P8

A group of four men had contact the Orpheus Caving Club as they were interested in giving caving a try.
We had arranged with Boyd to meet up at the hut around 10:00 and to bring along some extra gear, so after the three of us had breakfast as usual in Monyash, Karen, Keith and myself met Boyd and some others at the hut, where there were also a group from ULSA (University of Leeds Speleological Society) staying for the weekend.
As we were chatting, Boyd received a text message forwarded by Chris Jackson, the club secretary, from Sam, one of the four we were expecting. It turned out that the other three had let him down and he apologised and said he wouldn't be able to make it after all.
So, we four decided to continue with the planned trip to P8 anyway.
There were no other cars at the usual parking place as we got changed in the cold. After getting from permission from the farmer and paying our £1 trespassing fees, we walked across the fields to the cave entrance.
There was the usual amount of water in the stream sinking in P8 and most of the entrance was coated in a thick coating of ice. I spotted a pile of sheep droppings just inside, left over from the sheep which had been rescued recently from just inside the entrance.
The upstream sump was flowing well despite the dry weather for the past few days, and the downstream sump was quite high.
We returned to the surface after a quick but thoroughly enjoyable trip, as usual with this cave.
Afterwards, we returned to the cars and got changed then it was back to the café in Monyash to stock up on lost calories!