There had been a
scattering of snow on higher ground on Thursday night and as
temperatures were hovering around freezing, the road from Monyash was
a bit slippery and the section of track beyond the first gate from
the road to the OCC cottage was covered with ice so we left the car
in the field by the track along with some other vehicles already
there and walked the remaining distance to the cottage.
We said “hello” to
all that were there (it was the club Xmas Dinner tonight) and grabbed
the ropes and bags and set off for Oxlow Farm.
The barn had been
recently repaired after the roof had blown off some months ago but
there was a car parked lengthwise in the small area by the road where
the farmer allows cavers to park so we left our trespass money (£2
each) and drove back down the road to park at the small layby next to
the stile which allows access to Oxlow Cavern Maskhill Mine and
Nettle Pot.
We had a chilly change
into caving gear and walked across the snowy fields to the Oxlow
entrance and as Keith was on rigging duty, he descended first with
Karen and I following afterwards.
It was quite drippy
underground and quite chilly at the foot of the entrance shaft due to
the cold draught coming down the shaft.
We dropped to the
bottom of all the pitches to get to the large West Chamber and had a
quick look at the remaining pitch to the sump pool below Maskhill
Mine where there was quite a lot of water dropping down opposite.
After a short “Mars
Bar break” we headed out to reach the surface again at around
1445, having entered the cave at just around noon.
After walking back to
the car through a cold wind and getting changed, we returned to the
OCC cottage to wash the ropes and bags and then headed for home for a
while.
Later in the evening
we joined others for the Orpheus Caving Club Xmas Dinner at the Duke
of York along the A515 towards Buxton from Parsley Hay.
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