Croesor Rhosydd

The first official club weekend away in an unbelievably sunny Wales. No, you didn't read that wrongly - it was a sunny weekend in Wales!

The highlight for me was the Crosoer Rhosydd through trip . A colleague had recommended this trip to me a year or so back and I’ve been itching to do it since. How could you not get excited about a trip which needs a boat?! It was a fair drive from our campsite in Langollen but worth it.

We parked up in the village and got some very odd looks as we sorted rope, boats, oars and pulleys as families and walkers donned their walking boots for a pleasant summer stroll.

A slog up an old mine track (if only the railway was still running) led us to the old mine workings and the start of Cresoer Mine. This has been empty since the 70s but already dereliction was setting in – in fact the entire mine is in an active state of collapse.

The first section was really eerie, as we walked passed the deserted office and flooded chambers. The water is completely still and incredibly dark. As we gained height and viewed the chambers from the upper levels, you began to appreciate the scale of the mine – my puny light barely reached the walls.

A short abseil on in situ gear led us into chamber one, which was awe inspiring in its scale. However the scale of the chamber also meant the roof was struggling to be supported and there were house sized boulders strewn over the floor – not a place to hang around! We had also read that simply shouting was enough to trigger collapse here so we tiptoed across (as delicately as you can across loose boulders!) in silence. I’m sure the shouting theory has got to be myth but I sure as hell didn’t want to be the one to disprove it! I’ve never caved in silence before and it’s very very odd, and what was more disconcerting was that I still had the remnants of a cold and desperately need to cough!

Thankfully we all made it through intact and after another abseil on in situ gear (and rope protectors in a variety of states!) we arrived at the first water crossing – Tyrolean time! It was then time to unfurl the mighty Stingray – our trusty vessel for the second water crossing (Stingray is a dingy of Matt’s bought 10 years ago and never used). It was short crossing, but stingray performed impeccably and no one got wet.

A series of bridges were next, although that term should be used fairly loosely! I crossed the rotting wooden beam first. It should have been easy: I was sober, I generally have no problems walking in straight line, but there is something fairly unnerving about walking across a plank over a large drop into very deep water and not wanting to endure the humiliation of falling.

The much hyped “Bridge of Death” turned out to be more of a tightrope / zip wire of death. With some cunning systems involving string to share steel krabs / pulleys (despite having about 50 pulleys between us we were trying to conserve our gear from the aluminium eating steel cable - take the cavers out of Yorkshire and all that…!) we crossed successfully. Short people beware though, unless you are happy pulling up on rusty struts then you will get strung up!

The final water crossing was my highlight, you had to abseil into the dingy!! Stingray, along with another in situ vessel, again served us well (although there was a distinct sound of hissing) and it was a short distance to the Rhosydd mine connection and the daylight streaming in down the huge boulder slope that marked our exit.

In true Wales fashion, the cloud had set in and visibility was poor on our exit. We were very glad of our GPS in finding our way back to the miner’s path (although this didn’t stop Laura disappearing waist deep into bog at one point!).

All in all this was a really fun trip and I particularly enjoyed the novelty of the water crossings. Also glad we did it before everything disintegrates or the mines collapse completely!

For me the rest of weekend was spent working / reading / sunbathing / wandering – it seemed rude not to enjoy the glorious weather. The rest of the group enjoyed a trip down ODB on Sunday and showed off their digging skills! So an excellent weekend: good trips, nice campsite and stunning scenery.