Ed CoghlanWell the time finally came. After some amazing work clearing the blockage of the Nentsberry Haggs level the full traverse was back again. I have wanted to do this trip ever since I first heard of it a year ago and finally found a willing guide. The trip entails a 9.25km 7 Mine and 8 Sublevel Traverse. The Mines are Caplecleugh, Longcleugh, Smallcleugh, Rampgill, Scaleburn, Brownley Hill and finally Nentsberry Hagg's. The day started by meeting in the car park and Nenthead. Quickly changed and 2 of us set off to leave a car by the exit (to save a long walk back in the dark). The others headed off into Rampgill to drop a few ropes off to save us the hassle of carrying them through the full traverse. Then came the customary pic at the beginning.Once in Capelcleugh we headed past the stables and up the incline.A short abseil down Prouds then takes us to the sub level and then a short slippy slide down to a lower sub level.From there we decided on lunch and climbed up into Prouds Flats for a dry place to sit.This is where I took my last photo of the trip as I decided I was delaying us to much and we were in for a lot of water so the camera went away. After a long walk we finally came to Hangingshaw Branch Level of Rampgill mine. We finally reached Whisky bottle junction and a short distance after we found our ropes. We then turned right up Scaleburn Cross Vein and up through the famous steps. A bit of poking around finally took us to Browns Sump and a short pitch took us to the lower sub level. Then came the fun abseil.A 40m pitch down a narrow stoping took us to the lower cross vein and a loooong section of deep cold water. One lad was nearly swimming at this point lol. We finally reached the Engine Shaft junction. Bearing right took us then up into Brownleys hills North Middle Vein and onto the connection to the final leg of the Trip. A narrow hole and ladder took us down to the Haggs Level and a long slog out in varying depths of water. Finally we hit the exit gate and out into the open air.

The team	Ore chute	Old tub	Graffiti
Another tub	Stone arching	Tub and rails	Bate time
At the exit	Area map

Type of entry: Mining

view map of this log entry view map return to main list of entries return