On Friday Mick Murphy, Hoss and I took advantage of a short day of work in Aberystwyth to explore the Deep Level of Talybont/Alltycrib Lead Mine.
UCET have previously explored Talybont, which I gather had been disappointing. To avoid disappointment this time I had done my homework, bringing together all the information on AN, ME ant Sub Brit, I even had a reccy so that we could go straight to the access point. Hoss looked at the maps and seemed to know straight away where to look.

We parked up as close to the hill as we could get and sorted all the kit out. Hoss led us off in the direction of a now disused path marked on the old map, along the line of which were a level and a shaft. After a bit of a struggle with a couple of fences and a lot bracken and bramble, a corner of fencing was spotted and the access point was found.

Whilst Mick rigged the abseil for the drop into the mine, Hoss and I had a crawl into a little level that goes from the back of the shaft. It loops back to air after about 50 metres, and contains no artefacts other than a rather sinister looking armchair.

Back outside, Mick sorted the ropes out and headed down. He immediately saw that the mine carried on down, so I followed and then Hoss. A short scramble using a handline saw us down to the air door which controls mould growth on the laddering that was installed through a Welsh Mine Society dig from 2004. The door at the top is intended to stop mould but it seems to be failing, the white fluff everywhere was really impressive.

The laddering safely negotiated, we dropped into a very wet level. Following this led us to the Deep Adit where we turned left for the main accessible workings. A crossroads in the Deep Adit is the focus of this trip. Straight on leads to a small chamber with a flooded shaft complete with laddering and water pipe in situ. Beyond is room for a horse gin, access to this side is best done to the near side of the flooded shaft. The far side is a bit sketchy.

Turning right at the cross leads to a bit of stoping and eventually runs dead.
Turning left at the cross leads to an ongoing dig with lots of dodgy looking rooves being supported and lots of walls being epoxied. It was too small for me to get into easily, and with the knowledge that I was going to have to prussic for the first time to get out, I decided not to go into this bit.

Heading out was back the way we came, with the ladders easier on the way up, and a hand jammer to help with the handline on the scramble. The prussic up to the top was straightforward enough once I had got the technique, with Mick behind me and Hoss above me I had plenty of guidance and encouragement.

Expert opinion from Mick and Hoss was that whilst it is not a big system, with few formations and artefacts, the enjoyment of the abseil, scramble and laddering made it a worthwhile trip. If a return was made, it would be advisable to park at the end of the forestry track round the back of the hill. This would avoid repeat of the bollocking we got of a horsey woman for driving up her bridleway. It would also be advisable to follow the forestry track and then drop down onto the shaft by following the pylon line. This would avoid emerging from a bunch of undergrowth into horsey womans back garden on the way back to the van.

For a full picture account of the mine by Roy Fellows, see the attachment taken from Adit Now.

Ooooooooooooooooooh, excellent report and very cool link

A very good read.
The attachment is brilliant!
Good on you Little Joe for tackling the entry and exit! These UCET guys are so patient with us learners.