...where explorers who were then more interested in the area, history etc could use one of these fine sites to find more info and get underground safely (this rings a bell as it is how I got into this game, not thru geocahching, but walking, staying in these areas etc)...

This post made me think, and takes us back to exploring disused mines, how did we all get started?

Steve's post points out that not everybody started because of an existing interest in the underground, and how one interest can lead to another.

Or in a few cases how one interest can lead to another and then completely take over 🙂

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Having stayed in Cwm Penmachno regularly over the last 15 years I have always had an interest in the surface buildings, abandoned bits and bobs. We were aware of the existance of underground stuff in the area but had assumed it to be closed off. Also used to climb in the Moelwyns so used to the the tunnel incline as a way back down off the climb. A few years ago i was doing a walk with the family up near Wrysgan. back then i didn't know the name so googled the area. Found ME and Miles kindly took me on a trip thru Rhiwbach. from then on found the other forums lots of other fantastic pieces of underground history and got hooked. Had lots of great trips since so thanks to the great comminity out there and willing guides. :flowers:

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Quite simple really. Parents would take me on holiday as youngster to Wales. We would walk the hills and forests and on many occasions pass holes in the rock. Never allowed near them because they looked dangerous. So when i could get there without parents, the holes were explored.

Its funny to look back at how one thing lead to another. i always had a passing interest in the mines so i look A-Level geology which ead to me becomeing a mineral collector which then lead to going under ground and a real interest in the mine.

It would be interesting to here how more people got into this hobby

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Claustraphobia.
Cured it eventually :lol:

Very similar to Steve M really. Stayed in a cottage in Tanygrisiau and wandered up into the hills where I noticed an adit with a big red gate!

Some internet research on my return home found ME and Miles. An e-mail to Miles led to a visit to Cwmorthin (with Steve M) and just carried on from there. :thumbsup:

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Used to help at Brockham Narrow Gauge Railway Museum, Surrey. One of the members told me how much was still (then) intact around Blaenau. I got the 1:25,000 OS maps and he pointed me where to go. I came, it turned out to be the first of many trips.

I had previously been in a cave (in Derbyshire) and a tiny mine (near Buckfast, Devon) on a couple of school trips. Which I had enjoyed immensely.

I soon realised there were plenty of holes to look in around Blaenau, so that's what I did from then on.

I 'found' a adit and hid a geocache in there. Since then I asked everyone I knew what the adit was for, eventually got sent a link to mine explorer. Started with ones that sounded easy.

There were jet mines near where I grew up which I explored a a kid with a hand torch, I aslo got taken to the mining museum at Matlock Bath and remember having a great time crawling round the mock-up shafts and passages in there. For some reason, I didn't take up caving when I was at university, but have a long-standing interest in industrial archaeology and so when I lived near Skipton, I wandered around the Wharfedale and Cononley mines quite a bit and also had a poke around some of the closeheads and adits at Coniston when on holiday there. Having moved down to Derbyshire, I got involved with PDMHS and started going underground with them and really got the underground bug.... :lol:

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Its all My dad's fault :lol:

We used to take interesting holidays all over the place and there was usually a mine or quarry to spend a few days exploring.......

30 odd years later I'm doing the same with my kids.

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Somewhere to go when it was too wet for caving.

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My underground ventures started when I was about 9 years old. I had been to the Lord (votty) slate quarry with my father who had bought unworked slate blocks, wagons and other items from the mill when it closed in the mid 1960's. I went underground several times with him. Made it more interesting when I was told that my grandfather and uncle were miners there blasting tunnels and the incline.
So I went back underground with my friend using my grandmother's pifco torch. There was a lot to see down there then. My father somehow found out and gave me one hec of a lecture. And of course told me not to do it again.
But it started an interest which I have been doing off and on since.

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Been interested in mines etc for years but really started exploring when I had a summer job driving the BEV,s at Morwellham on the tourist trains. Then went down South Crofty with a friend who had connections there and not looked back (up ?) since

Martin

It's a long story....

Read it here if you want to!
http://www.aditnow.co.uk/documents/personal-album-54/How_I_got_into_slate.pdf 

Cheers

Graham

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It's a long story....

Read it here if you want to!

Graham

But, a very interesting read, all the same!

Wel...
Started going to Dinorwig when I was about 7, and was facinated by the place... I remember one year going up there about 7 times in 1 year! Also went to Dorathea and LLechwedd a few times, but nothing underground... not until visiting Cathedral Cavern (official name: Little Langdale Quarries) when I was about 7...

bye

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It was going unders fault. He got me involved.
Always had an interest in industrial archeology, and was fascinated by the industrial revolution.

South wales/ Forest of Dean area, Pancake mines. Aged 8 years old. love getting dirty/muddy crawling around in holes etc... Went to see family, walking down through Biblins area, saw this hole, asked if I could go and explore - NO! so I did. then me Dad started taking us kids up on the Brendon hills and exmoor. Never looked back and that 30 odd years ago - I love been underground and getting dirty.l

🙂

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minings in my family,great great grandfather worked the lead mines of tideswell,great grandfather worked jubilee colliery shaw,grandfather was overlooker at moston colliery manchester and ncb area training manager based at oak pit hollinwood when it shut,my father was active in caving since the 50's and helped start the dcc,and started taking me to mines in the lakes from an early age so my interest in mines is both personal and and historical but its only in the late 80's i started recording what i saw on film..guess i need to revisit a few places with a camera(good as an excuse as any really)

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Mainly through an interest in railways. As soon as I found there were tramways leading into these places I needed little persuassion to go in! My dad used to take me to various mines and quarries to explore but we seldom went underground, mainly concentrating on what was on the surface. For years I wanted to get underground but I had to wait until I had my first car at 17 to do that.

The first mine I explored with a schoolfriend was Bwlch Glas which we thought was amazing. Later we went to Cwmorthin and on our first visit took in the Lake Level and the chambers off the Back Vein incline not realising how massive the place was and just how little we'd seen.

I guess its also in my blood. My mother's grandfathers worked at Aberllefenni and Braich Goch Slate Quarries and she grew up in what is now Aberllefenni Mine office!

As most of you already know, its a highly addictive hobby and I try to limit my trips to one a week! Failing miserably most of the time 🙂