Month: November 2025

By Paddy O In Day Trips

Toyland

Sophie H, Billy, Chris G, Jason, James, Paddy

From what was at one point 11 interested cavers only 6 turned up on a rather damp evening in Kingsdale. I had been into Toyland before but turned back because of increasing water levels, tonight looked more promising that rain was going to stop and we would be able to explore the Victoria extensions and Good Friday passages.

So, onwards we went diving into the pipe of valley entrance, quickly setting off through the cave and locating the often overlooked Milky Way passage. There is some fantastic moonmilk formations on either side as you crawl along, but I didn’t remember it being that low, or that cold last time! It didn’t take long to find the inlet to Toyland with its scramble up the flowstone cascade and the in situ rope. A rather awkward rebelay and then up to the ante chamber leads to a side on fairly tight squeeze and then a traverse over a pit, another rather welcome in situ rope is most welcome!

We then emerged into Toyland chamber, well decorated with straws and a flowstone cascade. The team all followed me through, at this point starting to wonder what they had signed up to, it’s a bit different to the normal valley entrance trip!

 

Onwards we pushed, up the flowstone cascade and into a lovely low crawl with the water, this led to another slightly awkward low squeeze and then a head hight considerably awkward squeeze. This stumped Jason at first but once me and James had climbed over him and got through I think he decided he didn’t fancy the others climbing over him as well, and so got stuck in and got through it. All through we carried on, climbed over some boulders and ascended the next rope, attempting to stay out of the water. At the top of this rope we had a choice, remove SRT kit and explore the Good Friday passages or to ascend the next rope and look at the Victoria Extensions. We opted for the Good Friday passages and set off expecting some pretties, after all, why else would it be worth visiting? We found dead ends, loose rocks, undulating passage and a watery squeeze that would be a face in the water situation. That was the point to turn around!

(The watery face in the water squeeze)

Once back at the pitch head James, Jason and Sophie decided enough was enough and opted to turn around, Whereas I fancied seeing what the Victoria extensions were about too. I set off up the rope along with Billy and Chris as the others started down. The top of the rope is a small muddy chamber with an onward squeeze. I attempted this but quickly found it was only going to be passable by removing SRT kit again. Billy being a little smaller than me managed to wriggle through and described the onward passage as “cavey and muddy”. The description wasn’t inspiring, and neither was his tone, so the decision was made to head back ourselves.

(Billy “Just leave me here”)

When dropping back towards Toyland there was definitely more water than on our way up, but it certainly gave our suits a good washing off that they needed! The Milky Way passage was flowing with water on the way out too, this wasn’t expected, it was supposed to have stopped raining outside. Upon surfacing it was raining harder than when we went underground, so much for a weather forecast!

By Ami S In Day Trips

Lancaster Hole – Cape Kennedy

Lancaster Hole to Old Kent Road & Cape Kennedy

Ami & Scott

This trip was meant to be King Pot – which I had been excited about for ages – so I was pretty gutted when rain stopped play. But I needn’t have worried, as Scott was on hand to show me some bits of Easegill I hadn’t explored yet.

On a rainy sunday it was not surprising to find Lancaster already rigged, but since it was chucking it down Scott rigged under them quickly, even using the deviation I hadn’t noticed before to try (unsuccessfully) to keep us out the water.

From Stake Pot we took the high route, but could hear the stream way absolutely roaring underneath us. We went through to see Painter’s Pallet (gorgeous!) and then searched for the window through to Old Kent Road, as Scott wanted to find the Chocolate Box, having missed it on a previous trip. Here, in situ ropes make for a fun ascent up some shafts, one of which involves squeezing through a very awkward slot at a rebelay. We discussed if there would be a better way to bolt it, but we’re not sure there is!

At the top a traverse over a big (but narrow) drop is absolutely full of pretties – well worth the climb! There are so many straws at all levels it’s quite nerve wracking trying not to break them. There was a right hand turn (what we were looking for) at the pitch head, but not only was it over a gaping shaft, it also seemed impossible to proceed without breaking a lot of straws, so we went on. Scott plunged down the next right hand turn, but after quite a lot of squeezing, he was forced to back out the way he came, so as not to damage the formations and crystal floor. The Chocolate Box had eluded us for now.

We decided against the round trip from here as one glance at the Third Aven reminded us of the water at the surface, and we didn’t fancy landing in the streamway.

Scott then led me to the far reaches of Cape Kennedy. The nav for this was tricky – I’d like to return to cement it in! It’s a great trip though, despite both of us being far too hot in our winter woolies for such a physical route. Cape Kennedy is absolutely stunning and really worth the effort. We even found the calcified bat skeleton next to the Fire Hydrant.

An awesome trip full of little surprises. A read up suggests that both the right turns do end up in the Chocolate Box – perhaps you just have to move glacially to get through without breaking anything? I’d like to go back and try. Thanks Scott – another teeney tiny bit of Easegill explored for me.

By Ami S In Day Trips

Roaring Hole

Roaring Hole

Ami, James

On a verrrrrrrry chilly night we had trouble even getting our kits on with our cold fingers. Ray had warned me off this one which I assumed meant it was going to be wet, so I was well layered up.

We warmed up on the uphill walk in and found the entrance on a beautiful bit of limestone pavement. And it was already occupied! Another group were mad enough to be trying this one on a wet and frosty night.

They had rigged the first pitch which we avoided doing (doesnt seem necessary), scrambling down a pretty tight boulder choke. The geology of this cave feels very different from a lot of others in the area, with lots of wiggling and route finding to do. As James put it, some Proper Caving.

I was thoroughly enjoying myself until I had to navigate through a tight hole with a raging torrent coming down on my head. Unable to see, I missed the largest space and tried to force myself through something very small indeed. Hearing James’ shouts, I had to wiggle back up in to the flow and redirect.

The cave continues with boulder choke climbs that open periodically in to large chambers. One squeeze in particular down through a slot was hard work for James.

After a large ish pitch and a long, low crawl, we found the other group coming out. They were soaked, and warned us of the torrent ahead. Down we plunged – a 10m downward boulder scramble in the waterfall – more akin to Canyoning than caving.

After this the going becomes easier, and James made light work of the next pitch (apparently free climbable- I don’t fancy it!) and a cool traverse, plonking us high above the water of Sunset Boulevard. Here, the cave’s name became evident – the rocks were even vibrating with the noise.

We descended, pleased we’d made it to all but the last pitch. The description claims no one bothers with this one, and we were aware of the long way home, so we called it here – counting the view of stream as visiting it.

The way up through the various scrambles and climbs, with a face full of water and the rushing force all around us, was some of the most fun I’ve had in a cave for a long time. We were even still smiling trying to pry a frozen solid suit off at the car. Thanks James!

By Scott In Day Trips

Not Peak Cavern

Jasmine, Scott

Quick write up for this one. Despite early promise, the weather deteriorated badly in the run up to the trip, so once again Peak Cavern was abandoned. Jasmine and I were still keen to cave, so we had a little foray into Suicide Cave to do some rigging practice for a couple of hours, had lunch, and then headed to Eldon Hole. We rigged the straight hang down the West Side and got dangling. A couple of rebelays later and we were at the base of the Main Shaft. From here you can climb down into an adjacent big chamber, and use the in situ tracer cord to rig your own rope through an anchor high up on the far wall. This leads into the Damocles Rift pitches, which are quite spectacular and are well worth taking a rope to access.
The next day we had a quick trip to Knotlow Caverns. Once again, I managed to take the wrong, very narrow lane from Monyash, and walk past the hatch entrance. I did at least remember a ‘Derbyshire Key’ though, and Jasmine was soon rigging down the Climbing Shaft.

Knotlow is an interesting mixture of cave and mine, and after a couple of pitches we reached the balcony overlooking the Waterfall Chamber. Predictably this was wet at the bottom, precluding a full descent, but Jasmine was keen to crack the aid traverse and descend a few metres at least. She did a great job, getting soaked in the process by a persistent dribble of icy water from above. To finish off we decided to find the window to the Chapel Dale Engine Shaft, and used that to descend to the other side of Waterfall Chamber, stopping just above the water before reascending, and then derigging our way back out to daylight.
So, once more Peak Cavern was foiled by the capricious Pennine weather, but thanks to Jasmine I had a great weekend of dangling on ropes in Derbyshire. Will be back in the Spring for another try at Peak!

By Ray McGarry In Day Trips

Old Rift Pot

Long Dave, John & Ray

We had hoped to do an exchange with Long Kin East, but couldn’t quite muster the numbers. With recent rainfall, it seemed like LKE may be a bit moist anyway. As it turned out, though, it wasn’t that wet underground, so LKE probably would have been ok.

The day all went very smoothly. We found the cave easily enough and Dave did a great job of rigging the whole thing. We opted for the Bob Hole route to avoid any hanging death on the Ramblers route. The suggested 10m rope for the 3rd pitch could really do with being 12m and the suggested deviation is really a rebelay. Apart from that, and my short cowstail being a bit too long, we reached the bottom in quick order. Dave and I had a bit of a poke around in the very nicely sculpted passages at the bottom while John began the ascent. We were in the Gamecock in Austwick reasonably early for a well-earned pint.

Let’s try to get enough people for an exchange next time!

Photos by Dave & Ray

By Scott In Day Trips

Notts Pot: Adamson’s – Centre Route Exchange

Dangling tonight: Ami, Jasmine, James, Scott

“The rain it raineth on the just
And also on the unjust fella;
But chiefly on the just, because
The unjust hath the just’s umbrella.”

Anyway, it had stopped raining for the first time in days when we met on a dark Leck Fell. In fact there were distant fireworks, this being Bonfire Night and all.  We had a brief discussion about whether to bother exchanging routes with only four of us?  James expressed a slight preference for exchanging and was justly rewarded with two rope bags for the walk in (thanks James, I was keen on exchanging too!)

Jasmine rigged down the entrance shakehole.  The bedding plane crawl wasn’t as soggy as I’d feared, and soon Jasmine had us all down safely in 3 Ways Chamber.  Here we separated into two factions – Ami and James on the Centre Route, and Jasmine and myself on Adamson’s.

I had intended on rigging the 15m traverse on the approach to the metal staples, but didn’t really spot it and we ended up just doubling back on ourselves to find the right place. A scruffy pitch brought us to an oxbow on the right, and the start of the first section of Birthday Pot ( down a hole on the left). I’d be quite interested to come back at some point and explore De Profundis, another route which diverges from here.

Birthday Pot is in 3 sections, the middle one being the most pleasing, and it lands only a metre from the base of Centre Route, at the time occupied by an Ami.  It was a bit soggy down here, with the water from Left Hand Route emerging nearby.  We exchanged pleasantries while we waited for the other two to descend – my main contribution being to mention that I’d brought Wagon Wheels for everyone, but left them in the van by mistake.  Jasmine arrived, but no James? I eventually went up the last two small pitches of Centre Route to see how he was doing.  It turned out that the rigging had been a bit tight on the final section after adding in an extra anchor, and he’d wisely decided not to swing around under the waterfall for too long trying to escape, and had backtracked.  A bit more fiddling and he was then able to get past, and descended to the bottom.  At this point I pondered that I hadn’t realised that Centre Route actually took this much water… clearly I hadn’t been there in wet conditions before.  The cunning thing is that the water only appears at some late point on the first pitch, and then departs down a convenient hole before the base of the last pitch, some it comes as a delightful surprise…

Jasmine followed me up, very competently derigging the 60m rope, and we swapped bags for the top pitch of Centre. While she derigged the last bit, I spotted the traverse that I should have rigged to get to Adamson’s, and climbed up it in time to meet Ami again.  This traverse is a bit polished, and I didn’t climb back down the same way afterwards.

In a fit of remorse for letting James carry two bags on the way in, plus not considering that Centre Route might be rather wet and then finally denying everyone a Wagon Wheel at the lowest point of the cave… I set off out with two tackle sacks, reflecting that at least I’d eaten a Wagon Wheel before the trip began (this was originally earmarked for Tom, but he cancelled last minute and thus forfeited his sugary snack).

It wasn’t too long before we were all back on the surface. A good trip, with everyone rigging bits and pieces.  Maybe a BT route – De Profundis exchange next time, if there are any takers? 🙂