So yesterday we returned to Moel Fferna. Myself and @stefglazby met 4 friends who had camped the night before.
We set off at 8am and arrived at the designated parking spot on a beaten track at around 11am. The trusty Ford Focus made it down the green lanes without too many hiccups and once parked we geared up and set off on the 3 mile difficult terrain hike to the mine shaft location deep in the hills.
Upon arriving at the only shaft and access point, Will set about rigging up a double rope and pulley system to enable us to abseil in and prussik back up later on. The hole was around 40ft deep and the sides full of loose rocks and boulders, not the safest and certainly one the lesser visited mine workings due to the difficult location.
Once inside we set about on the upper levels gradually making our way back down to lower levels where we revisited the bridge of doom before making our return back up the inclines and spoil piles to level 5 which our exit shaft was on.
The prussik method up the ropes was tiring and we let the heaviest and least experienced up first as we could pull the other end of the rope to assist the ascent of whoever was clipped into the harness. 7 of us in and out all safe and sound!
We set back off up the hill through knee deep heather bushes, energy draining at an alarming rate.
Once in the path we made good pace on the 3 mile return journey, much of the snow having melted from the morning and the sun starting set over the Welsh valleys.
It's safe to say I won't be returning to this mine again. It's 100% complete and there is nothing in me wanting to go through that effort to see something I've already seen!