Dinas Upper Mine

So this is the bigger of the two silica mines at Dinas, and is in many ways a lot more interesting than the middle one. Both were part of a huge complex of mines that straddle Dinas Rock and several of them are almost completely flooded. This one, because it is relatively high up, has some substantial galleries that are dry, though you can see a number of launching points which the cave divers use to access the flooded galleries. The water purity is extraordinary; the day we went there had clearly been no-one in there for some time (divers or otherwise) and the standing water was like cut glass. We were down there for about 3 hours, and we could have spent longer, but I was suffering from flu and the air quality was a bit troublesome TBH.

The entrance - there's still a lot of ironwork in the ceiling especially hooks, presumably for running electrical cable.

dinasup0021

dinasup0014

I think this is a tub wagon - there was a tramway that ran all the way around the mine complex, both above and below ground:

dinasup0011

There's still a lot of remnants of the tramway around and about

dinasup0031

dinasup0035

dinasup0096

A lot of the supports are traditional "pillar and stall" , including this one, which was obviously partially bricked up to stop it collapsing:

dinasup0038

And in other places, there are timber piles doing the same job

dinasup0041

dinasup0054

dinasup0078

Like, I said the water quality down there is amazing. In the first one of the these two, it's really hard to convince yourself that the floor of the mine isn't just sloping away, rather than just a reflection in the water. The second one is, apparently, a point that a lot of divers use to explore the lower, flooded galleries.

dinasup0045

dinasup0049

Lots of stuff still in here, some of it very old.....

dinasup0051

dinasup0056

dinasup0085

Some beautiful colouration in the rock as well.....

dinasup0081

dinasup0074

dinasup0076


All in all, a really good explore. The only problem (other than my incipient influenza) was the condensation. I end up with at least fifty gash photos because of the dust and moisture - which I guess is just the price you pay for doing photography in old mines - but it was a shame to miss out on some good photos of the side vents which come out in the rock face further up (Fluff might have a few of these).
Enjoy!
GDZ

Another interesting mine report from you
good work

Damp cold air and flu don't mix very well, you did really well. I see what you mean about the water, if it wasn't for the reflections of the wall on the left hand side I wouldn't have guessed there was any water there.

Amazing, you did well. I'm not sure I'd wantto go inthere

That looks like a great find. Did you take these with natural light or torch light?

Looks impressive!

Snips86x said:

That looks like a great find. Did you take these with natural light or torch light?

Click to expand...

Most of it was torch light. Uncle Fluff has some monster LED torches that could, frankly, do a good job of illuminating the seafront at Blackpool, so he must take some of the credit. I also like to use a detachable flash gun and do "intermittent flooding" because then you can direct it and get a good contrast between light and shadow. There are a couple here with natural light; the entrance ones obviously, but also some of those ones with the timber stalls where there was some natural light from vents in the rock face.
Then a little tweaking in Photoshop (not too much mind) and hey presto.

night crawler said:

Amazing, you did well. I'm not sure I'd wantto go inthere

Click to expand...

It's actually a lot easier than it probably looks. The biggest ballsache is the climb up Dinas Rock - in the rain- to get there.

Mate
I first saw these on FlickR and mate they are fantastic the colours are epic.
Looks a lot of fun, Me and Fluffy did some Wales goodness back in October but I think the 3 of us need
to go back again.

Cheers Newage

Did you not get as far as the incline and haulage engine in situ ?

You weren't that far from it in pic 9...

cunningcorgi said:

Did you not get as far as the incline and haulage engine in situ ?

You weren't that far from it in pic 9...

Click to expand...

No- right at that point I was feeling decidedly yuk, and I made Fluff jack it in!
We'll make sure we get to it next time!