Long Churn
Yolanda, Pete, Nat (Pete’s son), Andy (friend of Pete’s), Steve (1st KCC trip)
Report by Yolanda:
On Saturday, the crew went for a trip down Long Churn, in the foothills of Ingleborough. We had a rather warm 20 minute walk before reaching the lovely cool cave – the lower entrance to Long Churn. The stream level was much lower than usual due to the warm weather, but when we reached the first pool, Pete lost his footing and went in with rather a splash! I was a minute or so behind him and hadn’t realised it was an accident, so not wanting to be outdone, I leapt into the pool myself – very refreshing after an uphill walk in my caving kit, although possibly not worth spending the rest of the trip in wet clothes.
Andy, Nat, and Steve managed to climb around the edge of the pool, and we continued through the cave to the Cheese Press, which I’m happy to say we all made it through! After a bit more scrambling around we then went back via a different tunnel before arriving at Dr Bannister’s Handbasin. This is usually a beautiful and tranquil pool but on Saturday it was the site of some kind of ‘take your kid caving’ event as there was a group of about a dozen parents and children. The youngest were about four and hopefully there were some future KCC members among them! Our group then scrambled up the waterfall out of Long Churn’s top entrance and back into the sunlight! A great little trip and hopefully a good introduction to caving for Steve.
Report by Pete:
Another trip for a first time caver courtesy of Yolanda with Steve joining us for the ever popular Long Churns. Andy and Nat have both visited before but the opportunity of a repeat trip appealed.
The dry spell meant there was no water at all at the entrance, and none to speak of in the lower churns. Not that that stopped me soaking myself well at Double Shuffle Pool – which puzzled some of the party who wisely opted for staying dry.
Nat happily led the way through the Cheesepress and we were soon at Dolly Tubs.
Heading back up stream we soon met a family who we’d seen as we left cars, the youngster of the group seemed to be having a great time. Andy took the branch into a low passage which turned out to go further than I remembered, spitting us out in the upper churns
On we went to Dr B’s where a brief rest was taken as we waited for a party coming down the chute. This turned out to be Bradford Pothole Club on a family day out, as Yolanda said it seemed we’d chosen “Take you child caving day”.
Soon we were back on the surface just in time for a feeble attempt at rain.
Thanks to Yolanda for organising this.
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