Sometimes you don’t need to go underground to have a great trip.
Throwback to when I attempted to visit Eastons Mine in Hughs Hole on Bolt Tail near Salcombe in Devon. Is it any good? Probably not. Do I know for sure? Nope.
So I attempted a trip to there. The challenge is that it’s down about 100m of loose hillside at sea level, and isn’t trivially accessible by boat.
Carrying 100m of rope, and two pieces of scaff to bong into the ground, I walked there from the carpark in the sun.
Finding what appeared to be a less steep piece of ground, I started descending, and upon finding a tree, set up the rope and started descending.
Let me just say that rope management of a 100m rope on a 30degree slope of brambles and thorn bushes is quite, err, “a skill I’ve yet to master”.
Eventually the rope ran out, which was a blessing really, because it’d been helpful only for confidence, and potentially more of a hinderence to that point.
So I wandered on unsecured down the bramble slide, more at risk of thorns in the testicle than a fall.
Eventually I got to a point where descending without a rope looked easy, and potentially life changing, and returning back without a rope looked extremely hard work. So I stopped.
Even if I got to sea level, the mine was some distance away, and no easy, dry traverses existed. If I wanted to get to it, even if I could get to the bottom, I’d have had to swim. In wellies.
For some reason, this didn’t spark excitement, so I returned back the way I’d come. Walking up the hill was easier, but Much Warmer. Managing the rope continued to be a Ballache.
So I that was my trip. 8/10
Not sure if I’ll be going back, but if I do, then I know the point to ab from. It’d be so so so much more pleasant to boat in though.
Originally posted on this post on Instagram