Open Water Swimming

Wow what a place! And what an adventure to get there!

This one comes with a warning, folks. It isn’t an easy place to access so please be aware of this. There is debris left around from it's time as a working mine so watch your footing for cables, metal spikes, and half-burried rail tracks used to move slate around back in the day. So do be careful.

And if you're thinking of swimming, I really can't emphasise this enough...its for strong, experienced open water swimmers only. The water is cold, it's deep, and there are some deadly undertows just under the surface that have been known to pull swimmers and scuba divers into the abandoned and flooded mine shafts. Both swimmers and divers have lost their lives here. So if this is on your bucket list. Think about it carefully before you go for it. And take sensible safety precautions before heading there.

So, if you're still up for this one, you're going to want directions. 

Roughly then, here you go...Just after Yew Tree Farm--which has a link to Beatrix Potter--there is a turning on the right which is for Hodges Close. This is a narrow, windy road which takes you to a car park at Hodges Close. Sounds vaugue, right? Right, but trust me, this is the easy bit.

Once you ge to the car park, you can find the rim of the quarry, really easy. The real question is how the hell do I get down there?

We did visit a few times before finding an accessible path to get down to the water.  The key, was not to try attacking directly, but to try a subtle approach. From the car park follow the road to the left where there are some houses, just after the houses you will see a footpath sign. Follow that path for literally just a few meters and you will see a small gap in the wall and a steep path heading down. It looks a bit like steps cut into the rocks with dirt covering some of them. Believe me, Mother Nature really is doing her best to reclaim this treasure again. But when you find this spot, it's time to explore!