Trip to Gloddfa Ganol Tourist Mine -- 23rd May 2010

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Trip to Gloddfa Ganol Tourist Mine -- 23rd May 2010

Group: Dennis, Paul, Mary, Dave

When we were last in Cwmorthin, we had wandered along level D-E towards the collapse (past the FOC trespass signs) and Dave had climbed up and found the D-E level continued past the collapse. We wondered if you carried on it might be possible to reach the remains of a show mine which was opened in the mid 1970's and closed in the late 1990's. At that time Oakeley was still being worked with high explosives, which could make further exploration along the level rather hazardous, but recently Oakeley was closed down for safety reasons and so a trip might be possible.

So on a very warm spring day we drove to the Cwmorthin car park to find it full... We headed to the lower car park and partly changed into gear as it was so hot. It seemed everyone and their dog was out and about, some people rock climbing and others walking, so we expected to meet other parties in the mine. We headed up to the lake level portal, put on oversuits and headed underground which was pleasantly cool after the hot ascent. After chasing a young wren (living up to its latin name Troglodytes troglodytes) back to the outside world we headed along and down through a couple of chambers (watching out for the hanging death over the stairway in the second chamber).

Soon we reached the Oakeley 'hurdles' and then made our way down to the 1935 compressor area for a mooch around and a look at the water wheel which powered the lights. Sadly this wasn't working as the flow of water was insufficient due to the dry weather.

We carried along the level till we got to the collapse and climbed up. There is a large slab which has detached from the roof and you have to pass under, but some kind soul has engineered a pillar to support it from slate waste and cement and so it is now fairly safe.

Dave tried to climb down from the middle of the collapse, but the handholds and footholds are greasy and slope outwards and he fell backwards onto the floor. Fortunately no serious injury other than bruising where his Oldham battery pressed into the small of his back. Keeping to the LHS wall allows a rather safer descent...

At this point the Cwmorthin underground plan ceases to be of any use as these passages are not shown...
The D-E level complete with 'grip' channel continued on past quite a few chambers till we came to one which had the remains of an elaborate stairway complete with iron handrails heading upwards. We thought this was probably the way up to the tourist mine, but decided to finish exploring the current level. Heading further on we found some old sections of newspaper laid out on a piece of slate and after a few hundred yards more we came to a big pool of water and a collapse which blocked the level. There were a few passages off to the left, but these either ended in a collapse or a hole halfway up a massive chamber. It was interesting to note that there was an SRT rope (of unknown vintage) in situ.

We headed back along the passage to the elaborate staircase and ascended it to a junction. Most of the exits were blocked or led to holes in chambers, but the LHS passage carried on past a few massive chambers, and one caught our attention as it had the remains of an old floodlight and a discarded helmet. Dave climbed up the centre of a huge pile of slate waste and eventually saw what looked like the legs of a mannikin in a passage on the LHS. There appeared to be a substantial piece of rope spanning the chamber at this level and there was a bit of tat to assist in climbing up to the passage which must be on level 'B'. Sadly the passage led to a blockage in one direction and an opening in the middle of another massive chamber in the other direction. Returning to the slate waste scree and climbing up further showed a well made wooden staircase on the RHS.

[Note the easist way to get to this is to climb up in the middle of the slate waste till you meet the rope and then follow the rope to the RHS where it follows the RHS wall up to the base of the staircase]

At the top of the staircase it was clear we were in the show mine as there were the remains of lots of electrical fittings, an emergency phone and various body parts of mannikins etc. The real shame is that a lot of stuff had been wantonly smashed which puts a bit of a damper on what would otherwise be a brilliant trip. We had a good wander around and noticed there was a hole in the store room which let in daylight, but was unusable as an exit. A bit more exploring and disregardance of a warning sign led to climb over some debris and a large chamber. This contained more display items including some derricks and a passage leading to the outside. We walked to what was the original entrance and looked out over the Oakeley quarry resplendent in glorious sunshine.

At this point we had to make a decision as to whether to exit here and walk over the mountain to the lake level adit to retrieve Mary's rucksack or head back the way we came underground. In the end we decided it was easier to retrace our steps as the weather was extremely hot and it would have been very tiring climbing the slate waste all the way to the top of the hill and then having to lose all the height again to reach lake level.

We headed back, pausing to look around some other passages. Its a bit of a rabbit warren here and there is probably a lot to see if you climbed to the upper levels. Its a shame that there probably isn't a usable upper level connection back into Cwmorthin as we had to head back down to the D-E level and then all the way along to the compressor area and then back up through the chambers.

On exiting and locking the portal we were amazed how hot it was. There were quite a few people swimming in the lake and the water at the lake side was quite warm.

A really good trip of about 5 hours, there is lots to see, but its a shame its been vandalised so badly. There is a awful lot of mine around there to explore.