I had a “dicky tummy” in
the morning and thought I would probably feel better after breakfast
but I didn't feel hungry enough for the usual Bernies Veggie
Breakfast and only had some eggs on toast.
We were planning on a trip
down Hardrawkin Pot below Ingleborough and near the Old Hill Inn here
we had some time ago attempted a trip but didn't take enough note of
the description to find the entrance and settled on Sunset Hole
instead!
This time we had written down
the description of the route to the entrance from the “Selected
Caves of Britain and Ireland” book and actually found it easy to
find except for a little ambiguity at the gate signposted for Great
Douk.
I had decided to give caving
a miss today and walked with Keith, Karen and Simon B. to the
entrance which was surrounded by a new fence and wooden stile. The
other side of the drystone wall was the 2 metre high entrance to
High Douk Cave from where water was flowing which passed under the
wall and then down Hardrawkin Pot. Karen had a quick look in this
cave and found a very smelly, very dead sheep with lots of maggots.
I left them to it and wandered
back to the cars in the layby up the road from the Old Hill Inn and
read a book on my Kindle for a couple of hours before the other three
were back saying it was a very good caving trip.
It was only 13:30 but Keith
decided to set off straight for home while Karen, Simon and I made
the customary post-caving trip to Bernies.
Showing posts with label Caving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Caving. Show all posts
Monday, 25 August 2014
Sunday, 24 August 2014
Swinsto Hole
Again it was breakfast at
Bernies in a busy Ingleton as today's forecast was for dry weather
and there was a “Wild West Weekend” event running.
We then relocated to the layby by Braida Garth Farm in Kingsdale and after getting changed Keith drew the short straw and set off into Valley Entrance to rig the short pitch above the sump which would be our exit route after we had reached this spot after dropping through Swinsto Hole to the master stream.
We made our way along the slightly worn path up the bracken-covered hillside and I stopped and waited at the end of the steep section to point out to Keith below where we had gone when he had re-appeared on the surface below.
Once he did and had made his way up to join me, we continued onwards much less steeply than before and crossed the Turbary Road when we saw Karen in the distance indicating the route to Swinto's entrance.
Again, Keith was on rigging duty and we followed him in the short hands and knees crawl in narrow meandering passage with water flowing along the bottom to the short first pitch.
I was last down and joined Simon B. and Waggy in retrieving the rope as we were on a “pull through” trip and on a one-way trip to the master cave and then to exit via Valley Entrance. The rope came down easily and meanwhile Keith, Karen and Simon W. has headed off to rig the next pitch with the second tackle bag and rope we had brought, once we had all passed the Long Crawl which is certainly well named!
We continued in this way, with one rope being abseiled down by the three cavers at the rear and retrieved while the other three went on and rigged the following pitch after the tackle bag containing the rope from the previous pitch had been passed forward.
Soon we arrived at the foot of the second stage of the large pitch, which is broken in half by a large ledge where we re-grouped before setting off for the remaining small pitches.
After the final short handline or short abseil depending on your preference, below the final pitch from the alternative route to the master cave via Simpsons Pot, our abseils were over and we made our way through the remaining parts of the cave always following the stream. At one narrow section I removed my SRT harness and kit to pop through first in case of any jams and after Keith had passed it through to me I put it on again and followed the rest as they had passed me.
Soon we were at the final wet crawling and then the easy walking in the stream and very soon were at foot of the short pitch which Keith had rigged earlier.
We were all up the pitch and and then all popped out of the small plastic pipe lined entrance known as Valley Entrance. Luckily, this is only a few tens of metres from the field gate onto the road and right by the parked cars.
As expected, we were soon changed and back at Bernies. Pete and Simon W. were off home after their two days caving.
In the evening we decide to try our luck with pubs in High Bentham which wasn't far from Greenclose Cottage and I drove Simon B., Keith, Karen and myself. We tried one pub but found it was very busy and someone was busily setting up the gear for musical entertainment by the only empty table. So we tried another pub and found it empty. I spotted the meal times for Sundays and they stopped serving meals at 18:00. It was now nearly 19:00. Rats,
We tried the last remaining pub and they stopped serving food at 19:00. Luckily there was a Spar supermarket open so we bought various items and returned to cook them at Greenclose Cottage.
After we had eaten our various meals we were drinking wine or Newcastle Brown we had bought in Spar and Tony Seddon popped in on his way home from a caving trip in Spain. He chatted for some time and then set off for home.
We then relocated to the layby by Braida Garth Farm in Kingsdale and after getting changed Keith drew the short straw and set off into Valley Entrance to rig the short pitch above the sump which would be our exit route after we had reached this spot after dropping through Swinsto Hole to the master stream.
We made our way along the slightly worn path up the bracken-covered hillside and I stopped and waited at the end of the steep section to point out to Keith below where we had gone when he had re-appeared on the surface below.
Once he did and had made his way up to join me, we continued onwards much less steeply than before and crossed the Turbary Road when we saw Karen in the distance indicating the route to Swinto's entrance.
Again, Keith was on rigging duty and we followed him in the short hands and knees crawl in narrow meandering passage with water flowing along the bottom to the short first pitch.
I was last down and joined Simon B. and Waggy in retrieving the rope as we were on a “pull through” trip and on a one-way trip to the master cave and then to exit via Valley Entrance. The rope came down easily and meanwhile Keith, Karen and Simon W. has headed off to rig the next pitch with the second tackle bag and rope we had brought, once we had all passed the Long Crawl which is certainly well named!
We continued in this way, with one rope being abseiled down by the three cavers at the rear and retrieved while the other three went on and rigged the following pitch after the tackle bag containing the rope from the previous pitch had been passed forward.
Soon we arrived at the foot of the second stage of the large pitch, which is broken in half by a large ledge where we re-grouped before setting off for the remaining small pitches.
After the final short handline or short abseil depending on your preference, below the final pitch from the alternative route to the master cave via Simpsons Pot, our abseils were over and we made our way through the remaining parts of the cave always following the stream. At one narrow section I removed my SRT harness and kit to pop through first in case of any jams and after Keith had passed it through to me I put it on again and followed the rest as they had passed me.
Soon we were at the final wet crawling and then the easy walking in the stream and very soon were at foot of the short pitch which Keith had rigged earlier.
We were all up the pitch and and then all popped out of the small plastic pipe lined entrance known as Valley Entrance. Luckily, this is only a few tens of metres from the field gate onto the road and right by the parked cars.
As expected, we were soon changed and back at Bernies. Pete and Simon W. were off home after their two days caving.
In the evening we decide to try our luck with pubs in High Bentham which wasn't far from Greenclose Cottage and I drove Simon B., Keith, Karen and myself. We tried one pub but found it was very busy and someone was busily setting up the gear for musical entertainment by the only empty table. So we tried another pub and found it empty. I spotted the meal times for Sundays and they stopped serving meals at 18:00. It was now nearly 19:00. Rats,
We tried the last remaining pub and they stopped serving food at 19:00. Luckily there was a Spar supermarket open so we bought various items and returned to cook them at Greenclose Cottage.
After we had eaten our various meals we were drinking wine or Newcastle Brown we had bought in Spar and Tony Seddon popped in on his way home from a caving trip in Spain. He chatted for some time and then set off for home.
Saturday, 23 August 2014
Ireby Fell Caven
We drove up last night to stay
at the Northern Pennine Club's hut, Greenclose Cottage near
Clapham. Pete Wagstaff was already there when we arrived at around
21:30 and there was no one else, which was surprising for an August
Bank Holiday.
Up in the morning and Simon Brooks arrived in his red Porsche 911. We set off for Bernies at 09:00 to meet Keith and others as arranged. We ordered our usual Veggie Breakfasts, much to Steve Round's disgust!
Not long afterwards, Keith arrived followed by Simon Wynne not long after.
We had a quick trip next door to Inglesport so that Simon W. could rent a caving helmet and light seeing as he had left his at home by mistake.
Helmet renting finished, we set off for the parking place at Mason Gill Lane to get changed into caving gear. The forecast wasn't bad with some light rain showers and maybe a heavy shower or two but so far it was just overcast with sunny periods.
We walked up the rough lane then across the fields to arrive at the large shakehole containing the concrete pipe entrance to Ireby Fell Cavern.
Again, there was no one else about and we had the cave to ourselves as Keith set off first to carry out the rigging job.
We all followed and dropped down the usual Ding, Dong , Bell, Pussy, Well and Rope pitches and were soon walking down the impressive large passage called Duke Street, arriving at the sump to have a “Mars Bar Break”.
Soon we were making our way back towards the surface and I was first out to find the time was around 14:30 after having entered the cave at 11:30ish.
There was a very light shower while the rest as us waited for Keith to arrive last as he had also derigged the cave.
By the time he had arrived he rain had stopped and the ground was dry again.
We walked back to the cars to get changed and the made the usual return to Bernies for chip butties, etc.
Later in the evening we drove into Settle to find a pub for an evening meal and a drink and even though we were early at 19:00, all the pubs were full!
So, we found that the chip shop in the Market Square did take-away pizzas so we each ordered a pizza and retired to the nearby Talbot Arms for a quick drink. Afterwards we returned to collect our take-aways and and return to Greenclose Cottage to eat them.
Later in the night a couple of NPC members arrived.
Up in the morning and Simon Brooks arrived in his red Porsche 911. We set off for Bernies at 09:00 to meet Keith and others as arranged. We ordered our usual Veggie Breakfasts, much to Steve Round's disgust!
Not long afterwards, Keith arrived followed by Simon Wynne not long after.
We had a quick trip next door to Inglesport so that Simon W. could rent a caving helmet and light seeing as he had left his at home by mistake.
Helmet renting finished, we set off for the parking place at Mason Gill Lane to get changed into caving gear. The forecast wasn't bad with some light rain showers and maybe a heavy shower or two but so far it was just overcast with sunny periods.
We walked up the rough lane then across the fields to arrive at the large shakehole containing the concrete pipe entrance to Ireby Fell Cavern.
Again, there was no one else about and we had the cave to ourselves as Keith set off first to carry out the rigging job.
We all followed and dropped down the usual Ding, Dong , Bell, Pussy, Well and Rope pitches and were soon walking down the impressive large passage called Duke Street, arriving at the sump to have a “Mars Bar Break”.
Soon we were making our way back towards the surface and I was first out to find the time was around 14:30 after having entered the cave at 11:30ish.
There was a very light shower while the rest as us waited for Keith to arrive last as he had also derigged the cave.
By the time he had arrived he rain had stopped and the ground was dry again.
We walked back to the cars to get changed and the made the usual return to Bernies for chip butties, etc.
Later in the evening we drove into Settle to find a pub for an evening meal and a drink and even though we were early at 19:00, all the pubs were full!
So, we found that the chip shop in the Market Square did take-away pizzas so we each ordered a pizza and retired to the nearby Talbot Arms for a quick drink. Afterwards we returned to collect our take-aways and and return to Greenclose Cottage to eat them.
Later in the night a couple of NPC members arrived.
Saturday, 9 August 2014
Maskhill Mine
A nice trip to Oxlow West Chamber via Maskhill Mine with Karen, Keith and Alice
Anderson. The mine was very dry despite all the rain on Friday
afternoon and evening. We went in just after 12 Noon and I was back
first on the surface at 15:45.
Sunday, 6 July 2014
P8
Another breakfast in a quieter café at Monyash and we were off to first pay a visit to Hitch 'n' Hike near Bamford for the others to buy some bits of caving gear.
Moving on afterwards we arrived at the usual layby parking place for P8, which was nearly empty yesterday, to find it completely full!
So we parked by the cattle grid outside the farm across the road and left our £2 trespass fees by the back door as there was no answer when I knocked at the door.
After getting changed we headed across several fields to arrive to the entrance to P8 and again found water levels low.
We were soon down Idiot's Leap and after passing this short drop arrived at the First Pitch. Keith had brought enough ropes to rig both the normal route plus also the alternative higher route at this pitch. Karen wanted to rig and descend the usual lower option, while Keith and Alice were going to do the short climb up a rifty section and drop down the longer alternative pitch.
I like this longer alternative pitch and began to climb up to follow the other two but found ti too painful on my left leg so I clambered back down and followed Karen down the normal route which was already rigged with another party's rope so Karen had rigged our rope to avoid them getting tangled.
We were soon all reunited in the nice chamber below the first pitch and then climbed up to the higher level passage leading towards the alternative second pitch. We soon heard voices and found a small group of cavers with ropes rigged at the 'Bold Step' by the junction with Stalactite Passage.
We found Brian Potts was among them (so that was Brian's car in the layby, as we thought we recognised it)! It turned out that this was a small group being instructed by Nigel Atkins who we said “Hello” to and had a laugh with.
We continued past the group and Keith rigged the alternative second pitch as we heard the other laughing and joking and enjoying themselves greatly.
We made our way down to the downstream sump finding it very low, the lowest we had seen for a long time.
Next stop was the upstream sump which unsurprisingly was very low and quite a long way down its vertical passage.
Keith and Alice elected to head back towards the second pitch by following the low tube section of passage from near here while Karen and I returned by the same route we had followed earlier on the way in.
We were all soon again at the second pitch and after replacing our SRT kit which we had taken off, we prusiked up and passed Nigel and the others and headed back towards the entrance.
We didn't hang around by the entrance as there were horse files around, and one managed to bite Keith on the lip!
Moving on afterwards we arrived at the usual layby parking place for P8, which was nearly empty yesterday, to find it completely full!
So we parked by the cattle grid outside the farm across the road and left our £2 trespass fees by the back door as there was no answer when I knocked at the door.
After getting changed we headed across several fields to arrive to the entrance to P8 and again found water levels low.
We were soon down Idiot's Leap and after passing this short drop arrived at the First Pitch. Keith had brought enough ropes to rig both the normal route plus also the alternative higher route at this pitch. Karen wanted to rig and descend the usual lower option, while Keith and Alice were going to do the short climb up a rifty section and drop down the longer alternative pitch.
I like this longer alternative pitch and began to climb up to follow the other two but found ti too painful on my left leg so I clambered back down and followed Karen down the normal route which was already rigged with another party's rope so Karen had rigged our rope to avoid them getting tangled.
We were soon all reunited in the nice chamber below the first pitch and then climbed up to the higher level passage leading towards the alternative second pitch. We soon heard voices and found a small group of cavers with ropes rigged at the 'Bold Step' by the junction with Stalactite Passage.
We found Brian Potts was among them (so that was Brian's car in the layby, as we thought we recognised it)! It turned out that this was a small group being instructed by Nigel Atkins who we said “Hello” to and had a laugh with.
We continued past the group and Keith rigged the alternative second pitch as we heard the other laughing and joking and enjoying themselves greatly.
We made our way down to the downstream sump finding it very low, the lowest we had seen for a long time.
Next stop was the upstream sump which unsurprisingly was very low and quite a long way down its vertical passage.
Keith and Alice elected to head back towards the second pitch by following the low tube section of passage from near here while Karen and I returned by the same route we had followed earlier on the way in.
We were all soon again at the second pitch and after replacing our SRT kit which we had taken off, we prusiked up and passed Nigel and the others and headed back towards the entrance.
We didn't hang around by the entrance as there were horse files around, and one managed to bite Keith on the lip!
Sunday, 29 June 2014
New Goyden Pot
This was the best of the three caves we visited this weekend and
it was a lovely sunny morning, too. We parked on the same road as
yesterday a bit nearer to the camp-site and further from the dam and
changed into caving gear. We needed SRT kit today as there were two
pitches to descend but Pete thought because there was a crawl from
the entrance to the first one, it might be easier not to wear the SRT
kit.
We again reached the downstream and dry section of the river Nidd and walked down the boulder-strewn and rocky river Nidd watching wagtails flying around and a baby rabbit darting past us heading for its burrow.
We soon found the entrance to New Goyden Pot which was in the small stone cliff in the right-hand riverbank.
The entrance was small and roughly rectangular with a short drop of under a metre to a wide but flat-roofed and flat-floored chamber which was easy hands-and-knees crawling for only around 6 or 7 metres to what was obviously the pitch.
Above the drop was an area of scaffolding with all the gaps filled in with sheets of various material obviously to prevent small pieces of rock and other material falling down to block the top og the pitch which opened through some boulders and was a little constricted at the top.
While I was waiting for the other two I spotted a “P” bolt a short way back from the pitch head in the ceiling and then a pair “P” bolts also in the roof nearer to the drop, There was a thin cord with a tied loop attached to one of the scaffold piles at the top of the pitch and further short piece of rope attached to a rusty old “Ring Hanger” of the sort which we used to use in the days of Spit anchors.
There were the deviations we were expecting. Pete tied in the rope to the back-up anchor in the ceiling and I attached “Y hang” to the other two anchors. Pete handed me his collection of karabiners and assorted slings which I clipped onto the top of the tackle bag and attached my descender to the rope and started to drop through the top of the pitch only to have one of the slings catch on a piece of rock behind me and get stuck!
I was able to get my weight off the rope a nit and Pete flipped the end of the rope off of the projection to release me. I moved the collection of karabiners and slings from the top of the tackle bag containing the rope to my belt and set off down a bit to attach the second deviation karabiner.
I then had a look around and saw a lovely fluted shaft which was much better than it looked from above which was covered with a jumble of boulders.
I dropped down to the foot of the 18 metre or so pitch and removed the rope from my descender and had a look around the chamber I had reached. There was a bit of flowstone on the walls and a large rift-shaped opening nearby with the sound of a streamway rising upwards from it.
When Karen arrived with the second rope and tackle bag I attached the rope to another “P” bolt again in the ceiling about 2 metres from the drop and then to the two “P” bolts in the ceiling either side of the rift and then dropped down the pitch in the large rift to break through into a large tunnel carrying a lovely streamway!
I was soon in the ankle-deep water and detaching my descender and shouting “rope free”.
I was thinking of the first cavers to have entered the passageway from the river bed only to find that first shaft and this pitch immediately after it straight into such a large and lovely stream passage. That must have been some experience!
Once joined by the other two and having stripped off the ow superfluous SRT kit, we set off downstream again looking out for any side passages. Pete particularly wanted to have a look at a chamber called The Planetarium.
We reached the large downstream sump which was deep with a sharply-dropping floor and then turned around to go back upstream and enter a large and obvious side passage.
After a bit of walking, a little crawling and some clambering up, over and through gaps in boulders we arrived in a large chamber with circular depressions in the ceiling which we took to be The Planetarium.
We clambered up some boulders and blocks in one corner and followed a sandy-floored passage very like the upstream sump passages in P8 when water levels are very low.
This brought us to a short clamber down followed by a second climb-down which was a little awkward and to avoid aggravating my leg injury I decided to wait a bit while Karen and Pete went to investigate where this led to.
After a few minutes I heard voices coming from behind me in the direction of The Planetarium and I returned there to see a caving light shining up through a large hole in the other corner of the chamber.
A minute or two later Pete popped through the hole followed by Karen. After a quick look at a short climb up in the far side of the chamber, we returned to the main passage and streamway.
We returned back upstream and passed the rope dangling down the pitch and followed the river upstream. There was a small side passage with a slope of clean-washed rocks and I followed this through a narrowing to hear a small waterfall.
I clambered up the side of the waterfall to a second higher waterfall. From here there was a short climb with no low foot-holds but it did have a knotted handline with a sling attached to allow you to gain a metre or metre and a half in order to reach the foot-holds.
I gave Pete a helpful shove and he clambered up to have a look. He returned a few minutes later to say he had popped out at the surface through another entrance with a wooden lid a short way along the river bed from the main entrance.
We returned to the main streamway again and soon found the end of the easy upstream section very close by where the ceiling nearly met the water with a small amount of airspace which appeared to continue a fair distance.
As the airspace was very small and we were only wearing furry suits, we elected to nit continue any further.
So, it was back to the pitch to don SRT kits and return up the ropes and back to the surface after an excellent and enjoyable trip.
We again reached the downstream and dry section of the river Nidd and walked down the boulder-strewn and rocky river Nidd watching wagtails flying around and a baby rabbit darting past us heading for its burrow.
We soon found the entrance to New Goyden Pot which was in the small stone cliff in the right-hand riverbank.
The entrance was small and roughly rectangular with a short drop of under a metre to a wide but flat-roofed and flat-floored chamber which was easy hands-and-knees crawling for only around 6 or 7 metres to what was obviously the pitch.
Above the drop was an area of scaffolding with all the gaps filled in with sheets of various material obviously to prevent small pieces of rock and other material falling down to block the top og the pitch which opened through some boulders and was a little constricted at the top.
While I was waiting for the other two I spotted a “P” bolt a short way back from the pitch head in the ceiling and then a pair “P” bolts also in the roof nearer to the drop, There was a thin cord with a tied loop attached to one of the scaffold piles at the top of the pitch and further short piece of rope attached to a rusty old “Ring Hanger” of the sort which we used to use in the days of Spit anchors.
There were the deviations we were expecting. Pete tied in the rope to the back-up anchor in the ceiling and I attached “Y hang” to the other two anchors. Pete handed me his collection of karabiners and assorted slings which I clipped onto the top of the tackle bag and attached my descender to the rope and started to drop through the top of the pitch only to have one of the slings catch on a piece of rock behind me and get stuck!
I was able to get my weight off the rope a nit and Pete flipped the end of the rope off of the projection to release me. I moved the collection of karabiners and slings from the top of the tackle bag containing the rope to my belt and set off down a bit to attach the second deviation karabiner.
I then had a look around and saw a lovely fluted shaft which was much better than it looked from above which was covered with a jumble of boulders.
I dropped down to the foot of the 18 metre or so pitch and removed the rope from my descender and had a look around the chamber I had reached. There was a bit of flowstone on the walls and a large rift-shaped opening nearby with the sound of a streamway rising upwards from it.
When Karen arrived with the second rope and tackle bag I attached the rope to another “P” bolt again in the ceiling about 2 metres from the drop and then to the two “P” bolts in the ceiling either side of the rift and then dropped down the pitch in the large rift to break through into a large tunnel carrying a lovely streamway!
I was soon in the ankle-deep water and detaching my descender and shouting “rope free”.
I was thinking of the first cavers to have entered the passageway from the river bed only to find that first shaft and this pitch immediately after it straight into such a large and lovely stream passage. That must have been some experience!
Once joined by the other two and having stripped off the ow superfluous SRT kit, we set off downstream again looking out for any side passages. Pete particularly wanted to have a look at a chamber called The Planetarium.
We reached the large downstream sump which was deep with a sharply-dropping floor and then turned around to go back upstream and enter a large and obvious side passage.
After a bit of walking, a little crawling and some clambering up, over and through gaps in boulders we arrived in a large chamber with circular depressions in the ceiling which we took to be The Planetarium.
We clambered up some boulders and blocks in one corner and followed a sandy-floored passage very like the upstream sump passages in P8 when water levels are very low.
This brought us to a short clamber down followed by a second climb-down which was a little awkward and to avoid aggravating my leg injury I decided to wait a bit while Karen and Pete went to investigate where this led to.
After a few minutes I heard voices coming from behind me in the direction of The Planetarium and I returned there to see a caving light shining up through a large hole in the other corner of the chamber.
A minute or two later Pete popped through the hole followed by Karen. After a quick look at a short climb up in the far side of the chamber, we returned to the main passage and streamway.
We returned back upstream and passed the rope dangling down the pitch and followed the river upstream. There was a small side passage with a slope of clean-washed rocks and I followed this through a narrowing to hear a small waterfall.
I clambered up the side of the waterfall to a second higher waterfall. From here there was a short climb with no low foot-holds but it did have a knotted handline with a sling attached to allow you to gain a metre or metre and a half in order to reach the foot-holds.
I gave Pete a helpful shove and he clambered up to have a look. He returned a few minutes later to say he had popped out at the surface through another entrance with a wooden lid a short way along the river bed from the main entrance.
We returned to the main streamway again and soon found the end of the easy upstream section very close by where the ceiling nearly met the water with a small amount of airspace which appeared to continue a fair distance.
As the airspace was very small and we were only wearing furry suits, we elected to nit continue any further.
So, it was back to the pitch to don SRT kits and return up the ropes and back to the surface after an excellent and enjoyable trip.
Saturday, 28 June 2014
Manchester Hole and Goyden Pot
It was a first trip to this area of Yorkshire, Nidderdale, for
both myself and Karen and we camped at How Stean Gorge campsite which
is 7 miles north-west of Pateley Bridge near Lofhouse. We drove up
last night and as we passed through Pateley Bridge and beyond we
began to see strings of miniature jerseys coloured green, yellow or
white with read spots. There were also many bicycles hanging from
houses and shops and other buildings al painted yellow, including
seats and tyres. We couldn't work out what this was about until we
then saw the AA signs warning the the roads would be closed next
week-end for the Tour de France! Of course, the Tour was starting in
Leeds next week-end and travelling around parts of Yorkshire and
onwards.
Once we had pitched the Force Ten MkV, we spotted Pete Wagstaff's car in another part of the field and presumably his tent. He had gone for a walk and also stopped in the pub and he dropped by on his way back to say “hello”. There were only the three of us on this trip.
We were up at 08:30 and even though the camp-site has a café, it didn't start serving food until 10:00 so Karen and I cooked breakfast in the tent as it was a damp, still morning with a little light rain and when that had stopped, there were midges about.
Luckily it brightened up as we set off from the camp-site just after 10:00 to drive a few miles to park near Scar House Reservoir near the river Nidd.
We walked up to the reservoir to see what water levels were like as Manchester Hole and the other caves are very prone to flooding and even though the forecast was for possible light rain showers, if water levels are high and there is enough wind in the right (or wrong in this case!) direction, water can overflow the dam and flood the cave systems.
The water level was quite low and there was very little wind so we would have no problems. The dam was impressive being made of stone blocks and built in the late 1920s and early 1930s. It was very ornate with lots of castellations and ornate decorations.
After walking back to the cars, we relocated a short way back to a layby next to a tunnel closed with stone blocks which Pete said was built during the construction of the dam and parked there and then got changed into caving gear.
We followed a nearby Public Footpath which dropped down to a fence stile and then across a field to second stile and the dry river bed. The cave entrance was on the opposite side on the other side of another fence and stile.
We set off into the small rectangular entrance which immediately opened into larger passage and a streamway. The roof and walls were covered in sediment and there were lots of evidence of past flooding with sediment and tree branches left in various places. We first went downstream and had a look at various side passages and at one point reached a chamber with a mud back and slope with a handline from above where there was a group being led on a caving trip.
We had a short chat and they went on their way. Karen and Pete had a look at what was at the top og the shirt climb with the knotted handline while I waited and I had a slight groin injury from last week's sojourn on Kinder Scout. Pete had reached the surface at a lidded pot in a field (Back Pot).
Passing the muddy bit we followed lower passage through some pools in the stream until we reached a low section which we found to become toot tight. Karen had noticed another route on the right which was flat-out and although the floor was smooth and worn, the section beyond a squeeze looked like loose flood debris and appeared nit to be well-travelled. So I let Pete have a look! He disappeared and returned after a few minutes to report he had found an entrance in a field called Bax Pot.
We returned past the entrance and went upstream but this soon closed down in a boulder choke.
After returning to the surface, we had a quick look at where the river Nidd was sinking which was a very short distance upstream. The river was simply disappearing into the jumble of small boulders and stoned in the river bed.
We then walked further downstream on the dry riverbed and I found another cave entrance on the left-hand bank by a patch of loose soil at the foot of a small cliff. It was covered by a large circular galvanised steel lid which had a small circular door in it as well, but I simply lifted the whole lid off.
Inside was a circular section of galvanised metal and a short drop to a small ledge and then another short drop to a rocky shelf next to a narrowish rift.
I had a quick look at this and then set off to find the other two.
A little bit further downstream was another larger cave entrance which I took to be Goyden Pot. There was plenty of flood debris just as with Manchester Hole, but here were large tree branches and even tree trunks!
I wandered in the large passage inside the entrance and followed a side route for a short way which passed a large window to a drop to much larger passage below and was blocked with a large tree trunk which I had to swing my legs over. There were three drive-through bolts in place presumably to allow for abseiling into the passage below.
I returned to the main passage way and hear the other two and soon saw their lights further down the Main Chamber at a level below where I was due to large steps in the floor and large fallen blocks and boulders.
I clambered down to join them and we set off along the nice and large streamway.
We eventually followed a hands-and-knees crawl ad reached a five-way junction. I started up another hands-and-knees crawl following the same small stream we had already followed but the water soon disappeared and soon arrived at a small chamber with passages going off and a short climb over flowstone to a higher passage about 2.5 metres higher with a short section of aluminium builder's ladder propped in place!
I climbed up the ladder and was followed by the other two and we soon reached a chamber with a low rock-strewn passage going off to the left and a higher passage on the right which would require a climb up to get to.
We had a look at Pete's photocopied survey which was now damp and suffering from having gone through chest-deep water earlier on as we went thorough a lowish but wet section. We couldn't really make head or tail of where we were for definite other than seeing Five-way Junction and possibly the Ten Foot climb where the ladder was.
We decided we had seen enough for now and headed back to the surface and agreed another trip would be a good idea to see more of this lovely cave.
We got changed out of caving gear and as it was around 14:30 drove back to the camp site and were delighted to find out that the café served chip butties!
Later Pete went for another walk locally while we hung around the tent or later, sat in the car reading.
Once we had pitched the Force Ten MkV, we spotted Pete Wagstaff's car in another part of the field and presumably his tent. He had gone for a walk and also stopped in the pub and he dropped by on his way back to say “hello”. There were only the three of us on this trip.
We were up at 08:30 and even though the camp-site has a café, it didn't start serving food until 10:00 so Karen and I cooked breakfast in the tent as it was a damp, still morning with a little light rain and when that had stopped, there were midges about.
Luckily it brightened up as we set off from the camp-site just after 10:00 to drive a few miles to park near Scar House Reservoir near the river Nidd.
We walked up to the reservoir to see what water levels were like as Manchester Hole and the other caves are very prone to flooding and even though the forecast was for possible light rain showers, if water levels are high and there is enough wind in the right (or wrong in this case!) direction, water can overflow the dam and flood the cave systems.
The water level was quite low and there was very little wind so we would have no problems. The dam was impressive being made of stone blocks and built in the late 1920s and early 1930s. It was very ornate with lots of castellations and ornate decorations.
After walking back to the cars, we relocated a short way back to a layby next to a tunnel closed with stone blocks which Pete said was built during the construction of the dam and parked there and then got changed into caving gear.
We followed a nearby Public Footpath which dropped down to a fence stile and then across a field to second stile and the dry river bed. The cave entrance was on the opposite side on the other side of another fence and stile.
We set off into the small rectangular entrance which immediately opened into larger passage and a streamway. The roof and walls were covered in sediment and there were lots of evidence of past flooding with sediment and tree branches left in various places. We first went downstream and had a look at various side passages and at one point reached a chamber with a mud back and slope with a handline from above where there was a group being led on a caving trip.
We had a short chat and they went on their way. Karen and Pete had a look at what was at the top og the shirt climb with the knotted handline while I waited and I had a slight groin injury from last week's sojourn on Kinder Scout. Pete had reached the surface at a lidded pot in a field (Back Pot).
Passing the muddy bit we followed lower passage through some pools in the stream until we reached a low section which we found to become toot tight. Karen had noticed another route on the right which was flat-out and although the floor was smooth and worn, the section beyond a squeeze looked like loose flood debris and appeared nit to be well-travelled. So I let Pete have a look! He disappeared and returned after a few minutes to report he had found an entrance in a field called Bax Pot.
We returned past the entrance and went upstream but this soon closed down in a boulder choke.
After returning to the surface, we had a quick look at where the river Nidd was sinking which was a very short distance upstream. The river was simply disappearing into the jumble of small boulders and stoned in the river bed.
We then walked further downstream on the dry riverbed and I found another cave entrance on the left-hand bank by a patch of loose soil at the foot of a small cliff. It was covered by a large circular galvanised steel lid which had a small circular door in it as well, but I simply lifted the whole lid off.
Inside was a circular section of galvanised metal and a short drop to a small ledge and then another short drop to a rocky shelf next to a narrowish rift.
I had a quick look at this and then set off to find the other two.
A little bit further downstream was another larger cave entrance which I took to be Goyden Pot. There was plenty of flood debris just as with Manchester Hole, but here were large tree branches and even tree trunks!
I wandered in the large passage inside the entrance and followed a side route for a short way which passed a large window to a drop to much larger passage below and was blocked with a large tree trunk which I had to swing my legs over. There were three drive-through bolts in place presumably to allow for abseiling into the passage below.
I returned to the main passage way and hear the other two and soon saw their lights further down the Main Chamber at a level below where I was due to large steps in the floor and large fallen blocks and boulders.
I clambered down to join them and we set off along the nice and large streamway.
We eventually followed a hands-and-knees crawl ad reached a five-way junction. I started up another hands-and-knees crawl following the same small stream we had already followed but the water soon disappeared and soon arrived at a small chamber with passages going off and a short climb over flowstone to a higher passage about 2.5 metres higher with a short section of aluminium builder's ladder propped in place!
I climbed up the ladder and was followed by the other two and we soon reached a chamber with a low rock-strewn passage going off to the left and a higher passage on the right which would require a climb up to get to.
We had a look at Pete's photocopied survey which was now damp and suffering from having gone through chest-deep water earlier on as we went thorough a lowish but wet section. We couldn't really make head or tail of where we were for definite other than seeing Five-way Junction and possibly the Ten Foot climb where the ladder was.
We decided we had seen enough for now and headed back to the surface and agreed another trip would be a good idea to see more of this lovely cave.
We got changed out of caving gear and as it was around 14:30 drove back to the camp site and were delighted to find out that the café served chip butties!
Later Pete went for another walk locally while we hung around the tent or later, sat in the car reading.
Saturday, 21 June 2014
Oxlow Cavern
Unusually for the Orpheus Caving Club barbecue week-end, the
weather forecast was good!
We met Keith as usual in the café at Monyash for breakfast, then drove to the Orpheus Club cottage at Parsley Hay.
Keith was joining Pete Wagstaff, Ralph (Bell) Bellamy and Paul Thorne for a trip into the further reaches of Knotlow Cavern while Karen and I had a trip to Oxlow Cavern's East Chamber planned.
So between us the appropriate lengths of rope were sorted and packed into tackle bags and we set off for Oxlow Farm to park the car and get changed into caving gear.
As there were only the two of us, we had settled on a trip to East Chamber as this meant we could get all the ropes necessary into three tackle bags which was reasonably manageable between the two of us.
It was almost exactly noon as I finished attaching the rope to the anchors at the top of the entrance shaft and started to abseil down into the old mine.
We were both having a poke around East Chamber a little over an hour later and after a short “mars bar” break, we began the return journey to the surface again.
It was around 14:30 once we were both back on the surface and the ropes packed away.
Another visit to the café was called for and we sat outside in the fine weather as we ate and watched various motorbikes and some vintage cars come and go and pass by.
We had originally planned on returning later to the club cottage for the barbecue once we had sorted and packed away the ropes, but somehow, it just never happened. We had decided to just eat at home anyway, maybe lethargy had set in!
We met Keith as usual in the café at Monyash for breakfast, then drove to the Orpheus Club cottage at Parsley Hay.
Keith was joining Pete Wagstaff, Ralph (Bell) Bellamy and Paul Thorne for a trip into the further reaches of Knotlow Cavern while Karen and I had a trip to Oxlow Cavern's East Chamber planned.
So between us the appropriate lengths of rope were sorted and packed into tackle bags and we set off for Oxlow Farm to park the car and get changed into caving gear.
As there were only the two of us, we had settled on a trip to East Chamber as this meant we could get all the ropes necessary into three tackle bags which was reasonably manageable between the two of us.
It was almost exactly noon as I finished attaching the rope to the anchors at the top of the entrance shaft and started to abseil down into the old mine.
We were both having a poke around East Chamber a little over an hour later and after a short “mars bar” break, we began the return journey to the surface again.
It was around 14:30 once we were both back on the surface and the ropes packed away.
Another visit to the café was called for and we sat outside in the fine weather as we ate and watched various motorbikes and some vintage cars come and go and pass by.
We had originally planned on returning later to the club cottage for the barbecue once we had sorted and packed away the ropes, but somehow, it just never happened. We had decided to just eat at home anyway, maybe lethargy had set in!
Saturday, 10 May 2014
Eglwys Faen
Karen drove the two of us to Whitewalls Cottage in Llangattock,
belonging to the Chelsea Speleological Society. We arrived at around
22:00 and found Phil Wall and Jason Smith who had arrived earlier and
were waiting outside as the hut was locked up and empty and I had
brought the key.
We were up at 08:00 in the morning to cook breakfast and waited until Keith and Alice Anderson arrived.
The plan was for a leisurely trip into Agen Allwedd: we had the required permit and key. One advantage of going caving here was that we could change indoors in the hut and walk to the cave and that is what we did.
We arrived at the the small entrance to Agen Allwedd at the foot of a small limestone cliff and I got the key out and found it didn't fit the damn lock! It was a completely different sort of key to the type that fitted the lock and I couldn't understand what had gone wrong.
Rapidly we had to change to “Plan B”. We had passed another cave on the way, Eglwys Faen, but it is a relatively small cave, much, much smaller than Agen Allwedd – but there is no locked gate. At least we could go caving!
So, off we trooped back along the old tramway, back the way we had walked earlier and then walked up a short path to the large main entrance to Eglwys Faen and into the large main chamber.
From there we followed a flat-out crawl with a good draught until we met a squeeze which the others soon popped through. I found it a bit tighter and with a pulled muscle in my lower back, a memory of last week's trip underground, I didn't want to aggravate the injury so I left the others to it and went exploring another passage which involved a thorough soaking as I crawled through a pool of water with a low airspace.
I eventually popped out through a smaller alternative entrance and waited for a while to see if the others would arrive soon. As there had been since the earlier hours of the morning, yet another shower swept through blown by the strong wind and I stood in the shelter of a section of crag near the entrance.
As I waited, a group of kids dressed in caving gear came past with some adult cavers heading for Eglwys Faen, which is very popular with beginners.
I decided to head back to Whitewalls and get changed and wait there for the others. It was very windy with very string gusts but at least the showers held off until I was back indoors.
After I was changed out of caving gear I went to see what was going on with the permits and keys and why the key didn't fit the padlock earlier.
As well as a jiffy envelope containing paperwork about the hut, including the key which was taped to one of the pieces of paper. We also had an envelope with the permits for Agen Allwedd and also Ogof Draenen and when I opened it earlie, a key fell out. “Aha!”, I thought, “the key for Aggie.”
Unfortunately, this was actually the key for Ogof Draenan... the key for Aggie was again taped to a second piece of paper besides the permit which was folded in half and half again – and it also had the key taped to it! D'oh!
We were up at 08:00 in the morning to cook breakfast and waited until Keith and Alice Anderson arrived.
The plan was for a leisurely trip into Agen Allwedd: we had the required permit and key. One advantage of going caving here was that we could change indoors in the hut and walk to the cave and that is what we did.
We arrived at the the small entrance to Agen Allwedd at the foot of a small limestone cliff and I got the key out and found it didn't fit the damn lock! It was a completely different sort of key to the type that fitted the lock and I couldn't understand what had gone wrong.
Rapidly we had to change to “Plan B”. We had passed another cave on the way, Eglwys Faen, but it is a relatively small cave, much, much smaller than Agen Allwedd – but there is no locked gate. At least we could go caving!
So, off we trooped back along the old tramway, back the way we had walked earlier and then walked up a short path to the large main entrance to Eglwys Faen and into the large main chamber.
From there we followed a flat-out crawl with a good draught until we met a squeeze which the others soon popped through. I found it a bit tighter and with a pulled muscle in my lower back, a memory of last week's trip underground, I didn't want to aggravate the injury so I left the others to it and went exploring another passage which involved a thorough soaking as I crawled through a pool of water with a low airspace.
I eventually popped out through a smaller alternative entrance and waited for a while to see if the others would arrive soon. As there had been since the earlier hours of the morning, yet another shower swept through blown by the strong wind and I stood in the shelter of a section of crag near the entrance.
As I waited, a group of kids dressed in caving gear came past with some adult cavers heading for Eglwys Faen, which is very popular with beginners.
I decided to head back to Whitewalls and get changed and wait there for the others. It was very windy with very string gusts but at least the showers held off until I was back indoors.
After I was changed out of caving gear I went to see what was going on with the permits and keys and why the key didn't fit the padlock earlier.
As well as a jiffy envelope containing paperwork about the hut, including the key which was taped to one of the pieces of paper. We also had an envelope with the permits for Agen Allwedd and also Ogof Draenen and when I opened it earlie, a key fell out. “Aha!”, I thought, “the key for Aggie.”
Unfortunately, this was actually the key for Ogof Draenan... the key for Aggie was again taped to a second piece of paper besides the permit which was folded in half and half again – and it also had the key taped to it! D'oh!
 |
| Inside Whitewalls |
 |
| Walking along the old tramway |
 |
| Dropping in to the main chamber |
 |
| Graffitti in Eglwys Faen |
 |
| Playing a strange game... |
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| One of the locals |
Monday, 5 May 2014
Calf Holes / Browgill Cave
Another enjoyable trip in this nice cave including a through trip
to a second cave as a bonus.
I rigged the drop into the water below the entrance to Calf Holes and waited in the daylit section below for the others to arrive.
We stripped off SRT kit and set off through the cave. It was very similar to the Fisher Street end of Doolin River Cave with wide passage and flowing water with the roof low enough to require a crouched position.
Soon we were at the low crawl leading to The Contortion which is the link with Browgill Cave. After passing this easily as you just slip down legs first and then follow through a very short low section, we were back in easy passage until arriving near the top of the waterfall, where we followed a flat-out crawl and short hands-and-knees crawl leading past the waterfall to the short easy clamber down to the stream beyond.
All that was left was a short walk back to daylight at the large entrance to Browgill Cave. Here, Karen elected to follow the short walk back along the surface to Calf Holes, while we three decided to retrace our steps back along the underground route which was fun the first time and would be more fun the second time!
Getting back up through The Contortion was a bit of a pain as those with long legs (such as me!) cannot get their knee underneath in order to push up through the restriction to return to Calf Holes. It just means a little bit if a struggle as there isn't enough room to move your arms and shoulders around where you would want to.
I was soon through and waited for the others as Boyd was also finding his legs a bit too long as well, and his light went out to add to the fun! A quick tap on the side and he soon got it on again.
We made our way back through Calf Holes and then joined Karen, who was waiting by the entrance.We got our SRT kit back on and prusiked back to the surface to join her.
I rigged the drop into the water below the entrance to Calf Holes and waited in the daylit section below for the others to arrive.
We stripped off SRT kit and set off through the cave. It was very similar to the Fisher Street end of Doolin River Cave with wide passage and flowing water with the roof low enough to require a crouched position.
Soon we were at the low crawl leading to The Contortion which is the link with Browgill Cave. After passing this easily as you just slip down legs first and then follow through a very short low section, we were back in easy passage until arriving near the top of the waterfall, where we followed a flat-out crawl and short hands-and-knees crawl leading past the waterfall to the short easy clamber down to the stream beyond.
All that was left was a short walk back to daylight at the large entrance to Browgill Cave. Here, Karen elected to follow the short walk back along the surface to Calf Holes, while we three decided to retrace our steps back along the underground route which was fun the first time and would be more fun the second time!
Getting back up through The Contortion was a bit of a pain as those with long legs (such as me!) cannot get their knee underneath in order to push up through the restriction to return to Calf Holes. It just means a little bit if a struggle as there isn't enough room to move your arms and shoulders around where you would want to.
I was soon through and waited for the others as Boyd was also finding his legs a bit too long as well, and his light went out to add to the fun! A quick tap on the side and he soon got it on again.
We made our way back through Calf Holes and then joined Karen, who was waiting by the entrance.We got our SRT kit back on and prusiked back to the surface to join her.
Sunday, 4 May 2014
Hunt Pot
It was a cool day, which was good for the relatively long walk up
the Pennine Way track towards Penyghent. We veered off the path as we
approached Hunt Pot and were soon ready to follow Keith after he set
off to rig the rope on the wall of the large open slit in the
limestone.After he had shouted the usual “rope
free”, Karen followed down the impressive pothole.
Pete Wagstaff and I were sitting in the shelter of a small overhanging section of limestone as it was a bit drizzly and after I saw Karen disappear over the edge I walked over so that I could hear her shout “rope free” meaning I could then take my turn.
Soon, I heard Karen's shout and after saying “see you later” to Pete, who was still sitting in his sheltered spot, I dropped down the rope for a few metres to where there was a “Y hang”. I clipped in my cowstails and waited until Karen had cleared the next section of rope.
I watched as Karen got off the rope on a wet ledge where Keith was also waiting. They shouted up to wait a bit as Keith was having to rearrange the rope.
He prusiked back up a short way and rigged a belay under a ledge above the wet one where Karen was still waiting. I was watching this going on below through my legs and then spotted some movement a little lower and to one side near the waterfall pouring down the open shaft at one end. It was a dipper! It had flown from somewhere below and landed on another small ledge on the opposite wall of the shaft.
Eventually Keith had abseiled back down again and shouted up “rope free” so I continued down the rope and passed a deviation. As I was nearing the ledge where the other two were still waiting, I heard them saying they were not going any lower!
So, I stopped a short distance above them and they explained that Keith was having trouble reaching the bolts, which were on the wall opposite the ledge. I changed over and prusiked back up to the surface.
As I was getting back out of the shaft I could hear Pete chanting something which I couldn't quite hear due to the noise of the waterfall.
As I walked towards him, still sitting in the same spot as before, I could hear him chanting “chip butty, chip butty, chip butty...”! He was getting chilled and was ready for a trip to Bernies!
Soon the others were back and we set off to get those chip butties!
Pete Wagstaff and I were sitting in the shelter of a small overhanging section of limestone as it was a bit drizzly and after I saw Karen disappear over the edge I walked over so that I could hear her shout “rope free” meaning I could then take my turn.
Soon, I heard Karen's shout and after saying “see you later” to Pete, who was still sitting in his sheltered spot, I dropped down the rope for a few metres to where there was a “Y hang”. I clipped in my cowstails and waited until Karen had cleared the next section of rope.
I watched as Karen got off the rope on a wet ledge where Keith was also waiting. They shouted up to wait a bit as Keith was having to rearrange the rope.
He prusiked back up a short way and rigged a belay under a ledge above the wet one where Karen was still waiting. I was watching this going on below through my legs and then spotted some movement a little lower and to one side near the waterfall pouring down the open shaft at one end. It was a dipper! It had flown from somewhere below and landed on another small ledge on the opposite wall of the shaft.
Eventually Keith had abseiled back down again and shouted up “rope free” so I continued down the rope and passed a deviation. As I was nearing the ledge where the other two were still waiting, I heard them saying they were not going any lower!
So, I stopped a short distance above them and they explained that Keith was having trouble reaching the bolts, which were on the wall opposite the ledge. I changed over and prusiked back up to the surface.
As I was getting back out of the shaft I could hear Pete chanting something which I couldn't quite hear due to the noise of the waterfall.
As I walked towards him, still sitting in the same spot as before, I could hear him chanting “chip butty, chip butty, chip butty...”! He was getting chilled and was ready for a trip to Bernies!
Soon the others were back and we set off to get those chip butties!
Saturday, 3 May 2014
Sell Gill Holes
We were staying at the Yorkshire Ramblers' Lowstern Cottage and
had arrived last night very tired after yesterday evening's
activities and headed for bed early leaving Boyd and Jenny Potts,
Mick Hogg, Pete Wagstaff, Simon Wynne, newcomer Jason and Australian-based caver
Geoff O'Donnel downstairs. Geoff had been on trips with the Orpheus
before and was on another visit to the UK.
In the morning we had breakfast, sorted out the collection of ropes and then drove to Horton in Ribblesdale to meet Keith, who was due to arrive this morning. We all met at the Pen-y-Ghent Cafe. Pete, Keith and Simon were planning on a trip into Penyghent Pot so it made sense to meet there instead of the usual meeting point of Bernies in Ingleton. As we didn't feel up to the arduous trip to the bottom of Penyghent Pot, and more importantly, out again, Karen and I decided on a short trip to Sell Gill Holes would make sense as that cave was approached from Horton in Ribblesdale as well. Mick Hogg also decided to join us.
Boyd was heading for Selside for a trip down Alum Pot with Geoff and Jason.
After the brew and snack in the café, we left for our respective underground locations. Karen, Mick and I drove from the village of Horton in Ribblesdale to park in a layby just beyond the hamlet of New Houses and started changing into our caving gear. While we were doing this, another car arrived and the occupants, a man and woman, asked where we were going and were pleased to find out we were planning on the Fossil Route in Sell Gill Holes as they were set on a trip in the wet Goblin Route in the same cave which is an alternative entrance.
Once changed the three of us set off along the public right of way from New Houses across some fields to join the rough track from Horton in Ribblesdale which leads past the cave.
I started rigging the short entrance pitch before realising I had grabbed the wrong tackle sack and was using the 35m rope intended for the second pitch to rig the entrance pitch which required a 15m rope according to the rigging guide.
So I swapped tackle bags with Mick and started again to rig the entrance pitch with the correct rope this time! I found a resin anchor placed on the left-hand wall of the small gully at the top of the entrance pitch which wasn't on the rigging guide and tied the rope to a karabiner attached to it.
Next I attached the rope in a “Y-hang” to the two resin anchors at the top of the pitch and found the knotted and of the rope was just about 35 cm away! Obviously 15m of rope isn't enough!
I undid the karabiner and rope from the extra resin anchor (it was already belayed to a pair of resin anchors at the approach to the top of the pitch) and then tied the rope to a karabiner attached to just one of the pair of resin anchors and then the rope was just long enough to allow the knotted end to reach the foot of the pitch!
Oh well, either the rigging guide is wrong or our rope was marked a 15m and was actually shorter.
I abseiled down and was eventually joined by Mick and soon afterwards, Karen.
I started rigging the traverse to the pitch-head of the next pitch and dropped down into the chamber below where I waited for Karen with the tackle bag containing the rope for the final pitch nearby.
Karen arrived and told me that Mick had decided to wait above.
I rigged the last pitch and we were both soon down that as well. Around the corner was the waterfall arriving from the Wet Route (also known as the Goblin Route) and we could see the light above belong to one of the other pair of cavers.
Karen decided to not go much further than the start of the large chamber below this section of cave, so she waited for a few minutes while I made may way to the section where the chamber closed down to a short wet crawl through the next section of cave. I had a quick look and could see that the water level was very low.
I turned around and followed Karen back up the lower two pitches and met Mick awaiting our return.
Soon we were all back on the surface and we walked back to Horton in Ribblesdale.
In the morning we had breakfast, sorted out the collection of ropes and then drove to Horton in Ribblesdale to meet Keith, who was due to arrive this morning. We all met at the Pen-y-Ghent Cafe. Pete, Keith and Simon were planning on a trip into Penyghent Pot so it made sense to meet there instead of the usual meeting point of Bernies in Ingleton. As we didn't feel up to the arduous trip to the bottom of Penyghent Pot, and more importantly, out again, Karen and I decided on a short trip to Sell Gill Holes would make sense as that cave was approached from Horton in Ribblesdale as well. Mick Hogg also decided to join us.
Boyd was heading for Selside for a trip down Alum Pot with Geoff and Jason.
After the brew and snack in the café, we left for our respective underground locations. Karen, Mick and I drove from the village of Horton in Ribblesdale to park in a layby just beyond the hamlet of New Houses and started changing into our caving gear. While we were doing this, another car arrived and the occupants, a man and woman, asked where we were going and were pleased to find out we were planning on the Fossil Route in Sell Gill Holes as they were set on a trip in the wet Goblin Route in the same cave which is an alternative entrance.
Once changed the three of us set off along the public right of way from New Houses across some fields to join the rough track from Horton in Ribblesdale which leads past the cave.
I started rigging the short entrance pitch before realising I had grabbed the wrong tackle sack and was using the 35m rope intended for the second pitch to rig the entrance pitch which required a 15m rope according to the rigging guide.
So I swapped tackle bags with Mick and started again to rig the entrance pitch with the correct rope this time! I found a resin anchor placed on the left-hand wall of the small gully at the top of the entrance pitch which wasn't on the rigging guide and tied the rope to a karabiner attached to it.
Next I attached the rope in a “Y-hang” to the two resin anchors at the top of the pitch and found the knotted and of the rope was just about 35 cm away! Obviously 15m of rope isn't enough!
I undid the karabiner and rope from the extra resin anchor (it was already belayed to a pair of resin anchors at the approach to the top of the pitch) and then tied the rope to a karabiner attached to just one of the pair of resin anchors and then the rope was just long enough to allow the knotted end to reach the foot of the pitch!
Oh well, either the rigging guide is wrong or our rope was marked a 15m and was actually shorter.
I abseiled down and was eventually joined by Mick and soon afterwards, Karen.
I started rigging the traverse to the pitch-head of the next pitch and dropped down into the chamber below where I waited for Karen with the tackle bag containing the rope for the final pitch nearby.
Karen arrived and told me that Mick had decided to wait above.
I rigged the last pitch and we were both soon down that as well. Around the corner was the waterfall arriving from the Wet Route (also known as the Goblin Route) and we could see the light above belong to one of the other pair of cavers.
Karen decided to not go much further than the start of the large chamber below this section of cave, so she waited for a few minutes while I made may way to the section where the chamber closed down to a short wet crawl through the next section of cave. I had a quick look and could see that the water level was very low.
I turned around and followed Karen back up the lower two pitches and met Mick awaiting our return.
Soon we were all back on the surface and we walked back to Horton in Ribblesdale.
Thursday, 1 May 2014
DCRO Call-out to Devonshire Cavern
Today was Keith Joules's funeral after sadly collapsing and dying
on 20th April en route for a caving trip in Top Sink,
Easgill. This was very well attended and was held at Chesterfield
Crematorium. He was brought to the funeral in the DCRO van driven by
Bill Whitehouse accompanied by Janet Miller.
Afterwards there was a wake at The George in Castleton. Karen and I were just leaving at around 19;00 and it transpired that there was a call-out! Apparently a girl had fallen 7 metres in Devonshire Cavern and had a lower leg injury.
We set off for Matlock Bath via home in Winster, collecting our caving gear en route and met in the small private road adjacent to the old New Bath Hotel.
Once changed into caving gear and after receiving additional information via the police, we had a lift in Mick Earle's hired mini-bus. It was a struggle making our way up the narrow road leading up towards Devonshire Cavern with a couple of narrow switch-backs. He had to admit defeat when he couldn't fit the van between the two walls of houses bordering the lane, so we left the van in a small nearby car park and walked the remaining short distance.
There was a fancy-looking off-road ambulance called a Polaris parked by the track leading to the mine which belonged to a group of HART paramedics and a small group of paramedics and a police officer at the mine entrance.
A caver appeared at the mine entrance who was with the injured girl and he apparently was running back and forth between the further section of the mine and the entrance as other DCRO team members had been arriving.
Anyway, we started bringing gear in with Mick Earle acting as Controller by the entrance and Lee Langdon as underground Controller. It was decided that I would look after the section of mine from the entrance to the chamber with old steps near the blocked entrance and shaft and Dave Harley would look after the section from there to where the casualty had fallen, a little further in the mine.
After dropping the first bit of kit at the chamber, I continued onwards and met the casualty and an EMAS paramedic. It was decide that only her ankle was injured despite the fall, as she had fallen in a rift which slowed her down a bit.
Lee had a list of gear to ask for and I returned to the surface to request the additional gear including 2 Heyphones at my suggestion.
These soon arrived and we set one up at the entrance and I took the other in to set it up by the blocked-up entrance.
Soon the others were helping the casualty make her way by shuffling on her behind with assistance as she was wearing a full-body harness. I laid out the long Slix stretcher on a convenient flat spot by the old steps on the steep slope of the floor. The casualty was happier to continue as she was rather than get in a stretcher.
We packed up the stretcher and not too long afterwards all had made their way past the Heyphone point so I packed this up as well after informing Alan Brentnall on the other set.
While following the others and carrying gear, Lee suggested we head for the entrance which was not far away and get ready to assist there.
Fairly quickly the casualty was at the entrance and she was assisted out and handed over to the waiting paramedics. Soon she was packaged in their stretcher and we followed them down the track to the waiting off-road ambulance.
After making our way back to the RV point, we got changed out of caving gear and Karen, who had been at the vehicle helping out, and I drove home, getting to bed at 00:40.
I was up at 06:00 as usual for work.
Afterwards there was a wake at The George in Castleton. Karen and I were just leaving at around 19;00 and it transpired that there was a call-out! Apparently a girl had fallen 7 metres in Devonshire Cavern and had a lower leg injury.
We set off for Matlock Bath via home in Winster, collecting our caving gear en route and met in the small private road adjacent to the old New Bath Hotel.
Once changed into caving gear and after receiving additional information via the police, we had a lift in Mick Earle's hired mini-bus. It was a struggle making our way up the narrow road leading up towards Devonshire Cavern with a couple of narrow switch-backs. He had to admit defeat when he couldn't fit the van between the two walls of houses bordering the lane, so we left the van in a small nearby car park and walked the remaining short distance.
There was a fancy-looking off-road ambulance called a Polaris parked by the track leading to the mine which belonged to a group of HART paramedics and a small group of paramedics and a police officer at the mine entrance.
A caver appeared at the mine entrance who was with the injured girl and he apparently was running back and forth between the further section of the mine and the entrance as other DCRO team members had been arriving.
Anyway, we started bringing gear in with Mick Earle acting as Controller by the entrance and Lee Langdon as underground Controller. It was decided that I would look after the section of mine from the entrance to the chamber with old steps near the blocked entrance and shaft and Dave Harley would look after the section from there to where the casualty had fallen, a little further in the mine.
After dropping the first bit of kit at the chamber, I continued onwards and met the casualty and an EMAS paramedic. It was decide that only her ankle was injured despite the fall, as she had fallen in a rift which slowed her down a bit.
Lee had a list of gear to ask for and I returned to the surface to request the additional gear including 2 Heyphones at my suggestion.
These soon arrived and we set one up at the entrance and I took the other in to set it up by the blocked-up entrance.
Soon the others were helping the casualty make her way by shuffling on her behind with assistance as she was wearing a full-body harness. I laid out the long Slix stretcher on a convenient flat spot by the old steps on the steep slope of the floor. The casualty was happier to continue as she was rather than get in a stretcher.
We packed up the stretcher and not too long afterwards all had made their way past the Heyphone point so I packed this up as well after informing Alan Brentnall on the other set.
While following the others and carrying gear, Lee suggested we head for the entrance which was not far away and get ready to assist there.
Fairly quickly the casualty was at the entrance and she was assisted out and handed over to the waiting paramedics. Soon she was packaged in their stretcher and we followed them down the track to the waiting off-road ambulance.
After making our way back to the RV point, we got changed out of caving gear and Karen, who had been at the vehicle helping out, and I drove home, getting to bed at 00:40.
I was up at 06:00 as usual for work.
Sunday, 27 April 2014
Reservoir Hole and The Frozen Deep
We were up at 08:00 to cook and eat breakfast as we were expecting
our “guide” for the day's trip to Reservoir Hold at 09:45.
As arranged, Keith arrived just after 09:00 and joined us for a sausage sandwich. Others who were also staying at the hut were leaving for various destinations and we were wondering what to do about locking up when we left.
Luckily we were joined by a Wessex member just before 09:00, so that issue resolved itself. I wasn't surprised as I'm sure there are usually others around most weekends and even though others had left the hut earlier, there were still several cars still parked in the car park, so they obviously intended returning soon.
Anyway, our “guide”, Andrew Moon, arrived as arranged just after 09:45 and after a short chat, we set off to follow Andrew to Cheddar Gorge (we had packed up everything in the car already and we had paid our overnight fees).
We soon arrived after a rainy journey (typical!) and parked up in the small layby opposite the small covered stone-built reservoir in the Gorge and began getting changed into our caving gear making as much use of the shelter provided by the car boot lids as possible.
We crossed the road and climbed over the metal gate into the reservoir compound and clambered up a short muddy bank to the foot of the limestone crag forming this side of the Gorge. Here was a surprisingly small entrance covered with a metal gate which was held in place by a padlock.
Andrew soon had the gate off and squirmed into the cave through the small hole followed by Keith and Karen with me bringing up the rear. The time was 10:25.
Luckily, within a metre or so, the entrance passage increased in size and was an awkward hands and knees crawl with irregular sides and the odd small boulder. It was sloping gently downwards and after passing a short low, flat-out section with a rock stuck in the floor to make things slightly awkward, we reached larger passage and then intersected another passage at an angle.
We followed this walking passage for a bit and passed sections of “moonmilk” covered walls. Andrew pointed out the very tidy stacking of small boulders which had been removed a s a result of digging activities over many years, which was mainly down to the efforts of well known Mendip caver, the late William Stanton.
We clambered down a drop through a boulder choke lined with stacked rocks and reached another section of hands-and-knees crawling to eventually arrive at a wide passage and then a large chamber in a large rift with sections of slickensides (where two rock faces rubbed against each other during earth movements).
We clambered up a rocky ramp at the far side of the rift chamber and climbed over a large jammed boulder making use of an in-situ handline. From here we climbed down the two electron ladders left behind by yesterday's group. This pitch is broken into two sections by a scaffolded wooden platform, with a 7 metre climb down to the platform followed by another climb which was a little longer.
Once we had all been lifelined to the foot of the pitch we set off for the remainder of the cave and were soon passing the breakpoint of September 2012 to reach the amazing 30 metres high and 60 metres long chamber christened The Frozen Deep.
This chamber is the largest known cave chamber, in terms of floor area, in the UK. There was a large pure white calcite column and several other large stalagmites in view as we entered the chamber and began following a route marked through the chamber bordered with agricultural electric fencing (a white plastic tape with thin embedded wires which is easy to see and very strong).
A short distance along the route and we could see the huge frozen flowstone “waterfall” reaching from the chamber roof down to the floor following one section of the wall.
It's such a large chamber, it took us quite a while to make our way along the route with many stops to admire the splendour. Luckily with our three Scurion headlamps and Andrews very bright LED cycling lamp, we could see quite a lot. We saw the current digging site which was accessed by yet another electron ladder. Of course we could only look at the top of the ladder as we passed by.
After many exclamations of “Wow!” and “Amazing!” we were back at the entrance to the chamber and had a quick “mars bar” break before beginning out return to the surface.
At the ladder pitch, Andrew climbed up first while being lifelined by Keith. Once he was ready, I climbed up next followed by Karen and Keith.
I had dropped back down over the large jammed boulder to wait for the others and Andrew suggested Karen and I start to make our way out a she and Keith coiled up the ladders and put them in the tackle bag.
I was in front on the way out, which was quite a bit easier and the climbs through boulder chokes were upwards and the hands-and-knees crawls were sloping uphill.
At a junction, I followed the wrong route and clambered up a short climb and soon realised I had gone wrong but curiosity had got the best of me, so I continued following this route to an old dig for a bit before turning around and heading back just in time to meet Andrew and Keith on their way out.
I had just missed Karen, who had remained behind to allow Keith to catch up so that she could help moving the gear out of the cave, and we soon caught her up.
Various obstacles, which were more awkward than anything else, soon passed and Karen let us know she could see daylight again.
We all popped out of the small entrance hole and found it was raining again, but only lightly. We had resurfaced at 13:45.
But we didn't care. We had an excellent and enjoyable trip lasting three and a quarter hours and had seen the UK's largest chamber and also some really beautiful “pretties” to top it all off, thanks to our guide Andrew.
As arranged, Keith arrived just after 09:00 and joined us for a sausage sandwich. Others who were also staying at the hut were leaving for various destinations and we were wondering what to do about locking up when we left.
Luckily we were joined by a Wessex member just before 09:00, so that issue resolved itself. I wasn't surprised as I'm sure there are usually others around most weekends and even though others had left the hut earlier, there were still several cars still parked in the car park, so they obviously intended returning soon.
Anyway, our “guide”, Andrew Moon, arrived as arranged just after 09:45 and after a short chat, we set off to follow Andrew to Cheddar Gorge (we had packed up everything in the car already and we had paid our overnight fees).
We soon arrived after a rainy journey (typical!) and parked up in the small layby opposite the small covered stone-built reservoir in the Gorge and began getting changed into our caving gear making as much use of the shelter provided by the car boot lids as possible.
We crossed the road and climbed over the metal gate into the reservoir compound and clambered up a short muddy bank to the foot of the limestone crag forming this side of the Gorge. Here was a surprisingly small entrance covered with a metal gate which was held in place by a padlock.
Andrew soon had the gate off and squirmed into the cave through the small hole followed by Keith and Karen with me bringing up the rear. The time was 10:25.
Luckily, within a metre or so, the entrance passage increased in size and was an awkward hands and knees crawl with irregular sides and the odd small boulder. It was sloping gently downwards and after passing a short low, flat-out section with a rock stuck in the floor to make things slightly awkward, we reached larger passage and then intersected another passage at an angle.
We followed this walking passage for a bit and passed sections of “moonmilk” covered walls. Andrew pointed out the very tidy stacking of small boulders which had been removed a s a result of digging activities over many years, which was mainly down to the efforts of well known Mendip caver, the late William Stanton.
We clambered down a drop through a boulder choke lined with stacked rocks and reached another section of hands-and-knees crawling to eventually arrive at a wide passage and then a large chamber in a large rift with sections of slickensides (where two rock faces rubbed against each other during earth movements).
We clambered up a rocky ramp at the far side of the rift chamber and climbed over a large jammed boulder making use of an in-situ handline. From here we climbed down the two electron ladders left behind by yesterday's group. This pitch is broken into two sections by a scaffolded wooden platform, with a 7 metre climb down to the platform followed by another climb which was a little longer.
Once we had all been lifelined to the foot of the pitch we set off for the remainder of the cave and were soon passing the breakpoint of September 2012 to reach the amazing 30 metres high and 60 metres long chamber christened The Frozen Deep.
This chamber is the largest known cave chamber, in terms of floor area, in the UK. There was a large pure white calcite column and several other large stalagmites in view as we entered the chamber and began following a route marked through the chamber bordered with agricultural electric fencing (a white plastic tape with thin embedded wires which is easy to see and very strong).
A short distance along the route and we could see the huge frozen flowstone “waterfall” reaching from the chamber roof down to the floor following one section of the wall.
It's such a large chamber, it took us quite a while to make our way along the route with many stops to admire the splendour. Luckily with our three Scurion headlamps and Andrews very bright LED cycling lamp, we could see quite a lot. We saw the current digging site which was accessed by yet another electron ladder. Of course we could only look at the top of the ladder as we passed by.
After many exclamations of “Wow!” and “Amazing!” we were back at the entrance to the chamber and had a quick “mars bar” break before beginning out return to the surface.
At the ladder pitch, Andrew climbed up first while being lifelined by Keith. Once he was ready, I climbed up next followed by Karen and Keith.
I had dropped back down over the large jammed boulder to wait for the others and Andrew suggested Karen and I start to make our way out a she and Keith coiled up the ladders and put them in the tackle bag.
I was in front on the way out, which was quite a bit easier and the climbs through boulder chokes were upwards and the hands-and-knees crawls were sloping uphill.
At a junction, I followed the wrong route and clambered up a short climb and soon realised I had gone wrong but curiosity had got the best of me, so I continued following this route to an old dig for a bit before turning around and heading back just in time to meet Andrew and Keith on their way out.
I had just missed Karen, who had remained behind to allow Keith to catch up so that she could help moving the gear out of the cave, and we soon caught her up.
Various obstacles, which were more awkward than anything else, soon passed and Karen let us know she could see daylight again.
We all popped out of the small entrance hole and found it was raining again, but only lightly. We had resurfaced at 13:45.
But we didn't care. We had an excellent and enjoyable trip lasting three and a quarter hours and had seen the UK's largest chamber and also some really beautiful “pretties” to top it all off, thanks to our guide Andrew.
Saturday, 26 April 2014
A Quick Trip in Swildons Hole
Karen was visiting friends and family in Rugby yesterday evening and was back at home at nearly midnight so we travelled down to Priddy in the Mendip Hills in the morning and arrived at our accommodation for the week-end at Upper Pitts, the HQ belonging to the Wessex Cave Club in the early afternoon.
Unfortunately Karen left the key for the hut at home but luckily there were others around so we didn't need it to open the door.
We had a trip booked to see the recent discovery called The Frozen Deep in Cheddar Gorge tomorrow and one of the stipulations was to ensure your caving oversuit was clean. Ours were far from clean and were plastered with Derbyshire mud!
Luckily one of the best Mendip caves, Swildons Hole, was within walking distance and as it is a stream cave, we could have a quick caving trip and clean our oversuits at the same time.
We dropped sleeping bags and other stuff on a couple of empty bunks, put our food box in the kitchen and then get changed into caving gear.
We left the hut to climb over a stile into an adjacent field and then walked across another couple to reach the blockhouse covered entrance to the cave.
Despite recent rain, water levels were lowish as we dropped down into the cave entrance and started making our way along the part of the Long Dry Way to reach the Lavatory Pan and the short clamber down. Karen wasn't happy about climbing back up this as she hurt her shoulder there on a previous trip and as we only wanted a very quick caving trip, we turned around and headed back to the surface.
Once back above ground, we stripped off our oversuits and washed any remaining mud off in the large pool at the entrance to the cave. While we were doing this a couple of women and some children arrived accompanied by a man who was preparing to take some kids on a caving trip.
While we were doing all this, Boyd Dave Phillips and Simon Wynne were visiting The Frozen Deep – only 3 cavers are allowed on a trip accompanied by a local caver who keeps an eye out for any damage, etc. They had left the two electron ladders, lifeline rope and tackle bag after their trip for us to use tomorrow and bring out with us afterwards.
Later on, Boyd met us at the Wessex hut after his caving trip and we drove to Wells to have a meal at an Indian restaurant which was very tasty indeed. Afterwards we had to run through a rain shower back to where we had parked on the main shopping street.
We finished the night off with a quick drink in the Hunter Lodge Inn just outside Priddy, joining some older cavers from the Shepton Mallet Caving Club who were also there. Boyd being also a member of SMCC, was staying the night at their hut not far away from the Wessex Hut, and we dropped him off there on our way back to the Wessex Hut.
Unfortunately Karen left the key for the hut at home but luckily there were others around so we didn't need it to open the door.
We had a trip booked to see the recent discovery called The Frozen Deep in Cheddar Gorge tomorrow and one of the stipulations was to ensure your caving oversuit was clean. Ours were far from clean and were plastered with Derbyshire mud!
Luckily one of the best Mendip caves, Swildons Hole, was within walking distance and as it is a stream cave, we could have a quick caving trip and clean our oversuits at the same time.
We dropped sleeping bags and other stuff on a couple of empty bunks, put our food box in the kitchen and then get changed into caving gear.
We left the hut to climb over a stile into an adjacent field and then walked across another couple to reach the blockhouse covered entrance to the cave.
Despite recent rain, water levels were lowish as we dropped down into the cave entrance and started making our way along the part of the Long Dry Way to reach the Lavatory Pan and the short clamber down. Karen wasn't happy about climbing back up this as she hurt her shoulder there on a previous trip and as we only wanted a very quick caving trip, we turned around and headed back to the surface.
Once back above ground, we stripped off our oversuits and washed any remaining mud off in the large pool at the entrance to the cave. While we were doing this a couple of women and some children arrived accompanied by a man who was preparing to take some kids on a caving trip.
While we were doing all this, Boyd Dave Phillips and Simon Wynne were visiting The Frozen Deep – only 3 cavers are allowed on a trip accompanied by a local caver who keeps an eye out for any damage, etc. They had left the two electron ladders, lifeline rope and tackle bag after their trip for us to use tomorrow and bring out with us afterwards.
Later on, Boyd met us at the Wessex hut after his caving trip and we drove to Wells to have a meal at an Indian restaurant which was very tasty indeed. Afterwards we had to run through a rain shower back to where we had parked on the main shopping street.
We finished the night off with a quick drink in the Hunter Lodge Inn just outside Priddy, joining some older cavers from the Shepton Mallet Caving Club who were also there. Boyd being also a member of SMCC, was staying the night at their hut not far away from the Wessex Hut, and we dropped him off there on our way back to the Wessex Hut.
Saturday, 5 April 2014
James Hall Over Engine Mine
Since it was the Orpheus Caving Club AGM weekend, there was a
gathering of members at the club hut this morning as we arrived as
planned with Pete Wagstaff at 10:00 for a trip down James Hall Over
Engine Mine near Castleton, more commonly known as JH.
In the end there was just Pete, Keith, Karen and myself which is an ideal number as there are enough cavers to get the three tackle bags of ropes through the system (leaving a fourth at the foot of the entrance pitch) but not so many so that there is a lot of waiting around getting chilly.
We parked on the muddy field at Rowter Farm, which is used a s camp site, and began getting changed sheltering from the wind and light rain.
After passing the open-ended building housing a few ewes and their new born lambs, we followed a very muddy track through the farm yard and then through a field, over a fence stile into a second field with plenty of evidence of mining activity with large lumps and hollows.
Amongst the lumpy ground we gathered at the large rectangular metal lid in the concreted shaft top.
As he had finished changing and kitting up with SRT gear first, Keith had headed of before the rest of us and had already set off down the shaft. Once we heard his shout of “rope free!”, Karen clipped on her descender and set off to join him followed by Pete.
I was last and had to stand on the scaffold bars below the lid and close the heavy lid behind us in case any sheep decided on a quick caving trip.
Part way down I spotted a bolt anchor with a karabiner clipped to it: Pete had left it there so that I could arrange a rebelay to speed things up on our way out. I soon tied a rebelay onto the drive-through bolt, confirming with Pete waiting below that there was still enough rope. I then spotted a second bolt on the opposite wall of the shaft and rather than re-arrange the rebelay as a Y-hang (I would have to change over to prusik up again a short distance then change over to descend again which would take some time) I used the thick cord I use to dangle tackle bags from, to create a deviation. Confirming all was arranged OK, I set off down to join Pete and we set off along the Cartgate to catch up Keith and Karen.
One section of traversing over a deep pool in the Cartgate had a metal plate used as a foothold missing which made a couple of moves entertaining, but still safe as it is rigged with a traverse line.
Soon we had made our way through the Cartgate including a heavy tackle bag full of rope each and caught Keith and Karen at the top of Bitch Pitch.
After the others had disappeared down this narrow pitch, I set off to follow them and I was in new territory as I had only been to the top of Bitch Pitch before with Mark Silo years ago when we were trying to remove a loose “Eco” bolt which had become loose.
At the bottom there was a choice of two ways on in the narrow passage, one was low hole with the noise of water flowing, so I went the other way, which was also low, nut this brought me in the section called The Workshop, where I found Karen.
We dropped down a small step to the top of the next pitch, called Leviathan, which is broken into two halves.
Karen was down the first section and shouted “rope free!” and I set off down to follow her. A nice pitch but quite a bit drippy with an easy deviation right at the top. I had an ankle injury from last week and didn't want to have to prusik up too much in case it was too painful, but I set off down this pitch anyway.
I joined Karen below and she pointed out it was easier to stop at a rocky ledge a short way from the bottom and then make a short traverse rather than stop at the bottom and then have to reascend to get to the next bit of Leviathan.
This meant a short step down, through a small chamber with taped off mining artefacts and then a short drop to where a reinforced concrete dam was placed at the top of the last section of Leviathan.
I watched as Karen dropped down below the dam to the rebelay just below the lip at the top and then make her way to the bottom. I decided to stop there bearing in mind my sore ankle and shouted down to the others telling them I would wait there.
The other three left the section of the system called JH to make their way to the Speedwell streamway, looking at The Miners' Toast and other nearby interesting places such as the perched sump known as The Bathing Pool. They also bumped into fellow caver Keith Mason and some others on a through trip from Titan and Peak Cavern.
The three of them didn't take very long at all when I heard them arrive back at the foot of the 30 metre lower section of Leviathan.
Soon Karen had joined me back at the top and we set off to start up the next pitch, the upper section of Leviathan which is a bit longer at 35 metres.
When I reached the top I walked past the taped off mining artefacts in The Workshop and clipped onto the lower section of the multiple rebelays on Bitch Pitch, again around 35 metres with several rebelays and deviations.
I made my way up to the convenient ledge at the lowest rebelay and waited until Karen appeared below. There was a bit of a delay until I saw her light and it seemed Keith had to drop down part of Leviathan to sort out a rope tangle preventing it being pulled up, and the re—ascend.
I continued up the rest of Bitch Pitch and waited for Karen. She had a full tackle bag and we made our way through the Cartgate with the tackle bag, taking it in turns to carry it or shove it along.
Very quickly it seemed, we had passed a couple of climbs which I thought would be awkward on the return trip but turned out to be no problem. The roped traverse over the flooded stop with the missing metal foothold caused fun and games when the tackle bag, which I had clipped to the line, got tangled behind me with my cowstails as I was standing on a couple of small footholds. This obstacle was soon passed and we were back at the foot of the 50 metre entrance shaft.
As I was clipping onto the rope, Pete and Keith arrived and I set off up the shaft.
Soon I was at the rebelay and after passing it and shouting “rope free!”, I set off for the remainder of the shaft to then get the heavy kid open again.
I managed to do this and then got back out of the shaft, unclipped everything from the rop, shouted down “rope free!” again and then waited for the others to arrive.
We pulled up the rope from the shaft, packed it into its tackle bag and made our way under a cloudy but dry sky back to the cars to get changed.
After dropping the ropes off at the hut we first went home for me to have a shower and then to collect the thumb drives with our photos for tonight's traditional Orpheus photo competition and then it was off to Biggin to join Pete and his wife Lynn at the Waterloo In for an evening meal.
After dinner, we drove along the A515 to the Orpheus hut where the photo competition was just starting. Karen won a prize, but neither Keith nor I won anything.
In the end there was just Pete, Keith, Karen and myself which is an ideal number as there are enough cavers to get the three tackle bags of ropes through the system (leaving a fourth at the foot of the entrance pitch) but not so many so that there is a lot of waiting around getting chilly.
We parked on the muddy field at Rowter Farm, which is used a s camp site, and began getting changed sheltering from the wind and light rain.
After passing the open-ended building housing a few ewes and their new born lambs, we followed a very muddy track through the farm yard and then through a field, over a fence stile into a second field with plenty of evidence of mining activity with large lumps and hollows.
Amongst the lumpy ground we gathered at the large rectangular metal lid in the concreted shaft top.
As he had finished changing and kitting up with SRT gear first, Keith had headed of before the rest of us and had already set off down the shaft. Once we heard his shout of “rope free!”, Karen clipped on her descender and set off to join him followed by Pete.
I was last and had to stand on the scaffold bars below the lid and close the heavy lid behind us in case any sheep decided on a quick caving trip.
Part way down I spotted a bolt anchor with a karabiner clipped to it: Pete had left it there so that I could arrange a rebelay to speed things up on our way out. I soon tied a rebelay onto the drive-through bolt, confirming with Pete waiting below that there was still enough rope. I then spotted a second bolt on the opposite wall of the shaft and rather than re-arrange the rebelay as a Y-hang (I would have to change over to prusik up again a short distance then change over to descend again which would take some time) I used the thick cord I use to dangle tackle bags from, to create a deviation. Confirming all was arranged OK, I set off down to join Pete and we set off along the Cartgate to catch up Keith and Karen.
One section of traversing over a deep pool in the Cartgate had a metal plate used as a foothold missing which made a couple of moves entertaining, but still safe as it is rigged with a traverse line.
Soon we had made our way through the Cartgate including a heavy tackle bag full of rope each and caught Keith and Karen at the top of Bitch Pitch.
After the others had disappeared down this narrow pitch, I set off to follow them and I was in new territory as I had only been to the top of Bitch Pitch before with Mark Silo years ago when we were trying to remove a loose “Eco” bolt which had become loose.
At the bottom there was a choice of two ways on in the narrow passage, one was low hole with the noise of water flowing, so I went the other way, which was also low, nut this brought me in the section called The Workshop, where I found Karen.
We dropped down a small step to the top of the next pitch, called Leviathan, which is broken into two halves.
Karen was down the first section and shouted “rope free!” and I set off down to follow her. A nice pitch but quite a bit drippy with an easy deviation right at the top. I had an ankle injury from last week and didn't want to have to prusik up too much in case it was too painful, but I set off down this pitch anyway.
I joined Karen below and she pointed out it was easier to stop at a rocky ledge a short way from the bottom and then make a short traverse rather than stop at the bottom and then have to reascend to get to the next bit of Leviathan.
This meant a short step down, through a small chamber with taped off mining artefacts and then a short drop to where a reinforced concrete dam was placed at the top of the last section of Leviathan.
I watched as Karen dropped down below the dam to the rebelay just below the lip at the top and then make her way to the bottom. I decided to stop there bearing in mind my sore ankle and shouted down to the others telling them I would wait there.
The other three left the section of the system called JH to make their way to the Speedwell streamway, looking at The Miners' Toast and other nearby interesting places such as the perched sump known as The Bathing Pool. They also bumped into fellow caver Keith Mason and some others on a through trip from Titan and Peak Cavern.
The three of them didn't take very long at all when I heard them arrive back at the foot of the 30 metre lower section of Leviathan.
Soon Karen had joined me back at the top and we set off to start up the next pitch, the upper section of Leviathan which is a bit longer at 35 metres.
When I reached the top I walked past the taped off mining artefacts in The Workshop and clipped onto the lower section of the multiple rebelays on Bitch Pitch, again around 35 metres with several rebelays and deviations.
I made my way up to the convenient ledge at the lowest rebelay and waited until Karen appeared below. There was a bit of a delay until I saw her light and it seemed Keith had to drop down part of Leviathan to sort out a rope tangle preventing it being pulled up, and the re—ascend.
I continued up the rest of Bitch Pitch and waited for Karen. She had a full tackle bag and we made our way through the Cartgate with the tackle bag, taking it in turns to carry it or shove it along.
Very quickly it seemed, we had passed a couple of climbs which I thought would be awkward on the return trip but turned out to be no problem. The roped traverse over the flooded stop with the missing metal foothold caused fun and games when the tackle bag, which I had clipped to the line, got tangled behind me with my cowstails as I was standing on a couple of small footholds. This obstacle was soon passed and we were back at the foot of the 50 metre entrance shaft.
As I was clipping onto the rope, Pete and Keith arrived and I set off up the shaft.
Soon I was at the rebelay and after passing it and shouting “rope free!”, I set off for the remainder of the shaft to then get the heavy kid open again.
I managed to do this and then got back out of the shaft, unclipped everything from the rop, shouted down “rope free!” again and then waited for the others to arrive.
We pulled up the rope from the shaft, packed it into its tackle bag and made our way under a cloudy but dry sky back to the cars to get changed.
After dropping the ropes off at the hut we first went home for me to have a shower and then to collect the thumb drives with our photos for tonight's traditional Orpheus photo competition and then it was off to Biggin to join Pete and his wife Lynn at the Waterloo In for an evening meal.
After dinner, we drove along the A515 to the Orpheus hut where the photo competition was just starting. Karen won a prize, but neither Keith nor I won anything.
Sunday, 30 March 2014
Water Icicle Close Cavern
I accompanied a group of four cavers who were part of a group from
Southsea Speleological Society staying at the Orpheus cottage, on a
trip into Cherty-Two passage and Urchin Passage in the North-west
Passage Extensions in Water Icicle Close Cavern. It was a lovely
spring day and as well as the usual skylark singing, we heard the
song of a curlew as well as we got changed into caving gear.
Saturday, 22 March 2014
Water Icicle Close Cavern
I spent most of the day with Keith helping him install scaffolding at the top of The Elevator while Karen was entertaining her parent who were visiting for the weekend.
Sunday, 16 March 2014
Lathkill Head Cave Top Entrance
Karen and I had a quick trip into Lathkill Head Cave via the Top
Entrance to do some annual checks as required by the landowner. We
only needed to go as far as the large chamber called The Waiting Room
to do these and didn't bother going further on this occasion.
Getting back out through the short constriction at the entrance was as much of a pain as usual!
Getting back out through the short constriction at the entrance was as much of a pain as usual!
Sunday, 2 March 2014
Lost John's Cave
Initially we thought the weather forecast meant a curtailed trip
into Lost John's Cave as yesterday's forecast was for a wet afternoon
but while eating breakfast in Bernies and talking to Jack Pickup he
looked up the weather radar map on his Nexus tablet and we saw that
it was very wet on the west coast of Ireland but where we were in the
Dales would be alright for a while today.
Due to both the original forecast and because it was Sunday an most didn't want to get away too late, we had a very early (for an Orpheus trip!) start and had been at Bernies just before 09:00 as Steve Round had pointed out when the church clock bell was ringing while ordering breakfast.
Some who were not planning on breakfast in Bernies had headed straight onwards to Leck Fell and we followed after the usual session of leaving some cars at Cowan Bridge village car park.
It was milder yesterday as we parked up at the usual car park and started getting into caving gear. Pete Wagstaff, Charles Bailey, Boyd Potts and Alan Hatton were with the early party and were going to rig and descend the cave via what is called Centipede Route and we found them still getting themselves sorted at the car park.
Karen, Keith, myself and Mark Silo were to rig and descend Dome Route, then after meeting the other party at Battleaxe Traverse, some would continue further down the cave at this point while the remainder would exit the cave as they wanted a shorter trip.
Things went very smoothly and after dropping the various pitches in Dome Route, I was at the back of our group and as I was leaving the foot of the final pitch, I followed Karen and Keith and met Boyd making his way out closely followed by Mark.
Meanwhile I started prusiking up the last pitch of Centipede Route followed by Karen and Keith and we three made our way back to the surface de-rigging Centipede Route as we went.
We reached the surface and again got changed and after saying good-bye to Keith we joined Boyd and Mark in Bernies for a post-caving chip butty after an excellent trip.
Due to both the original forecast and because it was Sunday an most didn't want to get away too late, we had a very early (for an Orpheus trip!) start and had been at Bernies just before 09:00 as Steve Round had pointed out when the church clock bell was ringing while ordering breakfast.
Some who were not planning on breakfast in Bernies had headed straight onwards to Leck Fell and we followed after the usual session of leaving some cars at Cowan Bridge village car park.
It was milder yesterday as we parked up at the usual car park and started getting into caving gear. Pete Wagstaff, Charles Bailey, Boyd Potts and Alan Hatton were with the early party and were going to rig and descend the cave via what is called Centipede Route and we found them still getting themselves sorted at the car park.
Karen, Keith, myself and Mark Silo were to rig and descend Dome Route, then after meeting the other party at Battleaxe Traverse, some would continue further down the cave at this point while the remainder would exit the cave as they wanted a shorter trip.
Things went very smoothly and after dropping the various pitches in Dome Route, I was at the back of our group and as I was leaving the foot of the final pitch, I followed Karen and Keith and met Boyd making his way out closely followed by Mark.
Meanwhile I started prusiking up the last pitch of Centipede Route followed by Karen and Keith and we three made our way back to the surface de-rigging Centipede Route as we went.
We reached the surface and again got changed and after saying good-bye to Keith we joined Boyd and Mark in Bernies for a post-caving chip butty after an excellent trip.
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