The first time we went down Brownely Hill was only for look see
with no plan of the mine, having met up with Helen Wilkinson, she guided us on
a round trip through the mine.
This was a hell of a trip through many
'hanging death' passages, not for the faint hearted. We entered through the
Bloomberry Level, then along Wellgill Cross Vein, until we climbed a rise onto
Brownley Hill North Middle Vein. After a short SRT up, we where on the High
Level heading for the day shaft - this part of the mine was not that pleasant,
as the level was driven through shale, the passages where very low due to
collapses and most of it was a hands and knees job. Finally after what seemed
like hours we reached Shorts Sump - an abseil down this landed us in Jug Vein
from which, we proceeded along West High Cross Vein, eventually taking a right
onto High Cross Vein. Then all the way along Brownley Hill Vein back onto
Wellgill Cross Vein and thankfully out.
We saw many aritfacts, including
our first clogs. Many thanks to Helen for giving us a crash course on Brownley
Hill - though at first I thought you where trying to kill us!
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