Mystery mine in North Wales

Chris, John, Maz, Miranda, Nic, Sophie, Tim K, Tom and the UCET team

We’d been in touch with UCET about being chaperoned round one of their systems of expertise, a massive system of mines in North Wales.

We headed down on the Saturday afternoon to our campsite at Llyn Rhys, ate, pubbed and headed back to camp for a fire with toasted marshmallows and a responsibly early night.

The next morning at the crack of dawn we de-camped ready for our painfully early 9am meet at the designated secret spot. We met up with the UCET bunch and headed off into the forest to the entrance lid. 

Shortly inside the entrance we passed a teetering stack of deads and debris held up where a rockfall had happened last year. Onward through a cramped old level, passing over deep pits and collapsed false floors until we reached the first set of ladders. These were great fun, with some airy heights as you threaded back and forward through the workings, deeper into the mountain.

There was plenty to see along the way, and finally we popped out in the side of a tall stope, with solid modern ladders heading one after another into the depths. With these behind us, a short walk led into muddy passage and we popped out into the main adit. 

After a quick break for drinks and snacks, we stomped on downstream in the main passage, with its railway running beside a deep and fast-flowing river. The extent of this place was huge, and we walked for miles along the ‘floating railway’, stopping off at various engineering workshops, pump houses and sidings along the way. 

Eventually we headed up a branch tunnel bringing in a heck of lot of water, past chambers used for storing the UK’s TNT arsenal during WW2, and up to a vast natural cavern. A deep lake filled one side of this, and when the depth of the chamber below water is added to the soaring ceiling, this makes it a contender for the UK’s largest underground cavern. 

A quick bit of lunch then we split up, with John, Miranda and Chris starting the treck back out, and the rest of us continuing to some more modern and seriously big workings, complete with mechanical shovels and carts scattered around the huge tunnels.

On our way out we stopped at another couple of lodes along the way for more scratting around, before the trudge back up the tunnel to the junction where our entrance joined, and the start of the long ladder climb back out. nearly 9 hours underground, covering over 10 miles, and a pint at the local with our hosts went down a real treat. Thanks UCET!