Smallcleugh Mine

Boyd joined myself and Karen on a trip in Smallcleugh Mine at Nenthead.
We followed the route from the mine entrance going straight ahead at the first junction until we reached a three-way junction further in.
We chose the route to the left and followed this, passing sections of impressive drystone arching on one side and over the ceiling for which the old lead mines in this area of the North Pennines are renowned for.
Reaching a section which was partially blocked, Karen and Boyd crawled through and after looking at the “sump” (an internal descending shaft in the mine sense as opposed to the flooded passage in a cave also known as a “sump”) further on which connects the the nearby Rampgill mine.
Retracing our route to the three-way junction, we continued straight-ahead (which was to the right on the way in, with the third passage being only very short before becoming a dead-end). After passing various features we headed towards and area known as the “Ballroom Flats”, We met a couple of other groups on the way, the second including some young kids. One of the adults with group of kids apologised saying they had been cooking in the Ballroom Flats. As we neared the Flats we could smell the bacon which they had been cooking for sandwiches – this made us feel very hungry but I had to do with just a Mars Bar!
After a short rest in the Ballroom Flats, we continued on our way soon reaching a section of passage with several sections requiring crawling through low arched sections as the results of local collapses.
After this we passed a junction with a passage on the right past a hole in the floor and then shuffled on two old rails over a hole about 4 metres deep supported by two lengths of timber covered with growths of fungus.
The rest of the route was straight-forward walking with sections of shallow water and a series of “sumps” on the right-hand side including one called “Prouds Sump” with a log across the top and a number of bolts above to allow an abseil into lower sections of the mine.
Very quickly I spotted daylight ahead as we arrived back at the entrance.
Afterwards we had a quick trip to the café in the visitors centre to have some chocolate muffins and tea where we were joined by “Mole” (John Hine) and Steve who had been on a trip underground in another nearby mine.