May 2025 – Kendal Caving Club

31 May 2025

By Sophie C In Day Trips

It’s a Cracker

Tom, Ray, James, Paddy, Sophie

It’s fair to say that this little cracker was definitely not what we had in mind when we met for a hearty Inglesport breakfast. The plan was to pop down Meregill, a trip that had been eagerly anticipated since it appeared on the meets list back in February. So after breakfast, the five of us regrouped in the lay-by by the Hill Inn, kitted up and scampered (maybe scampered is pushing it?!) up the hill to the entrance. Tom rigged the first pitch and descended, with the rest of us keen to follow. But his head quickly appeared from the depths again and he reported that due to resent rainfall there was in fact more mere than gill and that under the circs it might be wise to reconsider the plan. There was some chat about using the alternative entrance but this would have meant splitting the team and we were keen to stick together.

What about an alternative… Hardrawkin? Too wet. Sunset? We do it a lot on a Wednesday night and the suggestion was met with limited enthusiasm. T Wife? Bit of a trek. How about heading to Lek and doing Lost Johns right to the bottom, or maybe a cheeky little exchange? Yes. We yomped down the hill, piled into the cars and headed for our plan B.

On arrival at the usual lay-by we found that there were already two groups down Lost Johns. That, we thought, might somewhat cramp our style. Not to be deterred it was onto plan C… What about It’s a Cracker? Described by the CNCC as both ‘very pleasant’ and ‘splendid’, it certainly is a cracking little trip.

Ray led us straight to the entrance like a pro. It’s an interesting looking wooden hatch in the side of a shake hole next to the fenced off area of Lost Pot.

We quickly climb down through scaffolding and past some rather sizeable spiders. Wiggling over some cobbles and climbing down into the waterfall, we were soon at the first pitch, Paparazzi Pitch, which is as stunning and photogenic as the name suggests. Paddy expertly rigged the pitch and we were all on our way. There are two deviations here to avoid getting too soggy, but catching the second one proved rather tricky as the walls on all sides seemed far too far away to push off. This led to some rather frustrated, mid-air acrobatics from Sophie and Tom but thankfully not for long.

Once at the bottom, Park Bench Pitch, is quickly reached and James took the lead rigging work great style and finesse. Again this is a spectacular little pitch and takes the intrepid caver down into the gallery of Lost Pot. A satisfying scramble over some boulders lead us to the third pitch where Tom took over and beautifully rigged to the bottom. Following him down, we had a quick look around before the turning round and heading back out to the fell.

We popped up back into the daylight and headed for The Pheasant Inn for a few beers

(this, at least, had always been in plan A) before making our merry ways home.

As for Meregill, there’s always next time….

28 May 2025

By Tom C In Day Trips

Washfold Pot

Ray, Pete, Scott, Tom, James, Dave, Steve. Report by Steve

With Washfold Pot being a longer trip more suited to a weekend and the knowledge of rain due around midnight we opted to only a pack 55m rope for the first pitch and take a short 12m rope as back up, as suggested by the NCNCC notes. If we got as far as the third pitch we’d consider it a successful recce trip.

We managed to avoid talking each other out of it and headed up to the cave, probably not taking the ideal route over, rather than round, the limestone pavement to find the entrance around 30 mins from leaving the cars at Selside lane.

The first climb down into the cave was enough to tell us this cave was going to be a bit different.

Following the water downstream soon found us in a canyon passage, occasionally tight, awkward but manageable once we’d settled into it. We initially missed the climb up out of the stream but it was fairly obvious that you couldn’t follow the water so a quick back track found what we thought was the roof level bedding crawl and tight squeeze. After some selective expletives and a bit of thratching around we got through the squeezy bits to the tight squeezy bit. The way on being to remove the helmet and squeeze through the right hand side where the water could drip on your head straight down the back of your neck. I feel there’s something calming about being able move your head about even if your body is fairly stuck. It wasn’t the first time we’d removed the helmets for short tight bits but care was needed as on each occasion they could have easily been dropped down into somewhere inaccessible.

The passage opened up and dropped back into the streamway about 5m below. It was an awkward climb down but plenty of room for everyone. A quick look round the corner showed the stream falling away and some anchors in the roof, the sound of falling water confirming we were at the top of the first pitch.

Called ‘the depot’ it’s the suggested place for putting on SRT kit. Given what we’d just come through I think I’d have taken it off long ago if I had of set off with it on. We tied into an old rusty bolt in the roof (not shown on the topo) just because it was there. We had a 55m rope for the 48M pitch so thought why not. It was a good 2 – 3 M of traverse before the large flake where the rigging guide starts. You wouldn’t fall down the pitch but could end up well wedged. The traverse at roof height to the Y hang bolts takes the rigger right out above the pitch where a dim light is appreciated as it’s a long way down. Easy enough to get cows tails in but then awkward to get the Y hang sorted. The addition of a loop for getting off on the way out took another bit of extra rope but surely 55m would be enough.

On what we thought was a dry day following very little rain, there was a fair amount of water spraying and with the pitch dropping right through it was enough for my memory bank to kick in and remind me of the deviation about 6M down. There was some tat already tied round a chock stone in a horizontal joint about 6M down so it was soon clipped into. The descent was still wet and finished on a wet ledge full of spray with my descender hard up on the stopper knot at the end of the 55 M rope – longer legs would have been useful. A quick climb down and into the stream passage to avoid the spray and it soon warmed up.

The way on is obvious following the water and eventually climbing up into a false floor to where a large boulder had a bit of polypropylene rope tied round it. Fortunately it also had a 9mm static rope which on inspection looked fine, so we used it to descend the 9m back into the streamway. Its likely it could be climbed but was certainly easier with the rope. Downstream continued with a low crawl in water, plenty of airspace on this occasion but plenty of water to get into. Given the time (nothing to do with flat out crawls in water) we chose to turn around at this point eager to get out and cancel the midnight call out arrangement. The fixed rope was a bonus going back up the climb, its isn’t mentioned in the CNCC notes or the topo as the ‘second pitch’ with optional rope is after the wet crawl, so I’d be tempted to take TWO optional spare ropes in next time just in case.

At this stage the team was down to three, James, Dave and myself. I’m not sure exactly when others turned round but completely understandable as its certainly different type of Wednesday night fun. The pitch went on forever, and was a git to get off, after that I found the way out much more pleasant and achievable which will be partly psychological, partly survival mode and highly likely because I wasn’t de-rigging it ! So much so that I went straight past the entrance climb for quite a way before turning round and back tracking. Fortunately there was still some daylight for me so I dropped a rope down the climb just to indicate where it was for the others (worth noting for next time)

James and Dave got back to the road around 2300hrs after initially going underground around 1930hrs so a good 3 hours to get to the wet crawl on the way to pitch 2 and 3. I personally wouldn’t fancy the first pitch if it had more water on and as for the state of the cave if you got as far as the wet crawls to decide they had low air space, well…..

From the mixed comments by all after the trip we may not be rushing back, but who knows…

24 May 2025

By Will Burnett In Day Trips

Gaping Gill – BPC winch meet

Team: Ami & Will

Route: Stream Passage to Bar Pot via Main Chamber

After a couple of last minute drop outs and a very rubbish morning weather wise, Ami and I met in Clapham in pretty high spirits ready for a good day out. We had no specific plan, Ami had been in once before when the winch meet wasn’t on and I’d been the previous May with Ray and Claire where Ray took us in Marilyn and out Small Mammal. Ray had recommended Stream Passage to us as one of his favourites, so we sort of had that lined up but thought we’d get up to the tent and see what was what and go from there. We had a dry walk in luckily and quickly found ourselves at the tent gearing up ready to go. With only a couple of teams on the board but headed different ways we were on for SP so quickly navigated our way across the fell to the entrance tube.

The first pitch only short but with an interesting squeeze before the final descent which Ami breezed through and I not so much! The following 3 pitches were continuous and we leapfrogged each other for the photo opportunities before finding ourselves quickly in Stream Chamber. From here we worked our way to the main chamber with a few stops along the way to check the route description, confidence certainly reinstalled when we met a couple of children that had come down the winch in Sand Cavern – we must be getting close! After arriving in the main chamber we sat and spent quite a bit of time chatting to others, taking pictures, having a snack or two, and just taking it all in!

Ready to leave, we thought we’d aim for Flood Entrance as neither of us had done that before but new we could get there fairly easily and quickly, and we didn’t fancy too much more navigating and crawling through the unknown! Before long, we were crawling through the unknown and out came the description to aid navigate. We somehow ended up in a maze of crawling passages thinking we’d truly made a cock up and we’re going to have to double back to the main chamber and then we ended up on the ledge at the bottom of Flood Entrance main pitch, exactly where we wanted to be! However, there was a party descending and informed us there were 4 behind the leader so we thought we’d keep heading along the passage to Bar Pot. Here, another party were mid ascent and so onward we went again to SE Aven where we found some peace and quiet and a free rope to ascend. Up I went first to get some good shots of Ami climbing and right as she was coming into shot another team of two had just worked their way through sideways slot travers that we had to come. After a brief hello and passing in the best place on the route we could have asked for, onward we went and worked our way one at a time through the slot and then up through the boulders to the first pitch of Bar Pot. Ami patiently waited for me to manoeuvre myself through the tight-ish pitch head before then showing me how it’s done. A few minutes more of scrambling and we surfaced, still in the dry to walk back to the tent and sign out before making our way leisurely back into Clapham. Another fantastic winch meet experience!

I must also add, having gone last year on a Saturday to the BPC event and seeing huge crowds and queues with waits of hours long, this year certainly seemed a lot less congested and public friendly. Well done and thank you again to the BPC.

Write up and pics by Will

21 May 2025

By Ray McGarry In Day Trips

Bull Pot Kingsdale

James, Pete, Maz, Paddy, Ray

More often than not in recent years, we seem to have limited club trips to the first 3 pitches of Bull Pot, either due to water levels or to make the trip more novice-friendly. With a crack team and with water levels very low, however, we were determined to get to the bottom this time. Originally, 8 people had signed up, so I packed tackle for the main pitches, as well as variants of the 1st and 3rd. In the end, 3 had failed to make it (mostly due to work commitments), leaving us with 5. We still took all the tackle, intending to rig the variants.

After a very pleasant and leisurely change, we set off up the hill. The others obliged me by taking the sweeping path out to the right, making the walk up slightly easier. A plan was hatched whereby I would rig the main pitches, while Paddy would rig the variants. So I set off down the 1st (also with tackle for the 2nd & 3rd), closely followed by James with tackle for the 4th & 5th. The idea was for us to race on ahead and see how far we could get before being caught by the others.

Meanwhile, Paddy (who had never been in Bull Pot before) set about rigging the Monolith variant of the 1st pitch, followed by Pete, who had done this variant before. It’s a great little alternative and Paddy seemed suitably impressed. He rigged straight down to the ground from the final y-hang – a perfectly reasonable thing to do. It’s possible to stop a bit higher up and join the traverse line to the 2nd pitch, but why would you? Well, because just around the corner, literally a few feet away, you have to climb back up to the traverse line anyway.

James and I made short work of pitches 2 & 3, rigged (as usual) with a single rope and dropping down the slot. The 4th was bone dry – not even a single drop of water. I set about rigging the traverse at the top, only to discover that I no longer have the flexibility to get my foot onto a necessary step to reach the final y-hang. Hmmm. After some, presumably comical, shenanigans I managed to get there. James was very diplomatic. We used the 1st deviation, more out of habit than anything else. Thankfully there was no need for the 2nd.

Further up, the “wisdom” of leaving poor Paddy, who had never been in Bull Pot before, to rig the 3rd pitch alternative was exposed as the pure idiocy it undoubtedly was. Of course, he assumed the slot was part of the 2nd pitch, so shot straight down it, as you would. My fault entirely for not considering this obvious outcome. Oh well – pointlessly carrying some unused rope down a cave never hurt anyone.

James and I could now hear the others behind us, so sped on to the final pitch. I must have gone a bit low to reach the start of the initial traverse as the first anchor seemed a bit close to the pitch head – well, slightly over it really. Only when I looked back at a higher level did I see the actual 1st anchor. Oh well, too late to go back now. The initial traverse is quite constricted, which makes things particularly awkward with my reduced flexibility. Thankfully things improved a bit after the drop onto the lower traverse line. Soon, both James and I were at the bottom.

James had a bit of a poke around to see if the passage carried on, but didn’t get very far. Unusual for him. I was sure I’d have to physically pull him out of some hole or other. Perhaps he’s learned something from Hazel Grove Cave a few weeks ago.

Soon, Paddy dropped in to join us. Then Pete. Nice one! Maz decided the initial traverse on the last pitch was a bit snug for him. Fair enough. He did incredibly well to get down the 4th for the first time.

Then there was nothing left but to set off out. I went first. Getting back across the 2 traverses on the last pitch seemed much easier on the way out and I soon joined Maz and we made our way out together. Paddy derigged the bottom 2 pitches. Apparently he had some fun on the “first” anchor of the bottom pitch being as it was too close to the actual pitch for comfort. Sorry again Paddy. Not to worry – his skills were more than up to rigging a little closed safety system. Nice.

At the front, I went up the 4th pitch first as Maz wanted someone at the head when he got there. We then made our way out, via the standard 1st pitch, without too much drama, picking up the unused 3rd pitch alternative bag on the way. James was close behind, but separated from us to derig the Monolith variant on the 1st pitch. Special mention must go to Pete. Not only did he get to the bottom, but he also derigged the top 3 pitches.

All in all, a very successful trip. Thanks all for making it a great evening.

18 May 2025

By Jason Clements In Day Trips

Sleets Gill

Ray, Scott Jasmine, Jason

This is very much a cave that needs dry conditions, and I thought that the drought that had begun sometime in April was bound to break just before the trip – but it didn’t, and we set off in full confidence of (relatively) dry conditions. Actually, the first hurdle was finding the lay-by – I had been expecting to find a stand of trees, but they had been felled so I was half-way to Arncliffe before I decided I’d passed it. I felt better when Ray admitted he’d done the same thing.

At least the entrance is easy to find, a properly inviting arch sloping steeply down, and down… After a bit of crawling we came to the junction with the Wharfedale Sump, which is normally avoided. But as it was dry, Jasmine and I thought we’d have a look, and followed the dive line over some sandy crawls, including some snug sections which would have been terrifying if flooded. After a bit, we came to a pleasant streamway. Downstream sumped very quickly. Upstream looked as though it did too, but I couldn’t check without getting wet – perish the thought!

Retracing our steps, we soon came to the impressive Gallery, which could have been a railway tunnel – if pre ice-age creatures went in for that sort of thing. So now for Hydrophobia. Jasmine led, declaring that she liked low, wet crawls! Boy, had she come to the right place!

Navigation is made vastly easier by some phone line laid most of the way between the Gallery and the Ramp – if in doubt, just follow the wire! The low, wet (and spiky) crawl went on for much longer than I remembered, and it was still wet despite the drought. Ray’s knees had had enough so he turned back after enjoying only half the fun. But eventually it ended, and we had a quick look at the sump leading to the 68 Series. I had entertained a fantasy of free-diving through (it’s supposedly an easy dive) which rapidly melted away when faced by the deep, cold water. No thanks!

But we headed for the Ramp, today’s main objective. I remembered that it was slippery, and Scott and Jasmine made slow, but steady, progress up the mud slide. After many attempts, each followed by slithering back down to the bottom, I had to concede defeat, and add the Ramp to the growing list of things I can no longer do. Gutting!

The return journey was uneventful, in fact slightly easier, as the water is now behind you in the crawl, but the light at the top of the tunnel was a welcome sight as we slowly scrabbled up the entrance scree slope.

14 May 2025

By Tom C In Day Trips

Southerscales Pot

Ami, James, Dave and Steve (Report by Steve)

Dave from Red Rose was the only one who’d done it before but some years ago.
So armed with a copy of the CNCC guide and a selection of slings we found the entrance as described but perhaps helped more by OS Maps and the grid reference.
At the time we’d not seen rain for weeks so there was hardly any water in the entrance crawl and we soon found the first pitch. The rigging wasn’t too bad. We tied in to a large stal away from the pitch and then used 2 slings up on some natural threads high up on the right hand side for a nice free hang into a large chamber.

So began the 300m or 10 minutes worth of wet millipede crawl.
I think we all lost track of time and distance but can confirm it’s a long, wet crawl probably best measured by at least 150 adjustments made to knee pads in an attempt to minimise the bruises.

Ami reckoned it was just over an hour when we reached the second pitch which was to prove interesting to rig.

Fortunately a piece of old rope had been left so that was used to back up a butterfly loop over a nobbly bit closer to the pitch head.
With James weighing down on the loop I was confident enough to get out above the pitch to look for something else.
This turned out to be our long sling over a large protruding lump of rock on the right about 2 – 3m out past the pitch head. I couldnt find anything else to back it up, but it was a nice straight drop down to the chamber floor.

We All suspected getting off the rope on way out would be interesting so
I returned to the top of the pitch to rig a loop to aid getting off.
The others set off on the short trip to the Sump. The few reports on the internet suggest it’s not free diveable and even after no rain they still found it full.
The single sling proved OK on way out and was easily flicked off the lump to de rig so there is some advantage to natural rigging after all!
The return crawl seemed longer and wetter and none of us found the president passage crawl, so there is cause to do it again but I for one would be waiting for a another good dry spell.

We soon emerged wet and muddy to a lovely sunset over the fell.

11 May 2025

By Tom C In Day Trips

Nenthead – Caplecleugh

Ami, Chris G, Scott, Tom

We assembled at Nenthead after the usual long drive and met up with Chris, a friend of Maz’s doing his second club trip, but being an already seasoned Northern Pennines mine explorer he’d been keen to get into Nenthead.

After reading that Caplecleugh had run in earlier in the year, my hopes of someday doing the Greater Nenthead Traverse had been dashed, and instead we’d planned to do Smallcleugh to Nentsberry Haggs, which was most of the traverse minus the first few hours.

But chatting to some Nent experts who were also getting changed, we learnt that the first section m

ight actually have been reopened. We hastily rescheduled, especially at the thought of ditching the long rope, and made the 30 metre commute to the adit. It was easy going in sturdy open passage for a while, until the roof began to look increasingly sketchy as we hit the shale drives. As the roof lowered and the route started disappearing under damp low arches, we began to pray softly to the shale gods to wait just an hour longer as we wriggled delicately beneath hanging slabs a metre wide.

After around half an hour of dodging hanging death, things became more stable again and we were stomping up lovely arched passage. We came upon a fresh collapse, and while there was plenty of space to clamber over it, it’d blocked the stream which had pooled behind it to within an inch of the ceiling. After a bit of debate, somebody* decided to pull the plug on the blockage. A dribble of water began flowing over the top. Then a stream. And as the stream increased, it washed more and more of the blockage out, until we had to make a retreat from the torrent we’d created. Moving back into more open passage, and locating a rise upwards that we’d be able to scrat up if needed, we perched on a little mud bank out of the water and waited for things to drain.

After 10 minutes or so the flow was noticeably lower and we headed back up to see…open passage! Still chest deep or so, but we were through and up to the toilet box junction in a few minutes. There was some confusion about the route on from here, having being given the directions of left then right. We headed along a long damp route to the left at the toilet box, passing under numerous falls, chutes and ladders until eventually things got cold and deep. We hit a right hand junction but eventually decided to get out of the water, and headed up a ladder equipped with a modern rope.

This took us up about 25m into some fantastic flats, full of rails, artifacts, gunpowder, and some sketchy in-situ stuff. A pitch headed off up a shaft but we weren’t fancying it without further research. We headed back down to the horse level and had more of a poke around various side passages. Happy that we’d had a good explore, knew a lot more about this end of the traverse and now keen to get the return through the shaley stuff behind us, we headed back out. With a minor roof collapse onto Scott’s back, we made it back out unscathed for yet another session of ‘why did we waste another day of scorching weather on this hobby?’.

9 May 2025

By Ami S In Day Trips

Illusion Pot

Team: Scott, Dave, Jim, Jess, Pete, Ami, James

After some confusion about which lay-by counted as ‘the usual’ (poor leadership I say), we set off for this nice little jaunt in the glorious sun, with the usual freezing Yorkshire wind added on.

Exactly a mile across the dales is the entrance to Illusion, with an unnecessarily beefy lid. A few sets of ladders and a little bit of wriggling later and we were at the infamous duck, to find it barely a puddle! A far cry from the 30 mins pumping and thorough soaking of last trip.

Once on the other side (and celebrating still having dry pants!) there’s a T junction which offers lots in both directions. Left first took us to some real pretties. Lots of long and delicate straws and some very stripey curtains, which James likened to a 70s house for their garish colours.

Back to take the other route towards ‘the carrots’ and beyond to the Dale Head end. We had all worn our Cows Tails for the traverse. I was especially keen as I failed to make it down the final climb last time, so didn’t want to be outdone this time. After inspecting the new anchors – which weren’t rigged – and the very rusty old ones complete with tatty rope – we began across a fun little traverse, trying not to touch the rope as we went. With so many of us, those at the back could even see the lights of the leaders far below when coming over. I made it down the climb (turns out it’s easy if you approach it from the right way) to the bottom thinking it might not have been worth it.

But it turns out there’s a slightly hidden but spectacular, clear pool, complete with divers’ line. There’s a very wet looking squeeze that we did try to tempt James with, but easier access is via a little climb through crack about 1m up the left wall. Completely stunning and I thought rather inviting (Pete disagrees).

Wonderful little trip and in such dry weather would be good for a newbie too. We even made it out in the light!

Pics by Dave

3 May 2025

By Will Burnett In Day Trips

Tatham Wife Hole

Team: Sophie, Will, Tom, James & Scott

Another beautiful day on the surface and unintentionally we set off with a team full of committee members, plus Helen accompanying for the walk in. Two different routes were opted for, and I followed Sophie, which found us at the entrance a short time before the rest of the team. We took a few minutes to gather ourselves, kit up and say goodbye to Helen before Sophie lead us onward.

After the initial entrance climb, the action begins immediately with a combination of low sections, sideways crabbing down narrow rifts, the occasional open space, cobbled crawls. From the off you’re almost always descending in one way or another, following the water. Before long we were at the first pitch which Sophie had already rigged and was out of sight on a mission. We all caught back up at the second pitch, where we managed to catch our breath and take a few minutes while Sophie rigged, before shooting off again. I leapfrogged Tom and Scott here so I could try to keep up with the front runners and get some pics of them also. Again, Sophie flew down the third ‘Ramp’ pitch so James sent me after her. After navigating the lower more restricted section, I soon found myself on my hands and needs crawling along a lowering and more restricting passage with the occasional slanted section you could do an awkward stoop in. I caught back up with Sophie at the much anticipated duck, which she really was hoping we’d have a go at given how low the water was compared to a previous visit. It didn’t take any more convincing than that as before I even knew myself what was happening I was on the opposite side of the duck, and luckily not as wet as I was expecting! Sophie waited for James to catch up, who told us that Tom had turned around already due to needing to be elsewhere for a certain time, and then she made her way through the duck before James in close succession. Scott had caught up too by now and was having a look above at the alternative route to the duck, but it was pretty tight and awkward. He didn’t fancy getting wet either, I think saving his kit for more bank holiday adventures! Some more wrestling through awkward rifts for the now three of us had us hot on Sophie’s tail finally, and again with ease she had the final pitch rigged and onward we went for the final section. A quick chat amongst champions whilst we caught our breath and we began the return journey, again Sophie leading with James in tow and myself on de-rigging duties. That was the last I saw or heard of Sophie until we reached the surface, see really was on a mission! I was determined to keep close to James for company and not get left behind so was de-rigging like it was an Olympic sport and free climbed the lower half of the last pitch, the lower half of the ramp pitch and the first pitch – all of which felt relatively easy with safe holds in mostly the right places. James and I were relieved to hear Scott’s voice calling down to offer bag carrying services when we reached the bottom of the second pitch, and quickly took him up on the offer! With everything de-rigged and working my way back through the winding rifts trying to catch back up with a now out of sight but not earshot James, it was right as I was thinking we must be nearly there that he said ”ahhh daylight!” and I couldn’t see it but I felt it! Bags tossed up, the last climb out of the entrance and again we sorted kit in the shakehole before making our way back across the limestone pavement in the general direction of a now slightly emptier car park.

A wonderful day expertly lead by Sophie, thank you very much everyone!

Write up by Will, pics by Will

Month: May 2025