My first trip to Moel Fferna was my first time using an electron ladder. For this my second time we would all be using SRT for access. Suggested by Ed as primarily a photography trip, our group met at the roadside cafe which was, to everyone's annoyance, closed being out of season. We then divided ourselves into two cars and headed up the rocky track, Tom catching us up as we were getting changed.
The walk up was pleasant, surprisingly no rain fell on the 'bleak hill', however we witnessed the damage from the incessant flooding during 2012 that had evidently turned the trickle of a stream into a torrent and torn its way through the farm. Fortunately the stream had since calmed down again and the track up to the top of the incline had survived in good condition. We paused for a quick look around the crumbling old mine buildings and a quick breather before the last steep walk up to the entrance. Nobody wasted any time getting in, SRT kits off and happy to be underground, we went straight to The Cog and watched Briony, Ed and Daggers set up their photography equipment. The rest of us (myself, Pete, Olly, Tom, Oggy, Colin) then wandered off to explore with the aim of finding the "Bridge of Death".
Moel Fferna is technically called an underground slate quarry, worked for slab and on the whole in large and stable chambers. The supportive wooden crib work of the cog is quite magnificent, showing the later work of coal miners in the quarry. This mine has some very nice and photogenic features The cog, the adjacent chamber with its beautifully flat patterned roof and the old chained bridge of death.
Ed's Photographs
No comments:
Post a Comment