Ill Concieved Plans Poorly executed

St. Sundays Mine

Sometimes caving trips just happen. We were in Stoney Middleton and had done one of the larger systems in the area. Now we were killing time before returning to the mundane normal life. Usually I go for the tea and chips option but this time I though that it would be nice to have a wander around to see if I could spot some entrances for future reference. Armed with the guide book four of us headed up a well worn path trying to make a guide book description fit reality - an art in its self. Guidebooks are wonderful things. You can be in the wrong place going in the wrong direction and still make the description fit. More by luck than judgement we stumbled upon St. Sundays Mine. The entrance lurked in the undergrowth in an inviting way. It didn't require us to get down on hands and knees. It was worth a look, we decided to just have a peek inside, just to see what it was like. Dangerous John had a torch in his pocket, a find the key hole at night type of torch and once inside we thought it wouldn't do any harm just too look a little bit further down. We quickly came across a shaft and navigated our way around it. Before long we had traversed the length of the mine with the attitude of a stroll in the wood at night. None of us had a clue where it would end and that just added to the sense of adventure. When we returned to the shaft Dangerous suggested that we had a look down there as well seeing as we where here, as we only had one torch an inkling of sense prevailed. There was only one course of action. We dispatched someone to the car to fetch lights and ladders. This just couldn't wait for another day. The ladders arrived and we spent the next hour or so dangling down the shaft and exploring the side passages. It was well worth ruining my best jeans for.