THIS IS HOW NOT TO FIND THE CATHEDRAL!
Me and a mate decided to go down to Box Mine today and check it out and while I can say we had an epic fail trying to find the Cathedral we both had a bloody good time. As it's my first time in a proper Mine and a long time since my buddy was underground it was quite something to behold. I think we must of walked past the Cathedral a couple of times although I'm not entirely sure we were even in the right part.
We entered backdoor and climbed down in the chamber then around to the right to get to the first obviously hewn spot. Spent 10 minutes walking around that bit and then all the way down to the end and found the very small gap that gets you into the Mine proper (I guess) After that we couldn't make any sense of the map just followed some of the more obvious markers and saw quite a lot actually. Im sure we were on the right track in OXO 1 cos we walked past an arrow pointing ahead to cathedral and passed another one pointing back the other way some 30 or 40 meters ahead.
At that point we thought we'd got a tiny bit lost but in the end we had just gone down one passage we shouldn't of, we then realised that we were going to get seriously lost if we carried on so headed back to back door.
The weird thing is I've watched a couple of videos and it seems like cathedral is about five minutes from back door down some really large tunnels which are basically large all the way back. The way we went is most definitely not that way.
Even though it was an epic fail we both thoroughly enjoyed it and are planning on going back really soon hopefully this time with someone who actually knows what they're doing cos we couldn't read that map for shit!
Also I have a new found respect for you guys as photographers as we tried taking some pics down there and while some of them came out OK I can really see how much work was been put into some of the efforts. Fully lighting up the cathedral for example must of been awesome.
Small disclaimer, we did thoroughly research the mine before we went, used all the right gear, bought the map etc. so we knew what we were up against somewhat.
Anyway, Mines. Awesome.
I did shoot the whole thing on my action cam which came out reasonable well, it's not particularly exciting but someone may be able to tell me exactly where we went wrong if I upload it.
A few pics
Me getting ready
My Buddy Rich after we got out. (Much rejoicing!)
Light Painting Attempt
A few shots ripped from my Action Cam video (Rollei Youngstar; it did surprisingly well)
We ain't that deep!
Sparkly Ceiling
O route, not OXO!
Rich leading the way.
Part II
How to find the Cathedral the CORRECT way!
We went back again on Sunday for another try at the Cathedral and actually found it, it really does help if you enter the mine in the correct place!
Yay! We're on the right track.
Not my idea of a good place to do that but I'm sure it takes all sorts.
Still on target
Woo Hoo!
Obligatory Me shot
Tallrich with a better one
Looking back from the spoil heap.
Some more light painting attempts, slowly, very slowly, getting the hang of it.
After we got bored of Cathedral we carried on on the suggested route on the back of the map for another half a paragraph until we decided the map and mine were too different to adequately continue without someone who actually knows their way around.
We'll be back for more very soon though, absolutely loving the place.
Me and a mate decided to go down to Box Mine today and check it out and while I can say we had an epic fail trying to find the Cathedral we both had a bloody good time. As it's my first time in a proper Mine and a long time since my buddy was underground it was quite something to behold. I think we must of walked past the Cathedral a couple of times although I'm not entirely sure we were even in the right part.
We entered backdoor and climbed down in the chamber then around to the right to get to the first obviously hewn spot. Spent 10 minutes walking around that bit and then all the way down to the end and found the very small gap that gets you into the Mine proper (I guess) After that we couldn't make any sense of the map just followed some of the more obvious markers and saw quite a lot actually. Im sure we were on the right track in OXO 1 cos we walked past an arrow pointing ahead to cathedral and passed another one pointing back the other way some 30 or 40 meters ahead.
At that point we thought we'd got a tiny bit lost but in the end we had just gone down one passage we shouldn't of, we then realised that we were going to get seriously lost if we carried on so headed back to back door.
The weird thing is I've watched a couple of videos and it seems like cathedral is about five minutes from back door down some really large tunnels which are basically large all the way back. The way we went is most definitely not that way.
Even though it was an epic fail we both thoroughly enjoyed it and are planning on going back really soon hopefully this time with someone who actually knows what they're doing cos we couldn't read that map for shit!
Also I have a new found respect for you guys as photographers as we tried taking some pics down there and while some of them came out OK I can really see how much work was been put into some of the efforts. Fully lighting up the cathedral for example must of been awesome.
Small disclaimer, we did thoroughly research the mine before we went, used all the right gear, bought the map etc. so we knew what we were up against somewhat.
Anyway, Mines. Awesome.
I did shoot the whole thing on my action cam which came out reasonable well, it's not particularly exciting but someone may be able to tell me exactly where we went wrong if I upload it.
A few pics
Me getting ready
My Buddy Rich after we got out. (Much rejoicing!)
Light Painting Attempt
A few shots ripped from my Action Cam video (Rollei Youngstar; it did surprisingly well)
We ain't that deep!
Sparkly Ceiling
O route, not OXO!
Rich leading the way.
Part II
How to find the Cathedral the CORRECT way!
We went back again on Sunday for another try at the Cathedral and actually found it, it really does help if you enter the mine in the correct place!
Yay! We're on the right track.
Not my idea of a good place to do that but I'm sure it takes all sorts.
Still on target
Woo Hoo!
Obligatory Me shot
Tallrich with a better one
Looking back from the spoil heap.
Some more light painting attempts, slowly, very slowly, getting the hang of it.
After we got bored of Cathedral we carried on on the suggested route on the back of the map for another half a paragraph until we decided the map and mine were too different to adequately continue without someone who actually knows their way around.
We'll be back for more very soon though, absolutely loving the place.
