Nettle Pot, Dentdale

Maz, Tom, Scott, Will, potential new members Jim and Jess. Report by Maz

My first acquaintance with Nettle Pot came 2 days before the proposed trip date. I felt, as leader, I should do some research and at least recce out the entrance, and hopefully a bit more.

The CNCC coordinates put me somewhere in the middle of the village and the description suggested 80 metres upstream of the bridge in Gawthorp.

Armed with these facts, Janice and I went exploring on a wet Monday morning. It transpires there are 4 bridges in Gawthorp and we got lucky after number 3. The entrance looked wet, low and clogged with debris. We didn’t go any further as we weren’t overly keen on entering this enticing portal.

Wednesday night saw 4 of us plus two potential new members- Jim and Jess head out into the unknown; this being a new cave for all of us. The plunge pool adjacent to the entrance looked a little deeper than it did on Monday. No one seemed overly keen to lead, so Jim, survey in hand, set off, closely followed by Jess and Will. The delicately constructed dam of rotting vegetation and plastic was no match for Will’s size 10s (?) and a mini tsunami was unleashed downstream as it was breached. Our new members were given a baptism, literally from KCC.

Various routes from the initial chamber were checked out, Will going furthest, head first into a rapidly narrowing passage. Jim had concluded his passage was blocked by debris and Tom’s went back to the entrance.

With nowhere to go other than out, it seemed the trip was over. Almost. Keen for more unpleasant action, it was suggested we try the resurgence and work backwards.
Fortunately I had recced this more successfully on Monday and chauffeured everyone in Maz’s taxi (the back of the van) to the said exit.

The resurgence consisted of a concrete tube going some distance underneath the road. For want of anything better to do we headed in, some on hands and knees, some stooping, all getting wet to some degree.

After a short while it became apparent the only thing to be had here was playing a lottery of catching some form of water borne virus. It wasn’t with heavy hearts that we decided we had had too much fun and we headed out.

And so ended our trip to Nettle Pot. Not a classic, not even sure if it’s got potential, but definitely one for the summer. Maybe.