Promised so much, but delivered so little. Reports on this mine looked good, however the reality was rather different.
After meeting up in Great Ayton, we all headed up towards Captain Cook's Monument and after the third stop, found the right car park! An easy walk up the forestry track followed by a steep slope down through the woods and the mine was obvious. A fairly new wooden enclosure helped with location with the top shaft entrance just below the track.
The adit entrance is a low concrete arched passage with a large pipe running the full length. After fifteen meters or so it opens out into mined passage with several tanks of water ahead. Stepping over the tanks and around the corner, daylight comes in from the shaft with it's impressive original steel ladder. Crossing a rotting wooden board leads to a rather unfortunate sudden end to the mine. To add a bit of excitement, we exited by the dodgy ageing steel ladder up the shaft.
An interesting place, worth a look but don't expect a long day underground!
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