Rowten Pot

Spring Bank Holiday and as no one was going on the Orpheus CC trip to South Wales, Karen, Keith and I decided on a caving trip to the Yorkshire Dales.
As it was a late decision, we were lucky to get accommodation at the Old Schoolhouse in Helwith Bridge, which belongs to the Yorkshire Speleological Society.
As always, Karen and I travelled up last night on the Friday and we met Roy Rogers, who is a YSS member, already at the Old Schoolhouse. We had arranger with him to join us for a trip underground today as he had only the one day free for the weekend.
Breakfast was at the usual location of Bernies in Ingleton, where we were relatively early and met Keith at just after 09:30. We had gotten up from bed a bit earlier than usual as a group of “more mature” members of a mountaineering club were also staying at the Old Schoolhouse and some of them were up and banging about at 6:00!
Anyway, it was damp and drizzly, as forecasted, along with some light rain overnight. We all wanted to have a trip down Diccan Pot and accordingly drove to the track of Alum Pot Lane at Selside to get ready for the trip.
We realised that the light rain and drizzle was showing no signs of dissipating, which it was supposed to as predicted by the weather forecast. So, we decided on a change of plan and headed to Kingsdale where we parked in a layby convenient for Rowten Pot.
We had noticed that beyond the resurgence at Keld Head, Kingsdale Beck was dry, as it would usually be when the weather is dry or there is a small amount of rain, but we were surprised to see water in the beck further along the valley towards Dent.
After changing into caving gear, as we were walking up the valley side, I was surprised to see that the beck was now flowing well with water and had gone way past us and was already past the bridge leading to Braida Garth farm!
Anyway, Keith set off down the open pot of Rowten Pot followed by the others with me bringing up the rear as I had the tackle bag containing the rope for the final pitch. My left arm had been a bit painful around the inside of the elbow joint recently and as I was trying to unclip my cowstail from the rebelay a short way down, I pulled something in it which made it feel worse.
I joined Roy on the muddy ledge below and after passing him the tackle bag I was carrying (he had already passed his onwards to Karen), I decided to wait there for the others to return as I didn't want to risk injuring my arm and spoil the forthcoming trip to County Clare at the end of the month.
I had a wander around looking at this bit of Rowten Pot and not too long afterwards I could hear the others making their way back up over the roar of the water below.
I grabbed the tackle bag Roy was carrying and headed back to the surface. We wee all back together in the much drier weather after 3 and a half hours underground with everyone else having reached the bottom of the pot.
After getting changed out of caving gear, we returned to Bernies for chip butties and then back to the Old Schoolhouse. We spent the evening in the pub opposite, The Helwith Bridge, which had had new owners since the previous owner, Colin, retired. I'm glad to say it hasn't changed a bit and the beer and pizzas are as good as they always were.