Visited with urban junky and jake.
As you will know Box is probably one of the largest of the wiltshire mines, and very unstable in places. This was purely a trip to get used to navigating rather than a photo trip. The camera only came out when we stopped.
Starting from the Backdoor, we made our way to the cathedral first.
From the cathedral, we headed south towards Jacks passage, using the suggested route on the map. The first thing that becomes apparent is how the map isn't always true to the mine. The layout changes, falls etc. and it is not just as straightforward as following directions on a map.
b12
The map route idea was soon scrapped. We'd decided to make our own route on the map, heading towards the Wind tunnel in the South-East. Marking the map as we went and remembering various graffiti and features on the way.
Luckily we were on main passageways for most of the time, going from jacks passage to B12 and then to the SE was pretty straightforward.
We stopped for tea with the robots on the way.
Bit of TV on the way too
Trying to get to the Wind tunnel, it became apparent how different the main passageways are to the smaller, unsurveyed routes. We went off the map a couple of times at this point, making sure we didnt lose our bearings completely on B12. We soon headed back down B12 going east back towards the cathedral, and decided to try and find the route that goes over the top of the cath. , past box 13 on the map, and this is where it got interesting.
This was one of the very unstable parts of the mines. Clambering over rocks the size of cars, looking for one fall straight ahead, when actually there are five falls going in every direction. We decided to go back the easy way, the way we knew, and it was at this point we could smell something wasn't quite right.
Someone was burning something somewhere and we could smell it from all the way deep in the mine back to the entrance. Getting to the smaller, unsurveyed links, the burning was now more fumes and gas. We could see it through the torch beam and taste it in the air. It didnt taste good!
We made a hasty retreat back to Cathedral, ever aware of the gas we had to walk through, and the complete lack of any ventilation.
The adrenaline in me definitely said fright! at this point. It was the last thing we expected to happen, but we managed to keep our cool and make our way back through Jacks Muddy Passage to the Cathedral, the smoke getting worse all the time. Now i know why those gasometers are a must underground, especially in a mine environment. Although in this case it was peoples blatant fucking ignorance that would of warranted the use of one.
Suffice to say, the Cathedral was thick with smoke too. And up on a ledge, there was a small tealight burning away with what looked like 8-9 sausages stood over the candle. What the fuck! Figured there could of been a group in the room just off of the Cathedral. We left rather than check as we just wanted to get out of the fumes! Returning to the backdoor, the bolt was fingertight, a 1/4 of the way in. We locked it up tight when we went in , so someone had been after us.
Sorry to go on. All in All we navigated there and back successfully, got lost (only a bit), went off the map and got back to the entrance safely.
Just watch out going underground, especially in box and the other mines in Wiltshire. There are some real stupid idiots that will try and fuck it up for others!
As you will know Box is probably one of the largest of the wiltshire mines, and very unstable in places. This was purely a trip to get used to navigating rather than a photo trip. The camera only came out when we stopped.
Starting from the Backdoor, we made our way to the cathedral first.
From the cathedral, we headed south towards Jacks passage, using the suggested route on the map. The first thing that becomes apparent is how the map isn't always true to the mine. The layout changes, falls etc. and it is not just as straightforward as following directions on a map.
b12
The map route idea was soon scrapped. We'd decided to make our own route on the map, heading towards the Wind tunnel in the South-East. Marking the map as we went and remembering various graffiti and features on the way.
Luckily we were on main passageways for most of the time, going from jacks passage to B12 and then to the SE was pretty straightforward.
We stopped for tea with the robots on the way.
Bit of TV on the way too
Trying to get to the Wind tunnel, it became apparent how different the main passageways are to the smaller, unsurveyed routes. We went off the map a couple of times at this point, making sure we didnt lose our bearings completely on B12. We soon headed back down B12 going east back towards the cathedral, and decided to try and find the route that goes over the top of the cath. , past box 13 on the map, and this is where it got interesting.
This was one of the very unstable parts of the mines. Clambering over rocks the size of cars, looking for one fall straight ahead, when actually there are five falls going in every direction. We decided to go back the easy way, the way we knew, and it was at this point we could smell something wasn't quite right.
Someone was burning something somewhere and we could smell it from all the way deep in the mine back to the entrance. Getting to the smaller, unsurveyed links, the burning was now more fumes and gas. We could see it through the torch beam and taste it in the air. It didnt taste good!
We made a hasty retreat back to Cathedral, ever aware of the gas we had to walk through, and the complete lack of any ventilation.
The adrenaline in me definitely said fright! at this point. It was the last thing we expected to happen, but we managed to keep our cool and make our way back through Jacks Muddy Passage to the Cathedral, the smoke getting worse all the time. Now i know why those gasometers are a must underground, especially in a mine environment. Although in this case it was peoples blatant fucking ignorance that would of warranted the use of one.
Suffice to say, the Cathedral was thick with smoke too. And up on a ledge, there was a small tealight burning away with what looked like 8-9 sausages stood over the candle. What the fuck! Figured there could of been a group in the room just off of the Cathedral. We left rather than check as we just wanted to get out of the fumes! Returning to the backdoor, the bolt was fingertight, a 1/4 of the way in. We locked it up tight when we went in , so someone had been after us.
Sorry to go on. All in All we navigated there and back successfully, got lost (only a bit), went off the map and got back to the entrance safely.
Just watch out going underground, especially in box and the other mines in Wiltshire. There are some real stupid idiots that will try and fuck it up for others!
