ditzy 24//7
Active member
had crazystaci come up to staffordshire for a week so we decided we were going to do a lot more underground wilst she was here as she doesnt get to go underground very often.
we started out by going to wiltshire on tuesday to pick her up then there was the long and boring journey back up north. arived home and i decided to teach her srt, she was using a fig of 8 to descend and i myself wasnt to sure on how to load or use one as i use a stop normally, bri went out with a friend and abut 5 minutes later i heard the dreded question "how do i load this" i had to call him and get him to explaine on the phone but staci didnt understand my explaining so i left her dangling in the loft till bri got back and just as bri walks in through the door staci manages to work things out. eventually we managed to teach her srt.
on wednesday we went and did kinder suprise culvert.
only a short journey away we arived there in the afternoon, got ready and headed through the fields towards the culvert entrence, when we arived we found a burnt out bike lying there, avoiding that we went down the bank and headed into the culvert, the access is know easyer as someone has cut through the bars, before you had to squeeze round the side. bri rushed ahead of me and staci wilst staci looked around the place slowly, looking unhappy at the sight of the spiders so i just had to point out the big ones
took some odd pictures here and there and then came to a part were there are 2 ways on, this is were we caught up with bri. we chose the right passage walking down there is lots of bright orange ocure, and as you get towards the end of the passage there is clear signs of weight coming on in there as the walls have started to come away and there are big splits in it aswell, from this it is clear to see the structure of how they built that part, its basically concrete and reinforsing bars! we walked to the end of the passage and took a few more pictures before heading back to the 2 way junction, we then took the other passage wich lead to some pretties on the sides of the walls, we then came into a bit wich was the origonal culvery wich instead of being concreted it was brichked instead, we walked through this untill we came to a smaller concrete tube wich we had to duck down in, this tube is very slippy and does give you neck ace afetr a wile, once through this we carried on to the end of it and at the end of it we found a baby bird in a nest. on the way back i did it without my light because we hd managed to get the attention from the midges and they were doing our heads in with thee flying in our faces, staci kep ther light on and you could hear her ocasionally squeel when one went in her mouth, and she also squeeled when the water went over her wellies 
. bri kept his light on most the way back and i didnt turn my light on at all but i did have the advantage of being in the middle so i could still see clearly.although i must have saved about a hours light in my battery only using it on the trip there! we then headed back to the car and then went home for a well earned shower.
me at the entrence
crazystaci not far from the entrance
brains near the two way section
me in the ocure passage
concrete being forced away were the weight has come on
crazystaci at the end of the ocure passage
me and crazystaci in some of the origonal culvert passage
the bird we found in the nest
after having a shower we decided to walk the dog around westport lake as he had been stuck in the car wilst we did the culvert
The next day we decided to go to giants hole, so we could get crazystaci going up and down the pitch, we arived there a few hours after leaving the house and got kitted up, it was absalute mayhem in the cave as there was a few groups with lots of kids in there already and we had the dow with us aswell!. we walked down towards the pitch but when at the pitch we decided it would be best not to send staci up and down it because due to wether the pitch was very wet and we decided it wouldnt be safe for her to do so as she isnt really experienced in SRT aswell as only wearing a boilersuit she would get cold very quickly, sow e begain our way back out. taking pictures in the cave was made very diffucault as it was all foggy in there and also the fact you had a group of people going past you every few minutes.
stig
stig and staci, in the fog!
we decided not to do a trip underground on thursday as brains needed to charge up his battery as it had gone dead on the way out from the previous trip but the following day we decided to do keele tunnel as a quick trip just to have a quick look see and also very close to wear we live compaired to derbyshire! we put our wellies on and picked up a tourch each and headed through the field, we then climbed through some wire and walked down the muddy embankment before coming to the entrence to the tunnel. the tunnel isnt that longa as you can see daylight from the other end but a tourch is recomended. we too some pictures and walked through, this tunnel is no longer used for the railway but the railway tracks are still in place, as always stig managed to find the only bit of durt around and got himself filthy, unfortunatly what he did find was ocure so we had to keep an eye on him to make sure he didnt try to lick it off!. we got to the end of the tunnelw ere there is a lot of very thick bits of timber and we then turned around and walked back taking verious pictures as we went. it was a nice short amble and it also walked the dog!
the entrence
aghhh theirs a dog on the line!
uh oh calling the dog back and he oppears to have ocure up his legs!
as soona s we got back the dog was put nto the bath for a wash down as we didnt want him trapsing it around the house aswell as licking it off himself, i dont think he was impressed at us putting him in the bath though!
the next day we decided to have a look at mouldridge mine, when we arived at the entrence i walked on a bit more to see if anyone had managed to undo the shaft lid yet, the andser as expected was no so i then headed into the mine after the other two. we had a look in the lower section first taking pictures as we went, staci decided she wanted to drop down through the eye hole so bri showed her from below and then waited at the bottom wilst i walked round with ehr to show her the top, she then started to go through so i went back down to bri waiting for her to come through, int he end she said she didnt want to and came back down to meet us, we then wet up to the level again and walked over to the internal shaft before turning around and looking at the upperl evel and then we headed back out.
bri,stig and staci in the lower leval.
as staci was still keen to actually put her srt in practice we decided to hed out one evening to jug holes and do the shaft there wich was kindly suggested to us by Speleokitty.thanks for a great suggestion got to the entrence and brains rigged that and then helped staci into her srt kit wilst i headed down to the bottom entrence. went through the bottom entrence and then waited at the bottom for staci to come down the shaft. once ast the bottom she put on her jammers. i cheched they were on correctly and then she started to go back up the shaft wilst i helf the rope for her, she was takign ageds to go up so i got bord and decided to make it interusting for her by putting my jammers on and then sitting down on the rope and pushint off the shaft walls from the bottom, about 5 minutes later all i hear is "oi you moving the rope" i replied "who me" and then the next second i had a snail thrown at me! ewww 
once she finally got to the top i got off the rope and crawled back through the spider infested tube and closed the entrence and walked up towards the others.
stig- "do i looke bovvered?"
staci in the shaft
The next day we decided to go and do ashford marble mine.
we arrived in the village and collected the key from the vilage shop.
wilst bri and staci got ready to do the mine i went and walked the dog up to the mine and back as he was going to be staying in the car as we wernt sure what access in regards to dogs would be.
i then got ready and we eaded up towards the entrence. once there bri undid the lock and we headed in taking pictres as we did so. we took the left passage first and then we came back to the entrence, we then went down the right passage one called second level before goig down and into the rest of the mine.
bri went to look down a passage wilst i took some pictures of pretties and the next minute all i hear is iv found it! and sure enough he had found our camera case that i had lost on our previous trip. we carried on walking through the mine looking at verious bits as we walked through. bri begain to curse his boots that he had decided to wear when he stood in a puddle and got a wet foot, about two minutes later he slipped over and ended up flat on his back
luckily he was ok we then headed back out towards the car.
After we were in the car we headed back to the shop to hand in the keys and grab a bite to eat.
we then decided to go and have a look at holme bank churt mine wilst we were in that sort of area. so we finnished eating and drove down the road to the place of parking for holme bank and went and spoke to the owner, he said it was fine to go down the mine so we begain our walk into the entrence of the mine, we had a look near the entrence for a wile then bri decided he wanted to look down a narrow passage he hadnt lookeddown before, me and staci got bord of waiting for him and i knew the way round the mine so we decided tp go for a wonder towards the water levels, as we got towards the watwer level bri must have overed at some spead as the next second he was right behind me! we looked around verious odd passages and then we came to one that we had never actually walked down before despite being in thee so many times! and sure enough there was a second working face! and water, but by the looks of thepassage wemanaged to be in it looked like it would normally be ablut 5ft under water! we then headed back towards the entrence, took off our wellies and helmets and headedback home.
we then decided to stop at the pub on the way back for a drink.
go on give us a smile
The following day we took staci back to wiltshire but we decided to stop and do one of the mines down that way before dropping her off so in the end we decided to do ridge quarry. got to the entrece, bri went down first followed by little stiggy and then me followed by staci once in we decided to start looking around. me and staci decided to go for a wonder by ourselves fr a bit and then we were later on rejoined by bri, we had a looka round odd bits here and there wilst taking pictures and ten we headed out, got dressed and dropped staci off home before getting back in the car for the journey back home.
we started out by going to wiltshire on tuesday to pick her up then there was the long and boring journey back up north. arived home and i decided to teach her srt, she was using a fig of 8 to descend and i myself wasnt to sure on how to load or use one as i use a stop normally, bri went out with a friend and abut 5 minutes later i heard the dreded question "how do i load this" i had to call him and get him to explaine on the phone but staci didnt understand my explaining so i left her dangling in the loft till bri got back and just as bri walks in through the door staci manages to work things out. eventually we managed to teach her srt.
on wednesday we went and did kinder suprise culvert.
only a short journey away we arived there in the afternoon, got ready and headed through the fields towards the culvert entrence, when we arived we found a burnt out bike lying there, avoiding that we went down the bank and headed into the culvert, the access is know easyer as someone has cut through the bars, before you had to squeeze round the side. bri rushed ahead of me and staci wilst staci looked around the place slowly, looking unhappy at the sight of the spiders so i just had to point out the big ones
took some odd pictures here and there and then came to a part were there are 2 ways on, this is were we caught up with bri. we chose the right passage walking down there is lots of bright orange ocure, and as you get towards the end of the passage there is clear signs of weight coming on in there as the walls have started to come away and there are big splits in it aswell, from this it is clear to see the structure of how they built that part, its basically concrete and reinforsing bars! we walked to the end of the passage and took a few more pictures before heading back to the 2 way junction, we then took the other passage wich lead to some pretties on the sides of the walls, we then came into a bit wich was the origonal culvery wich instead of being concreted it was brichked instead, we walked through this untill we came to a smaller concrete tube wich we had to duck down in, this tube is very slippy and does give you neck ace afetr a wile, once through this we carried on to the end of it and at the end of it we found a baby bird in a nest. on the way back i did it without my light because we hd managed to get the attention from the midges and they were doing our heads in with thee flying in our faces, staci kep ther light on and you could hear her ocasionally squeel when one went in her mouth, and she also squeeled when the water went over her wellies . bri kept his light on most the way back and i didnt turn my light on at all but i did have the advantage of being in the middle so i could still see clearly.although i must have saved about a hours light in my battery only using it on the trip there! we then headed back to the car and then went home for a well earned shower.
me at the entrence
crazystaci not far from the entrance
brains near the two way section
me in the ocure passage
concrete being forced away were the weight has come on
crazystaci at the end of the ocure passage
me and crazystaci in some of the origonal culvert passage
the bird we found in the nest
after having a shower we decided to walk the dog around westport lake as he had been stuck in the car wilst we did the culvert
The next day we decided to go to giants hole, so we could get crazystaci going up and down the pitch, we arived there a few hours after leaving the house and got kitted up, it was absalute mayhem in the cave as there was a few groups with lots of kids in there already and we had the dow with us aswell!. we walked down towards the pitch but when at the pitch we decided it would be best not to send staci up and down it because due to wether the pitch was very wet and we decided it wouldnt be safe for her to do so as she isnt really experienced in SRT aswell as only wearing a boilersuit she would get cold very quickly, sow e begain our way back out. taking pictures in the cave was made very diffucault as it was all foggy in there and also the fact you had a group of people going past you every few minutes.
stig
stig and staci, in the fog!
we decided not to do a trip underground on thursday as brains needed to charge up his battery as it had gone dead on the way out from the previous trip but the following day we decided to do keele tunnel as a quick trip just to have a quick look see and also very close to wear we live compaired to derbyshire! we put our wellies on and picked up a tourch each and headed through the field, we then climbed through some wire and walked down the muddy embankment before coming to the entrence to the tunnel. the tunnel isnt that longa as you can see daylight from the other end but a tourch is recomended. we too some pictures and walked through, this tunnel is no longer used for the railway but the railway tracks are still in place, as always stig managed to find the only bit of durt around and got himself filthy, unfortunatly what he did find was ocure so we had to keep an eye on him to make sure he didnt try to lick it off!. we got to the end of the tunnelw ere there is a lot of very thick bits of timber and we then turned around and walked back taking verious pictures as we went. it was a nice short amble and it also walked the dog!
the entrence
aghhh theirs a dog on the line!
uh oh calling the dog back and he oppears to have ocure up his legs!
as soona s we got back the dog was put nto the bath for a wash down as we didnt want him trapsing it around the house aswell as licking it off himself, i dont think he was impressed at us putting him in the bath though!
the next day we decided to have a look at mouldridge mine, when we arived at the entrence i walked on a bit more to see if anyone had managed to undo the shaft lid yet, the andser as expected was no so i then headed into the mine after the other two. we had a look in the lower section first taking pictures as we went, staci decided she wanted to drop down through the eye hole so bri showed her from below and then waited at the bottom wilst i walked round with ehr to show her the top, she then started to go through so i went back down to bri waiting for her to come through, int he end she said she didnt want to and came back down to meet us, we then wet up to the level again and walked over to the internal shaft before turning around and looking at the upperl evel and then we headed back out.
bri,stig and staci in the lower leval.
as staci was still keen to actually put her srt in practice we decided to hed out one evening to jug holes and do the shaft there wich was kindly suggested to us by Speleokitty.thanks for a great suggestion
got to the entrence and brains rigged that and then helped staci into her srt kit wilst i headed down to the bottom entrence. went through the bottom entrence and then waited at the bottom for staci to come down the shaft. once ast the bottom she put on her jammers. i cheched they were on correctly and then she started to go back up the shaft wilst i helf the rope for her, she was takign ageds to go up so i got bord and decided to make it interusting for her by putting my jammers on and then sitting down on the rope and pushint off the shaft walls from the bottom, about 5 minutes later all i hear is "oi you moving the rope" i replied "who me" and then the next second i had a snail thrown at me! ewww once she finally got to the top i got off the rope and crawled back through the spider infested tube and closed the entrence and walked up towards the others.
stig- "do i looke bovvered?"
staci in the shaft
The next day we decided to go and do ashford marble mine.
we arrived in the village and collected the key from the vilage shop.
wilst bri and staci got ready to do the mine i went and walked the dog up to the mine and back as he was going to be staying in the car as we wernt sure what access in regards to dogs would be.
i then got ready and we eaded up towards the entrence. once there bri undid the lock and we headed in taking pictres as we did so. we took the left passage first and then we came back to the entrence, we then went down the right passage one called second level before goig down and into the rest of the mine.
bri went to look down a passage wilst i took some pictures of pretties and the next minute all i hear is iv found it! and sure enough he had found our camera case that i had lost on our previous trip. we carried on walking through the mine looking at verious bits as we walked through. bri begain to curse his boots that he had decided to wear when he stood in a puddle and got a wet foot, about two minutes later he slipped over and ended up flat on his back
luckily he was ok we then headed back out towards the car.After we were in the car we headed back to the shop to hand in the keys and grab a bite to eat.
we then decided to go and have a look at holme bank churt mine wilst we were in that sort of area. so we finnished eating and drove down the road to the place of parking for holme bank and went and spoke to the owner, he said it was fine to go down the mine so we begain our walk into the entrence of the mine, we had a look near the entrence for a wile then bri decided he wanted to look down a narrow passage he hadnt lookeddown before, me and staci got bord of waiting for him and i knew the way round the mine so we decided tp go for a wonder towards the water levels, as we got towards the watwer level bri must have overed at some spead as the next second he was right behind me! we looked around verious odd passages and then we came to one that we had never actually walked down before despite being in thee so many times! and sure enough there was a second working face! and water, but by the looks of thepassage wemanaged to be in it looked like it would normally be ablut 5ft under water! we then headed back towards the entrence, took off our wellies and helmets and headedback home.
we then decided to stop at the pub on the way back for a drink.
go on give us a smile
The following day we took staci back to wiltshire but we decided to stop and do one of the mines down that way before dropping her off so in the end we decided to do ridge quarry. got to the entrece, bri went down first followed by little stiggy and then me followed by staci once in we decided to start looking around. me and staci decided to go for a wonder by ourselves fr a bit and then we were later on rejoined by bri, we had a looka round odd bits here and there wilst taking pictures and ten we headed out, got dressed and dropped staci off home before getting back in the car for the journey back home.
