27/5/17 Hell Fire Caves

After my stroll around the countryside on Saturday I made it back to the Hell Fire caves for a look around, they were larger than I imagined and were quite well presented I thought, the more titillating element of their history not overplayed too much and quite a bit about mining and local history too. The artificial cave section was rather realistic I thought.

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Out in time for a cream tea in the attached café before heading back to collect Mrs T :)

7/6/17 Marden Mine

A WCMS evening trip into Marden mine. Primarily for me to re-familiarise myself with the place since its several years since I last visited and I am helping with the trips there at this years NAMHO conference.

Peter Burgess Marden Mine - an evening trip, part of which was to show Ttxela which bits of the mine to keep NAMHO delegates away from, so they get out alive!

I might even remember......

10/6/17 Barons Cave

Another lovely day showing people around, perfect weather too!

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22-26/6/17 NAMHO 2017

I had intended to travel down on Wednesday but I snapped a wheel stud and had to replace it - finally got the car packed up though!

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Made it to the site Thursday morning, most setting up was already done so wandered about sticking signs on things, helping with the delegate packs, putting my tent up etc. Nice meal in the pub in the evening.

Friday I registered and managed to obtain a key to Marden mine so had an amble round to familiarise myself a bit more with the place in preparation for showing people around. Then went into Reigate for a look around the sites there which I don't usually get to see on Cave Days. Then a welcome speech from Matt and a short talk by Richard Shaw before fish and chips for everyone.

Saturday Morning I was the back marker for a trip around Godstone Main Series and was impressed by the long crawly dig that had been done since last time I was there!

In the afternoon I led a trip around Marden, one chap crawled into the bottom of the airshaft and emerged rather smelly, it had been fine on Friday so something must have fallen down overnight - couldn't see what it was though.

Saturday evening was the hog roast and beer, some tried the squeeze machine whilst others enjoyed the band. I mainly chatted to people.

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Sunday morning I managed to catch some lectures, then it was off to Marden once more to show people around, the smell in the air shaft was still noticeable but had eased off quite a bit. Then back for another pub meal.

Monday I helped a bit with the taking down of marquees, by lunchtime most was done and so I took down my own tent and headed home.

Many thanks to all who organised, it was a splendid weekend that I enjoyed very much!

5/7/17 Babraham Bioscience Trust

We have an R&D unit on the BBT campus and whist visiting there I had lunch in their new canteen building. To my delight the building work had uncovered the old halls well and they had made a bit of a feature of it.

Glass floor over the well
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Looking down, the old pipework still in place
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8/7/17 Reigate Cave Day
Only the morning for me due to an engagement in Peterborough in the early evening. A change of scene too as I spent the morning at Tunnel Road. A spot of back marking on tours and a short stint as 'Helmet Inspector' :confused:

14-16/7/17 Peak Weekend

My former assistant and her family joined me for weekend in the Peak District. We stayed at Magpie Mine.

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Saturday we had a trip into Wapping Mine/Cumberland Cavern and Lynne provided an excellent lunch.

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In the evening we had an excellent meal at the Bulls Head in Monyash. Then on Sunday a walk up onto Kinder before heading home.

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21-23/7/17 WCMS BBQ Weekend

The annual BBQ weekend at the WCMS welsh cottage, Mrs T came along and we camped, slightly showery at times but not too bad. A pleasant weekend and good company 🙂. Unusually I did not set foot underground at all. We enjoyed a trip on the Brecon Mountain Railway and a walk to the waterfall.

I also got a chance to try the Cave Link underground communication system which was very interesting.

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2/8/17 Surrey Sand Mine

An evening trip to a small sand mine, discretion is required so no photos sadly.

A pretty little site though and worth the drive down from Cambs to see it 🙂

12/8/17 Reigate Cave Day

Another pleasant day showing visitors around the Barons Cave (although I slept in so was a little too late to help set up 😞 )

18/8/17 Wapping/Cumberland

Mrs T was on a fortnights training course in Sheffield so I popped up to spend a long weekend with her, on the Thursday we wandered around Sheffield and visited the Botanic Gardens. On the Friday Mrs T was back in the classroom and so I headed to Wapping/Cumberland to have a slow trip playing with my camera :)

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20/8/17 National Coal Mining Museum, Caphouse Colliery

After a walk up Blackden Brook onto Kinder (lots of water coming down, a little tricky near the top) on Saturday. I visited Caphouse Colliery on the Sunday. I took the underground tour which I thought was very informative and entertaining, had a rather cursory look around the surface due to time constraints and then had a fine meal of sausages in a giant Yorkshire in the canteen :tongue:

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29/10/17 SECRO Training

I'm not a member of SECRO but the session appeared to be open to all so I went along to see what was occurring.

All in all it was an interesting day, a pretty in depth discussion on underground first aid, a session on the Nicola radios, a bit of a discussion on personal kit and some training on Z-rigs for hauling people up pitches etc. :thumbup:

10-12/11/17 PDMHS AGM

Took the day off work on Friday to make a more relaxed trip, Mrs T came as well and we booked the van onto a campsite in Tansley.

A cycle ride down into Matlock past Lumsdale Falls Friday afternoon to visit the cash machine. Mrs T not so keen on the ride back uphill :ohmygod: . Quiet evening spent in the van.

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Saturday a ride down into Matlock bath for the AGM, another excellent hot meal, especially the sausage casserole :thumbup: this time I opted for pudding as well, apple crumble with cream.

Interesting talks on WW1 commemorations, the recovery of the Wills Founder Engine, the square chimney project and various museum projects.

The good people of Matlock had refrained from stealing my bike during the afternoon (in Cambridge that would have been gone!) and so I was able to puff my way back to Tansley in the dark.

Sunday since I had forgotten to bring some bits and pieces I had for AR to the meeting I dropped them off at Magpie. We had a bit of a walk around but it was a bit fresh and lunch had been promised so it was off to the Bulls Head at Monyash before heading home.

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25-26/11/17 WCMS Dinner and AGM

Another trip down to Surrey for the WCMS south east dinner on the Saturday evening - a nice curry in Reigate. Then the WCMS AGM on Sunday afternoon followed by a presentation on this years BEC expedition to the Phillipines.

2/12/17 Golden Age of Caving, Royal Geographical Society

An interesting day of lectures, unfortunately I was unable to make the whole weekend so just attended on the Saturday a good mix of scientific stuff and adventure stuff :thumbup:

Not much on mines but they did crop up now and again, particularly mining for nitrates for gunpowder in China.

My trip was particularly worthwhile as I had a call this morning to say I won first prize in the raffle 😉 :thumbsup:

26-28/1/18 WCMS Dinner Meet

It was very pleasant to be at the WCMS cottage again. I took Friday off work and had a relaxed drive across to the welsh cottage.

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On Saturday most people dispersed on various caving trips but I had a notion to walk up Pen y Fan, the weather was a bit less than ideal but I had a good day.



Saturday evening we had a very pleasant meal at a local pub and finished the evening off playing Twister in the cottage.

Sunday I didn't want to be back too late so left reasonably early but called in at the Silica mines on the way home to try out my new camera.

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17-18/2/18 Peak District Weekend

This was supposed to be a trip taking Summer's boyfriend underground but he had to work at the last minute. So instead it was just Summer and myself. It was great to be able to spend some time with her as she works shifts and I rarely get to see her for long these days.

We drove up on Saturday morning and had a gentle trip down Masson mine.

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We also made a video as a bit of fun;



Then we stayed overnight at Magpie Mine. We had an excellent meal at the Bulls Head in Monyash, when we got back I tried the new camera out in the dark.

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Forest of Dean 30/3/18 - 4/4/18

A bit of an extended Easter weekend in the Motorhome with Mrs T. We went to Hereford first then onto the Forest of Dean.

Did the tour at Hopewell Colliery, the exit was flooded so I think it was a shorter tour than usual. Very good though. An excellent lunch in the café afterwards. Just missed another AN member who was on the next tour!

Found a gated level (iron?) in the woods near where we were camping - looked like someone was working/digging in there occasionally. Also a couple of small caves 🙂

Tunnel Road, Reigate 28/4/18

A trip down to Reigate to help with clearing out some areas of modern junk, mainly rotten wood and such. Found a bit of time to take some snaps in the wine vaults whilst there 8-)

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