short trial levels, one of which connects with a collapsed connection onto the main level a few yards away.

for what it's worth I wore my offshore thermals and a light fleece top, with a waterfproof oversuit taped at the ankles. This doesn't keep the water OUT, but it does restrict the flow, so you keep reasonably warm. Same reason, I usually wear leather lace boots because they are comfy and you don't carry half a gallon of water in each leg, but I won't be using the pair I had there again.. I'd quite forgotten the detail about lace hooks getting caught on ladders.

ttxela keeps on to me about getting some overalls that aren't covered in reflective tape, but I have so many pairs from work... I must have a set somewhere....

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I've been up the raise in Spinney, using the polyprop rope as assistance, only to find at the top the attachment point was buried so I couldn't see what it was anchored to, also that it had a few rub points! 😮 There's not all that much up there, although there's a short level to a second rise that seemed to be draughting but I didn't climb it on account of some hanging death further up. I suspect it may connect to surface (old shafts marked in the right sort of area on the 1898 OS) but whether there's a capped shaft to go at, or an open hole lurking in the undergrowth above Marks Dale is something I've not investigated.

Incidentally, in spite of what the books say, the water doesn't seem to drop below thigh-deep these days, perhaps there's been more material dropped onto the choke to raise the dam, but at least it keeps the casual idiot out! Also, when going down the first part of the level, look carefully in the water if you're in front - there are wooden rails on the floor.

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Spinney level is a fantastic little mine and the entrance is only a little damp.

My photos came out much better without the Ready Brek effect.

I've had a look up the far end but never managed to find the "Anglo Saxon" inscription.

didn't see the wooden rails?

I think climbing the raise and sticking drain rods up the second one, then walking around the top to see where they come out, is turning into a project for next time...

just looking at some pics for Ringing Rake and Masson Sough, they look interesting....

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i thought spinney level was a nice little mine,tho i hated the mozzies by the entrance!
im thinking of taking my friend in there who hates mozzies when she comes up to visit. :lol:

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Would hate to see how you treat your non friends 😉 :lol:

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didn't see the wooden rails?

I think climbing the raise and sticking drain rods up the second one, then walking around the top to see where they come out, is turning into a project for next time...

just looking at some pics for Ringing Rake and Masson Sough, they look interesting....

The wooden rails are in the first bit of level, but normally only the first person in the party gets to see them due to silt being stirred up. I forgot there's more than one raise in Spinney, I free-climbed the first one (near the flowstone) about 25ft up but it was starting to widen and I was well lubricated with mud so I abandoned the attempt. The second one , beyond the winze is/was the one with the handline, the bit I didn't climb appeared to be leading to a level but I'd hesitate to poke anything up it as there's nowhere to shelter if anything comes down it. Just beyond this point is the infamous "Anglo-Saxon" inscription, which is of uncertain date - I think at least part of it is old, but I'm not sure whether it's been added to in modern times by someone mimicking antique script! If memory serves me correctly, there's a third raise near the end of the mine, which a colleague climbed but found to be blind.

The Ringing Rake/Masson sough system (aka Youd's level) is worth visiting but unfortunately it's currently off-limits due to sewage pollution. I know the EA have been liasing with the DCA to try and get this resolved but I don't know what the present situation is other than the museum aren't giving the key out until the problem's resolved.

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it's that good, is it? Ok we won't bother with the drain rods then..

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didn't see the wooden rails?

I think climbing the raise and sticking drain rods up the second one, then walking around the top to see where they come out, is turning into a project for next time...

just looking at some pics for Ringing Rake and Masson Sough, they look interesting....

I pointed them out to Cameron but I guess you'd have missed them as we stirred up the mud. One of my aims was to try and photograph them by using the flash underwater in a bag but by that stage I thought extended faffing whilst people were up to their waist in water would not be well received.

I'm up for another trip to look up the raise at some point.

Sounds like I was looking in the wrong place for the inscription as I was looking right at the very end. ::)

From Ditzy's original post I think we still have to find the crawling entrance. Ditzy when you say the climb in do you mean the shafty thing with the rail across for a ladder or the clamber down between boulders (which we were shown on the way out)?

from RA's post it doesn't sound as though the raise is worth looking at. I know a thing or two about having things dropped down on me from above, and I'm done with that now

agree about the crawling entrance, I'd initially had the picture of a wet muddy crawl coming out in the bottom of the quarry somewhere, not at all like the exit we used.

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From Ditzy's original post I think we still have to find the crawling entrance. Ditzy when you say the climb in do you mean the shafty thing with the rail across for a ladder or the clamber down between boulders (which we were shown on the way out)?

you mean great masson? we went in thru the bouldres at the back of the overhang we didnt see the shaft
the crawl is on the rhs of the lower quarry at the base of the wall on top of the rubble in an undercut but we hafent done it yet

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the ladder shaft is above the boulder climb, there is a 'bold step' across a rift to get to it.. really there is no good reason to go there, it is an awkward take-off, drops bits of cr*p on you while climbing and brings you within a few yards of the boulder climb.

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think weve seen that from below looks like a stiope with a bent rail across it couldnt see daylight tho

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Spinney level is a fantastic little mine and the entrance is only a little damp.

My photos came out much better without the Ready Brek effect.

I've had a look up the far end but never managed to find the "Anglo Saxon" inscription.

just over on ME... I see there is no Ready Brek in Masson either :blink:

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There were a few, I just didn't upload them 😉

Sounds like I was looking in the wrong place for the inscription as I was looking right at the very end. ::)

From Ditzy's original post I think we still have to find the crawling entrance. Ditzy when you say the climb in do you mean the shafty thing with the rail across for a ladder or the clamber down between boulders (which we were shown on the way out)?

Was in there again a couple of weeks ago and still missed the inscription. :confused: