4/3/16 Conglog Slate Mine

Crikey, it's been a while!

A much anticipated PDMHS trip to North Wales, started with an afternoon trip to Conglog on the Friday. It was a pretty chilly and blowy walk up! Nice little slate mine though. I had to borrow a helmet as I had left mine in the shed!

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5/3/16 Parc Lead Mine

Saturdays trip was along level 2 in Parc. Some fantastic things to see in here however I was babying my camera a bit so didn't get all the photos I'd have liked, still from what I hear there is loads more to see on future visits.

Many Thanks to those who have enabled legitimate access :thumbup:

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6/3/16 Dinorwic

With my borrowed helmet returned it struck me that this was an ideal opportunity to have a wander around Dinorwic, and so a pleasant day was passed exploring the workings. It seems I may have missed some of the best bits by climbing the wrong incline though so plenty to return for on a future occasion!

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7/3/16 Snowdon Brittania

A walk up to Glaslyn before heading home past the mill.

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17/4/16 Burtersett Slate Mine

A PDMHS visit to the sandstone roofing slate mines at Burtersett. Mrs T and I made a weekend of it and stopped in a B&B at Aysgarth.

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Inside the longest accessible level.

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Nice calcite crust on the water.

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The last working face.

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Looking back out of the entrance.

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Some of the surface buildings.

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The roof is a little shaky in parts.

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Some nice stone arching in one level.

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Lovely day!

8/5/16 Masson Mine

One of the ladies at work has had the novel idea of attempting to do 50 things she would not normally do before she is 50 years old next July and has come up with a list. Some are fairly simple things like reading certain types of books or watching certain films however some are more like challenges, one was to go on an underground trip and so she asked if I would take her somewhere suitable and also roped in another workmate.

She had a great time. I found out on the way home this was the first item on her list she had completed!

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14/5/26 Barons Cave

Another Reigate Cave Day and again I was guiding in the Barons Cave. A very busy day with nearly 400 visitors I believe!

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21/5/16 Brighton Sewers

A WCMS trip to take the Brighton Sewers tour. A very interesting trip with entertaining guides. Well worth it if you get the chance. The bits you get to see are mainly storm water overflow. Also had a bit of a walk along the pier :)

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Also a bit of a video effort here;

17-18/6/16 - NAMHO 2016

A fascinating day of lectures at an excellent venue in Dublin University. Followed by a very good conference dinner with Live entertainment on the Saturday night. Mrs T was with me and enjoyed herself as well!

A change for me as I am normally on field trips and do not make it to the lectures.

19/6/16, NAMHO 2016, Surface Walk Around Avoca Mines Co. Wicklow

A rather wet day but an enjoyable walk around these surface remains which may shortly be unfortunately re-landscaped :(

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20/6/16, NAMHO 2016, Tara Mine

A field trip to Tara Mine about 40mins from Dublin. The day began with an informative talk in the offices with a very impressive 3d plan of the workings and the history and geology of the mine.

Then a tour of the underground workings which were very extensive. It took 40 minutes of underground driving to get to the area we looked around. I was quite taken with the idea that no-one ever enters the stopes!

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The underground tour was followed by a generous lunch in the canteen, the food was excellent and very filling. Then we had a tour of the mill following the entire process.



A compilation of clips giving some idea of the process in the mill.

I was very impressed by the hospitality shown by Boliden, we took up a whole day of their time and were very well looked after. Many thanks :thumbup:

22/6/16, Doolin Cave

Whilst in Ireland we visited the wife's uncle in Galway and while being show around the sights we visited Doolin cave with its massive stalactite.

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OK it's a natural cave but it does have an impressive mined shaft put in to gain easy tourist access to the natural passage.

24/6/16 Drumkeelan Stone Mine, NAMHO 2016

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A field trip to Drumkeelan, the mine owner had lit the underground working with candles for our visit and also presented us each with a book of his poetry. A very atmospheric site and yet again wonderful hospitality!

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24/6/16, Crohy Head Talc Mines, NAMHO 2016

An afternoon trip to look at the remains of these mines, we had a good look around the surface on the cliffs but unfortunately since time was short I was not able to descend to the beach.

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This was the end of the conference for me and what a grand time we had! Many thanks to all those involved :thumbsup:

It only remained to Pick up Mrs T from Killybegs and drive back to Dublin ready for the ferry next morning. Unfortunately although we had fantastic accommodation wherever we went around Ireland this last night some sort of administrative error had been made and I had managed to book us into what appeared to be some sort of seedy borderline brothel. Mrs t objected to this and so we had to seek alternative accommodation :lol:

1-3/7/16 WCMS BBQ

The annual BBQ at the wonderful WCMS Welsh cottage! :thumbsup:

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1/7/16 OFD II

OK, nothing mine related at all here, a caving trip down past Trident and Judge, recent illness left me struggling a bit, sad to say, but it was an enjoyable outing regardless! Unfortunately didn't take the camera!

2/7/16 Dinas Silica Mines

A relaxed pre-BBQ wander.

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3/7/16 Scotts Pit

A brief detour on the way home to look at this engine house.

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I noticed on the OS map another Engine House was marked nearby. A bit overgrown but I think this was it......

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Cornwall, September 2016 Hayle/Gwithian

A fairly gentle holiday since Mrs T was recovering from a recent illness as well as some recent health issues myself. In any case I managed to visit a few mines;

My rather unfortunate poo crawl up the Wheal Lucy adit
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Gwithian Tin Streaming Works
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I believe this is the remains of the ariel cableway to the beach built when the incline collapsed.
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Remains of the incline
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Bottom of the incline, possibly an altered sea cave? I was told there were the remains of a wagon here but I didn't find it.
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National Explosives Factory, September 2016

I had a walk over the dunes to look at the remains of the explosives factory.
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Lots of these buildings on the site.
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Didn't find the adits marked on the OS map but there were a couple of these ventilation shafts to the tunnel crossing the site.
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This looks to be the entrance to the tunnel, completely blocked.
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