hello to all fellow cavers im andrew from south wales and a keen caver. Im would apprieciate some advice around the silica mines. Ive visited them previously by walking along the mellte/ hepste river till looneys leap and then traversing along the hillside but having recently bought local guidebook i undrestand i can reach the mines much quicker but cant seem to find this route! after visiting porth yr ogof today ( water seemed very low) i dropped down to dinas rock and walked along the river sychryd footpath but this ended in a waterfall which seemed climeable but is this the way? many thanks for any advice

Park at Dinas rock and as you look at the main rock face ,take the steep path to the Left. Go to the top follow the track across the top then drop down the rough steps and there you go ,about 1.5 Km in total.

Andrew.

at was a quick reply! thanks very much for the information. Do you happen to know anything about the lower silica mines thats nearer to dinas rock on the bank of sychryd it hasnt got a ngr on survey and has small enterance

Not that extensive, on the waterfall route to the sychryd water fall in the far bank. There was an article in Decent about ten year or so ago. The entrance is covered by tin sheets.

Andrew.

ahh i see will keep an eye out for that when i go to dinas rock soon . Many thanks for all your apprieciated information andrew.          Andrew

Have a look here:

http://ukcaving.com/board/index.php/topic,4819.msg68938.html#msg68938

you can follow the path up to the top of the hill and find a way into the mine otherwise climb the waterfall and look to your left, the portal is there.

There is a book, which I am not allowed to name.  It has a survey of all the mines and caves in the area.

the book you are not allowed to name, is the guidebook i was looking at, the lower mine info seems very interesting worth a wander i thought.

andrew y said:

the book you are not allowed to name, is the guidebook i was looking at, the lower mine info seems very interesting worth a wander i thought.

Click to expand...

The lower mine is worth a look.  It has a second entrance and there is a quicker way back to the car park on this side of the river.