Jason Clements – Kendal Caving Club

27 May 2026

By Jason Clements In Day Trips

Middle Scar

Damian, Maz, Tim, Gareth, Helen, Jason

I hadn’t realised that this cave was open (surprisingly, a thirty year-old copy of Northern Caves 2 isn’t totally reliable), so thanks to Damian for spotting it. As we were just starting the long trek (c. 200m) from the cars to the cave, a motorist pulled up and asked where we were heading. It turned out to be Andrew Hinde, who is not only a great luminary of northern caving, but was responsible for opening up Middle Scar during lockdown, repairing the entrance which had been collapsed for decades!

We quickly found the entrance – a few feet above a stream resurgence at the northern end of the shakehole – and descended. Almost immediately, we were in deep water, but fortunately a traverse line allows progress without actually swimming. Neoprene is definitely needed, though, as chest-deep wading continues for a while after the traverse line finishes.

The going got easier in a nice rifty passage until the “13-foot climb” is reached. NC describes this as an easy climb, which it probably is, technically, but the material is so crumbly and loose that it’s much better to use the in-situ rope with SRT. As well as being dubious from a safety viewpoint, climbing up would almost certainly damage the ‘rock’ so would be terrible in conservation terms.

The cave continued as mixed walking and crawling, still wet, but not difficult, until we came to a junction. We turned left, into some interesting passage with unusual formations including fragile flakes of black material that need extreme care to pass by. We reached Parba aven, a waterfall, which is as far as we could go, not having any means of ascent.

Returning to the junction, Damian took the straight-on (now left) fork into a low, very wet crawl. I followed, but if he hadn’t gone first, I would probably have concluded that it didn’t go – the roof was often intimidatingly low over the water! Eventually this leads to a short section of pleasanter passage with some nice formations, before properly sumping.

This trip was a lot of fun, with nothing too hard, but definitely not one for novices, or if the weather is at all unsettled!

PS – Gareth produced one of his cracking short videos from this trip. This did entail a certain amount of squatting in cold water while lighting was perfected, but hey! who doesn’t want to suffer in the name of art?

29 April 2026

By Jason Clements In Day Trips

Gavel Pot clean-up

Ray, Maz, Jason

Having visited ‘Echo Chamber’, the new discovery off Glasfurd’s Passage in Gavel, I wanted to install a cleaning station (a bowl, spray bottles and sponges). Why? Well, to get to the new chamber, with its fabulous white stal, you have to crawl through a short section of gloopy mud, so that if you do accidently touch something and leave a muddy smear (as I had done!) it’s impossible to clean it off, as every part of your kit is just as dirty. And Gavel is KCC’s adopted cave, so it seemed fitting for us to do it.

We arrived at lunchtime to an uncharacteristically sunny Leck Fell (but still windy), and soon set off. Maz wanted some rigging practice, so we were treated to a rigging masterclass from Ray for the entrance eyehole pitch. When we got to the second pitch, the diggers’ rope was still in place. Should we ignore it and rig our own? Nah, sod it… It was a slow descent – I guessed the original 10mm rope had increased to 12mm from the embedded mud. Never mind, we were down soon enough, and on to Glasfurd’s.

We were soon through the gloop, and I arranged the cleaning material and removed the mud I’d left the previous visit – conscience satisfied. Meanwhile, the others had been exploring to the end of the chamber, but not content with that, set to restoring some more stalagmites to a more pristine state. The club can be proud of them!

We eventually dragged ourselves away from the virtuous work, had a wallow in the stream to get rid of some of the muck, went down to admire the exposed traverse to pitch 3, then returned the way we’d come. A good trip, with a bit of a difference!

4 March 2026

By Jason Clements In Day Trips

Black Reef Cave

Damian, Maz, Scott, Jason

We were welcomed to the cave by the sight of a sheep riggweltered in the entrance streamway. What to do? Was it dead? – yes, definitely a late sheep, but still reasonably fresh, so only lately late. Leave it where it was, and crawl in the stream under its body? Er, no… So we grabbed a leg each and hoisted it out of harms way. We felt sorry for it – it must have been a lingering departure, but, honestly, you’d think they’d know better…

Back to the cave, we went upstream first. I explored a little tube off to the left, thinking it was the main fork, but it was tight, muddy, and quickly closed down.

Moving on, Damian led and persevered to the end of the main passage (taking the right fork) – at least as far as he could reasonably get. So we turned round, and I explored the left fork. It went further than I expected, a crawl over a small stream in a slot in the floor. It eventually got too low for comfort, though didn’t close down altogether.

The others had patiently waited for me, thereby missing out on a delightful grovel, and we turned back downstream for a quick look at the sump. A short trip, but fun.

5 July 2025

By Jason Clements In Day Trips

Goyden Grovels

Having visited the jewel of Nidderdale (aka “Stinky Goyden”) on a number of occasions, I was interested to try out John Gardner’s new route at https://www.braemoor.co.uk/caving/route29.shtml which promised to show off some of the more esoteric parts of the system. Ray hadn’t been before, but said he didn’t mind where we went, which he may have regretted before the end of the day.

From the entrance, we headed towards Cap Left crawl, to find the entrance well-blocked with timber, but the guide assured us there was an easy bypass up a rift on the right, and indeed there was. We visited Pillar Pot, just to look at the sump at the bottom, then returned to Cap Left Crawl, Cap Left Tunnel and a “cosy” crawl leading to the ladder at 10’ climb. But no ladder for us, more crawling via Pool and Boulder and Carbide Tin passages through the Labyrinth, the way marked by a helpful high-vis jacket someone had left. “Navigation is now straightforward” says the guide, and it might have been had we spotted the step up to the bottom of the 20’ pitch. Despite it being “elegant”, we managed to crawl past it twice before Ray spotted it.

After luxuriating in being upright for a moment, we headed off to Mud Pot, thence to a climb up to a “wriggly” passage. The guide says “enter this with difficulty”, and it wasn’t kidding! I adopted my usual thrutch and flail technique, which eventually worked, then you have to perch on a rock flake and post yourself into the wriggly passage, without slipping head-first down the 5m drop below. Ray looked at this and sensibly decided he didn’t fancy it, so after a bit of wriggling, I turned round and had no option but to dive down the climb. Fortunately Ray did a good bit of catching, so I landed safely.

Now what? I thought it would be fun to climb up the 20’ pitch (it was) and then there’s some pleasant walking passage and we arrived at the top of the 10’ climb, which is only a few metres from 5-ways chamber, and an easy way out to the main chamber via Labyrinth passage. However, despite having a survey (albeit now sodden and disintegrating), I’d got disorientated and confidently led off in the wrong direction, arriving back at the 10’ climb after more flat-out crawling. Fortunately Ray had a cooler head and correctly deduced the right way (basically, the only one we hadn’t tried yet), and we were soon heading for the sound of the main stream.

Then it was a fun romp up the river (still low) and the climb back out to the entrance, and the welcome sight of daylight! It turned out we hadn’t been underground as long as it felt, so we treated ourselves to a pint in The Crown in Lofthouse, which was most welcome!

Thanks to Ray for the photos.

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.

26 March 2025

By Jason Clements In Day Trips

Crystal Cave

James, Ami, Monica (Ami’s friend), Pete (prospective member), Jason

(Just to prove that proper Dales caving continues whilst the rest of the club are in exotic foreign destinations).

This was supposed to be Steve’s trip, but work got in the way for him, so it fell to me to lead, having been here before (albeit 15 years ago). The cave is apt to be impassable in wet weather, but March had been dry so far, so it looked promising.

The entrance is close to the road, and easy to find – just follow the stream up into where it emerges from the scar. Starting with a crawl, we soon came to the First Duck, which wasn’t really a duck at all, with the water being low, but you can’t avoid getting fairly well soaked. Never mind, we could soon stand and follow the streamway upright. Better than that, we climbed up to the Gallery, a decorated passage following at a higher level. There were some nice little gour pools with crystalline deposits (the origin of the cave’s name, perhaps?).

This brought us to Spout Chamber and a climb up the First Waterfall (which was barely a trickle). The rock is lumpy and knobbly, but this made the climbing easy, with plenty of generous hand- and foot-holds.

Quite soon, we reached the Second Duck. On my previous visit, this was quite serious, and necessitated going through on one’s back. This time there seemed plenty of airspace, and the duck is very short, so didn’t present a problem, other than giving us another soaking. Two more waterfalls follow soon after, and again the climbing is easy although there’s a bit of an awkward wriggle at the top.

This was as far as I’d got the last time, and as far as I’d expected to get. Northern Caves says “the stream issues from a duck that can be passed in dry conditions to a low crawl into Monsoon Chamber in Dog Hole.” Well, conditions were dry, and before anyone could stop her, Monica was off through the duck, so we felt obliged to follow.

This was a proper duck, not long, but you have to take a route around a gravel bank (thanks to James and Pete for giving directions) and I for one spluttered a bit before getting through. Fired up by the prospect of getting to Monsoon Chamber, Monica and Ami were already well along the low crawl. It was indeed low (flat-out in wet gravel) and went on, and on. We were committed though, turning round would have been nigh impossible, but eventually there were encouraging cries from ahead.

We had triumphantly reached Monsoon Chamber, but what next? My guide notes had run out, but James had a survey and thought we could get back to Crystal via Barker’s Passage – nobody relished repeating the crawl and duck. Just two questions: could we find Barker’s Passage, and if we did, could we get through it? Northern Caves says it’s only passable by thin cavers. Not me, then. But the others were keen, so we had a good poke around The Jungle, which is a confusing section of muddy boulders, climbs and crawls, with a side-line in loose rocks. After a while, I took on the role of wet blanket and suggested that it was time to retrace our steps (slithers?), which we did.

The crawl didn’t seem quite as long on the way back (to me; Ami thought it was worse!) and we switched opinions on the duck: she thought ‘not so bad’, whereas I felt compelled to go on my back this time.

We were all thoroughly soaked by now (except Pete, the only one smart enough to wear a wetsuit) and getting cold, so we made haste to exit. So much so in my case that I slipped climbing down the First Waterfall, and landed hard against a rock. A cracked rib is a great reminder to take more care in future! Anyway, it was a memorable trip and left us all keen to explore Dog Hole – and maybe even do a through trip if the weather stays dry?

12 March 2025

By Jason Clements In Day Trips

Dry Gill Cave

James, Jim, Jess, Ami, Jason

I’d come across this cave in the guide books some time ago, and thought it looked to have a lot going for it. Ok, it’s a bit crawly and ducky, but the reward was supposed to be some fab formations. Plus it’s a very short walk from the road and no SRT whatever is required. Just my sort of cave!

It had been on the meets list before, but I’d been thwarted by bad weather – did I mention that it’s apt to flood? But the forecast was dryish, so off we set. And we found the (small!) entrance quite easily. Ami nobly volunteered to go first, but quickly came out, doubting that it could possibly go. So James stepped, well inched, in and his wellies soon disappeared so it was evident we’d have to follow. It started small, tight and awkward, and remained so. At one little climb, I managed to get up, but my wellie didn’t follow. So we made gradual progress, with a lot of huffing, puffing and cursing. At the next climb, I was convinced I wouldn’t make it, but with James’ and Ami’s encouragement and guidance, I did.

Now we were in the Obstacle Course, which continued in the same vein. Surely we must be near the streamway now? We were, but there was just one tight bit in the way. This time, I really couldn’t fit through, despite strenuous efforts. Worse – it took even more effort to back out, and then Jim and Jess whizzed through, making it look easy.

So I turned to retrace my ‘steps’ (if only!) and it was just as much fun on the way out, but it was a gorgeous moment when I finally popped out into the pleasantly cool (2° C) air to see Orion looking down on me.

I got changed and was guiltily wondering if it would be out of order to set off home, or should I wait to make sure the others got out, when I saw – much to my surprise – some torches coming down the hill. It was Jim and Jess, and the others were not far behind. Apparently the stream was so low, that it was hard to tell which was downstream. They came to a duck and went through it, getting soaked, but – was it the right one? And then there was a climb, but was it the right way or would it lead to an agonising crawl which just closed down?

In the end, they evidently decide enough fun was enough, so weren’t all that far behind me and I certainly hadn’t been rushing.

So a trip ticked off? Yes and no – definitely one to return to and do properly, if you’re hard (and slim) enough!

29 January 2025

By Jason Clements In Day Trips

Shuttleworth Pot

Sophie, Darren, Scott, Maz, James, Jim, Jess, Jason

Shuttleworth had been the subject of a dire CNCC warning about rock moving from behind the shuttering on the entrance pitch. But fortuitously, only the day before, a repair crew had been out and fettled everything so you wouldn’t have known there had been anything wrong.

It was a fine, starlit night, and Darren eventually found the entranced (always further downhill than you expect) and commenced rigging. With the big party, (and a bit of challenging rigging 😊) it took a while to get to the bottom, and admire the diving gear left by braver mortals. Once down, we quickly set off to admire all the pretties and geological curiosities (it’s a treat for students of sediment stratigraphy, aka mud layers). Returning from the far end, James pointed out My Newt passage on the right (as you head back to the entrance).

I hadn’t been there before, so jumped in and found myself sliding down to the chamber in an exhilarating, if somewhat foolhardy, fashion. Landing safely, we found the newt skeleton, which is wonderfully preserved, but, well.., minute! (In the photo, you can see the finger ends of my glove for scale).

Getting back up My Newt passage was definitely type 2 fun, although Scott managed to make it look easy. While others begun the pull up back to the surface, Scott and I had a quick look at the sump, which was no more inviting than sumps usually are.

The long march uphill back to the cars on Leck Fell was a work-out that nicely capped the evening, but at least it kept us warm.

14 August 2024

By Jason Clements In Day Trips

Short Gill

Tim D, Jason

As I drove up Barbondale, avoiding the loitering sheep, I could see another car a mile or so ahead, and wondered if it was Tim. Indeed it was, but I was surprised that no-one else had turned up. Probably exhausted by the Welsh mines a few days before?

We were fortunate with the weather, hitting a dry window between spells of heavy rain – fresh foam on some of the passage roofs attested to the fact that it gets very wet at times.

It lives up to its name, as we were underground less than two hours, but it has plenty of variety – some crawling, some walking, some interesting climbs (“Not as bad as it looks” was the reassuring message several times) and some pleasantly splashy sections. There are even some attractive formations. There’s only one snug section, mercifully short, and not really tight, just needing a little care to negotiate. At several points, it looks like the sump has been reached, only to find a way past, until we reached what was unquestionably the final sump.

Tim suggested I lead out, to familiarise myself with the route. I did so by finding practically every wrong turning I could, including one which led through an extra aqueous section – we didn’t follow it up, but it looked like it went – somewhere…

We were out soon enough, found an unnecessarily difficult climb out of the gill, then a hurried change to escape the ravages of the midges. A fun trip, much recommended!