“And when you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you”

Friedrich Nietzsche

It’s been a long shift at work today but it’s summer and I finish mid afternoon. The weather has been good for a few days and I’d already pre decided I was going to explore this slate quarry for some time now. In fact my gear is already packed and in the car. Following a conversation with one of the staff who is also a cave and mine explorer I know that this is accessible and there’s a lot to explore. When I was last at this quarry what I saw was an adit sat in the middle back of the workings which looks like a main entry. It has not yet been blocked or gated which I’m assuming is due to the fact it’s not an area that sees a lot of tourists and it is a bit of a hike to get to the place, which only works in my favour really. With all this in mind I head to Croesor to start my mini adventure.

Off I Go Again

I head off up the trail from Croesor and get a lovely view of Cnicht I’ve never seen before, with a ruined house in the foreground. There’s no way I’m going to miss this photo opportunity, because it almost looks like a painting. It’s a lovely sunny day which is why despite being tired I’ve come here straight from work with this mad idea in my head. It’s just good to be outside, the sky is blue the birds are chirping, but I wasn’t on an adventure I could probably just lie down and sleep in this field.

I make my way up the valley until I eventually hit elevation, head down a few paths then ascend again via an old mine incline while the sheep look at me like I’m an idiot which is ironic as fluffy as they are, sheep are one of the dumbest animals in existence. It’s very steep taking this route and it’s worth noting this mine is unusually high at 1500ft (about 157m) above sea level. Passing down the old cart track towards the vast workings I notice the second sheep skull I’ve seen today ominously lying about so I get it in a better position for a photo. It passed through my mind that hopefully I’m not taking a picture of my own death omen. Another thing that impossible to not notice lying around is about what I have read is 2 million tons of waste rock from the quarry. Now this sounds like a lot of waste rock but is not as much as some of the other quarries in the area.

Originally the workings here started above ground around the year 1830, which at the time of writing this blog was was 194 years ago. Eventually the quality slate ran out above ground, and the workings progressed underground instead, creating 14 underground floors and 70 chambers, only a few of which I will see today. This makes this area judging by the definitions a slate quarry and a mine, to save confusion I’m just going to refer to the people who worked here as ‘miners’.

I pass close to where the miners barracks sits a building which was once overcrowded by miners who lived in conditions bad enough for the quarry to be sanctioned several times by the local medical officer. The washing facilities were so poor here that the place to wash was any nearby streams, I can imagine this would also meant poor hygiene, yet another concern to add onto a job which was already incredibly dangerous. Between the abandoned ruined buildings a stream runs through, and this stream I follow a short distance to the dark hole in the rock I now know to be adit 9.

Kitting Up

I stop near the entry to the adit and peer into the inky blackness and take a deep breath before putting down my kit bag down and checking I’ve got everything. Then I text my emergency contacts my location and when I expect to be out of there, just in case. I could give you all the guff about not doing this alone but that would of course make me a hypocrite as I’m doing it, I do have a heady mix of anxiety and excitement as I start to kit up, I always get this kind of feeling when stepping into the unknown I know it’s dangerous but I’ve got the right gear and people know where I am.

All suited up and feeling sort of ready, I turn towards the adit entry and mentally note again that it does indeed look pretty scary. In fact if I was Icelandic I would probably be expecting a troll to come running out of this and bash me to death with a boulder. It looks like what you imagine as a kid in a fairytale from the brothers grim where everyone dies. I step into the stream exiting the mine, and as I do a cool gust blows down the tunnel into my face. Almost like its a living thing, taking a breath before the moment comes to bite down on me. The stream probably comes from the five levels below this adit which I have read are flooded. It is crazy to think on the fact that this tunnel was driven into the mountainside all the way back in the year 1870, over 154 years ago! To put that in perspective it was six years later when queen Victoria was proclaimed empress of India after the East India company was dissolved. That’s how old this place is. So if I see any wooden beams in here am I going to trust them to hold..no, I am not. The

The last time I was here heading back from a circular of Cnicht and I made a mental note this entry was here but I didn’t go in because I didn’t have my wellies with me. Then again I wasn’t expecting to find a fully accessible mine. I would have checked it out but the water is too deep for hiking boots I don’t know if many reading have descended an mountain area in wet hiking shoes/boots but its grim. Many miles of uncomfortable ‘squelch, squelch, squelch’. Ew.

As I duck into the passage under what worryingly looks like three canine teeth made of rock I start wading though the very clear water. The first thing I notice are the acoustics of the place a big echoing booming which is a clear sign which clearly means this thing goes DEEP and I may have hit the jackpot here. Well my kind of jackpot anyway there’s probably people reading this thinking ‘f*ck that’. And you know what I can totally understand why you would feel that way. At this moment i had no idea the mine had so many floors and levels, I only found that out when I started writing the blog. I can easily see the bits of rotten wood probably from the cart tracks and rusted things I can’t identify in the clear water. I’m reminded that some mine levels only have wooden beams holding the floor in but the fact the water is flowing down this like this, it has to be solid. It still doesn’t get the idea of the floor collapsing out of my head though that’s in there now. Cheers anxiety!

I seem to walk forever down this tunnel for what is at least half a mile, getting more and more nervous as I travel deeper into the mountainside. But that’s a good thing because it’s keeping me alert, watching out for bits of roof deciding to no longer be roof. Eventually I come across some side passages which open into large man made caverns. These look like exploratory tunnels and modern explorers have clearly been here, as there’s abandoned socks herein fact, is this where my lost socks come to, no wonder I can’t find the things. There’s further passages extending from these which I would explore but I don’t know this area at all so I’m just going to stick to the main route, deeper into the mine, deeper underground. The main passage I’m on is really wide, and I’ve read is will be because there was no separate passage which would have been for the miners, the carts and the miners would have shared the same space which sounds pretty dangerous. There doesn’t appear to be any wooden support beams in the adit which could be a sign that the rock is solid so they aren’t needed or, and I’m trying not to think about this possibility there were supports, and over the course of 150 years they have rotted away to nothing. Along the at points on the ceiling there are ceramic electrical routers, so it’s likely there was lighting here at some point possibly, or maybe they were for something else. I’m not an expect on Victorian technology I’m just a dude who does dangerous things for fun.

I keep on wading down the tunnel for a while and it feels like this will go on forever. It feels as if this tunnel will just go on forever, part of me is just expecting the whole mountain to collapse on top of me at any moment. This obviously doesn’t happen but of course my anxiety is telling me it will. I can almost imagine the blood draining out of my rock crushed body. This sounds super dramatic and if you are looking at getting into this please don’t let it put you off but this is one of my many intrusive thoughts. And right now this particular thought is intruding like a pube in restaurant soup, and even though I have these thoughts they do not stop me somehow. Eventually after passing a few side passages that look worryingly like alters to some sort of lost sock god, the floor gradually rises and slowly what looks like a path begins to emerge up ahead. The floor begins to dry, and I can see thick metal cables resting on the ground to my right. Maybe these were from the system that was used to move the mining carts

Soon cart tracks appear, probably preserved better because of how far into the mine they are. The cart trails get less rusted the further I walk into the mine and some kind of mining cart interchange appears out of the darkness. These tracks would have enabled the movement of what were known as Megryn Carts, a type of mining cart with special gripper attachment that connected them what was known as a ‘continuous rope haulage system) powered by a water wheel. These cart tracks tracks peel off right and left into the darkness ahead.

I choose to head off to the right tunnel, and as walk carefully down it machinery appears from the darkness, rusted away by time shedding flakes of orange red. Huge cogs from something are strewn around, leaving red brown stains on the floor here. There are large rusted chains, bits of iron piping I’d expect were part of a pumping system, metal train track wheels disembodied from long vanished mining carts. Looking around I jump thinking I’ve just seen a tall figure up high on a ledge. Some modern day joker, maybe a caver has put a Christmas tree up there and from the corner of my eye, I swear it looked like a person but as my eyes focus, yes it is indeed a Christmas tree unfortunately it’s out of shot of my camera and you’ll have to take my word for it, it made me look like a panicky twat but there wasn’t anyone in here to see luckily.

I head further in and see the side of this man made cavern has a tunnel heading off, handily labelled ‘Danger’ by someone in hastily daubed yellow paint. There has probably been a rockfall here and I decide being as I’m alone, I’m avoiding it like a vegan avoids bacon. I’ve also spent probably an hour walking just to here so I make the decision to turn back as I’m easily over a mile underground by this point.

As I start to head back to the surface, looking back over my shoulder I get a better sense of how huge this place is and it obviously goes on much further into the mountainside. I think I’ve made a wise choice to call it a day I can always come back with more people and more gear and go further in with extra confidence. Who knows what we will find? When I emerge inti the sunlight I have to admit, as usual I feel a bit of a sense of coming up for air and of relief, like I’ve emerged from a different world, another time. Because if you think about it I have really. One thing is for sure this a a really cool place, and I can’t wait to explore more of it soon.