Tom C – Kendal Caving Club

19 August 2026

By Tom C In Day Trips

Bull Pot o’ t’ Witches

Maz, Millie, Paddy, Sam, Sophie (H), Sophie (OG), Tom

A novice onboarding trip from two long-waiting prospective new keen cavers-to-be, Millie and Sam. We’d originally planned for County but when a thunderstorm warning pinged through to our phones and ungodly rain popped onto the forecast, we diverted to BPOTW.

Millie and Sam had arrived nice and early as requested, to find nobody there…special leader here had got to the foot of Bull Pot Lane and realised he’d forgotten a ladder from the store. They survived being eaten alive by midges however, oversuits and harnesses were dished out and sized up, and we were on the road to the pot.

Paddy’s something of an expert in taking novices safely down BPOTW now, and he was off ahead rigging the traverse line down the open pot, and into the chimney for a lower. After enjoying the bottom of the waterfall for a bit we dove into the first pitch and again Paddy’s magic spider web saw Sam and Millie getting their first experience of abseiling on a Stop. The rest of us followed and Sam lead us up into the boulder choke and into whatever that long muddy passage is called.

A left turn first to work our way along to the different avens, a good chit chat in Burnett’s Great Aven and then back the other way for the round trip. I branched off at this point to go de-rig the first pitch, and back at the open pot I thought I was stood under the waterfall but it was intense rain – the dump had arrived. The others got busy with some squeezes and checking out the artifact pile before heading back up the scramble to join me.

We managed to slip out during a bit of a gap in the heavy rain and soon enough, it was time for choccy Swiss Roll (thanks OG) back at the midge-infested cars.

TPST: 3h

Pics by Millie

8 August 2026

By Tom C In Day Trips

Penyghent Pot

Connor, Damian, Scott, Tom

This was the third summer I’d put PYG on the meets list, the previous 2 getting rained off at the last minute. Pretty chuffed that this time it fitted perfectly into a weather window, plans were drawn!

Given the number of pitches and the way the lengths fall, I decided to add mini ToughPrint topos to each bag as some therapeutic organisation.

We met at Brackenbottom at 9 for an early start, and it was warm enough that we sherpa’d everything up in big bags for a change at the pot. Connor had opted for an undersuit, the rest of us in neoprene. But which team was going to have the most clothing regrets?

We headed down the entrance boulder choke, some with less faff than others, and wormed along and down the climb into the long crawl. Tip: leave a little cairn of cobbles for yourself where you drop in, as you’ll read more about later!

This crawl is as shitty as it sounds, 300m or so of first hands and knees, before lowering to exhausting commando. Luckily with the drought there was very little water in it today, I dread to think what this would be like with a decent flow. As we took an exhausted break and Damian announced we were at knee shuffle number 493, we could hear the waterfall of pitch one somewhere ahead, which Connor was already rigging.

We plopped down this and along Easy Passage, which is better thought of as Slightly Easier Passage. Pitch 2 was another effortless little drop, and we were into the start of the meat of the trip. The spectacular 3rd and 4th pitches offered fantastic views, and I couldn’t help but dangle spinning around for a few moments, absorbing the view of the airy shaft. With the drought conditions, the bottom chamber was nowhere near as unpleasant as the descriptions make it out to be today.

Onwards into the chain of pitches down the big rift. At the 5th, an awkwardly fallen boulder created a squeeze which unfortunately excluded Damian. The drive was there but he reluctantly turned back.

The next few pitches all had in-situ, and while many of them were free-climbable, I at least was glad to have the rope, particularly on the way back up. The in situ of pitch 8 was a soggy affair for team neoprene, but team no-prene traversed out and rigged the dry alternative.

Myers Leap (No. 9) was quickly rigged, and we were down into a different character of cave – large stream passage, with ankle-spraining ribs of rock hidden underwater making progress awkward. The wetsuits made it no issue when I fell into the occasional deep pool, with Connor picking his way round more carefully. Pitch 10 was another shorty and then we bypassed Niagara pitch via the gully on the left.

Passing beneath an impressively tall aven we wound down the final stretch of streamway to the sump pool, for celebratory Rocky bars and Haribo Tropifrutti. These are hard Haribos to find in the UK so I thought it was a worthwhile occasion for the bag I’d sourced.

At this point I was beginning to realise the severity of my situation, being in poor caving fitness after 9 months of only weekly short trips due to baby life. I knew that my biggest battle would be to not whinge too much to Scott and Connor.

My unfit body creaked and cramped its way back up, but there’s not a whole lot you can do but press on. They kindly derigged us up, and a couple of welcome breaks replenished the energy.

We set up a hauling system to get the 4 bags up the big pitches, and the entrance felt slightly closer, although the long crawl still beckoned. I desperately drank a lot of streamwater in thirsty anticipation of the crawl, and am now writing this trip report while sat on the toilet, dealing with the fallout of this decision.

Speaking to Damian afterwards, it turned out that he missed the climb out of the long crawl, and accidentally explored the bitter upstream end, before realising his mistake. He then reversed and missed it once again, heading a fair way back down the long crawl before noticing familiar suffering. Upon finally finding the climb, he built us a small cairn, which prevented us doing the exact same thing.

We squirmed exhausted from the entrance and performed dramatic collapses onto the sun-drenched meadows of Penyghent, before peeling the nightmare off us and buckarooing ourselves up with tackle sacks for a lovely warm evening walk back down to Brackenbottom, and one of the most well-earned pints at the Helwith.

TPST: 6h45
Pics by Connor

29 July 2026

By Tom C In Day Trips

Scanty Lardos

Ami, James, Klaudia, Sophie (OG), Tom

Possibly the last time this one will be done as an evening trip! With tantalising rumours of major extensions to this already fun trip, we made the hefty drive to the furthest evening trip in our patch – only really doable as it’s just metres from the parking spot.

Rain was due at about 10-11ish so we kept tackle at a minimum – just to cover the original trip then a nosey along to the first new pitch, we promised ourselves. Ami rigged us expertly down the awkward entrance pitches, making false claims of being rusty. The diggers’ ropes were in-situ, pointing the way to the deviation flake we’d failed to find last time (even though it’s ‘right there’). Onwards through the twisty turning Ann Summers, which is a knackering mixture of different heights (especially when dragging 60m of rope) and a good soaking, and we were at the next pitch. The rigging’s a little unusual, taking you round a corner to a ledge making for an acrobatic little manouevre (especially on the way back up) but on to a lovely drop from there (and much drier than straight down the waterfall like we did last time).

We reached the old final chamber in under an hour from the surface, and while we waited for James and Klaudia to catch up we spent a few puzzling minutes trying to figure out the route through the boulder choke. Sophie sniffed it out, and dropped her signature dump of jelly babies as her and Ami dove enthusiastically into the choke. With the others down we squirmed through delicately to join them – the hanging death rating in here is a solid 8/10. Once through into the new stuff there were various comments along the lines of ‘ey this is alright isn’t it?’ and we headed down new streamway, before reaching a step up to the groin-splitting traverse to the first new pitch. The temptation to use the in-situ rope was overwhelming, particularly since the note left in the entrance stated that use of these was at your own risk, rather than forbidden, which we deemed an invite. This pitch is lovely! You’ll see when you get there.

At the bottom we couldn’t be held back, as we headed further down the fantastic new streamway sections, before we remembered our plan to avoid drowning by the forecast rain. Some turned back to make a start on the pitches, while others may have snuck a bit further ahead, unable to contain themselves. Back at the old final chamber, the prize of jelly babies was consumed by the passing cavers, and we moved back up the cave surprisingly (to me, anyway) knackered, with Ann Summers passage feeling triple the length it felt on the way in.

Back upstairs the rain had arrived, and it’s gone dark again 🙁 Summer is over. We made a pact to get it booked in as a weekend trip on the next meets list.

28 June 2026

By Tom C In Day Trips

Fisherplace Gill/Raise Canyon

Dave L, Scott, Tom, Yolanda

I keep putting my name down for this one each summer because it never gets old. Can’t go wrong with a load of watery pitches high on a Lakes fellside in the summer! Unfortunately I’m writing this quite a while after the trip so I’ve forgotten the details, but it was a nice trip 🙂

Photos by Dave

10 June 2026

By Tom C In Day Trips

Easegill Open House – Pool Sink

Billy, James, Jasmine, Jason, Klaudia, Paddy, Pete, Sophie H, Tom

At the risk of getting predictable, last year’s OpenHouse wednesday nighter in Pool Sink had been good fun and was worth repeating. Pool Sink isn’t often on the meets list, possibly because the rigging puts it in a grey area between a long Wednesday trip and a short weekend trip, but OpenHouse turns it into a lovely little evening.

Signing in (and remembering to put down our callout time 😑), the farm was much quieter than it had been at the weekend. We headed across the fell followed by midges once again, and it was time to get the entrance contortions out of the way. About 50m in, a narrow downclimb was tackled by Jason in his signature head-first fashion, with the clatter of helmet against rock announcing his arrival at the first pitch approach. It’s quite a pretty pitch really, and wasn’t equipped with its usual wide awkward deviation this evening allowing an enjoyable bounce down the shaft walls.

At Anemolite Junction we decided not to side-quest to Magpie Grotto as there was a reasonable stream flowing by now, and we didn’t fancy risking a weather change on the surface spoiling things, so we carried on down the impressively tall canyon and were soon at the next pitches. None of us could remember much about these despite most of us being here last year, and even now 2 nights afterwards I can’t quite picture the order, but it’s an enjoyable string of SRT with a bit of everything well above the stream’s route below.

Next, a few pools were either gracefully crossed or fallen into by our resident depth testers, and we hit the last pitch. With a handful of us at the base it seemed an attractive place to set up the pick n’ mix tupperware for a quick break, but Sophie arrived announcing that they’d spotted a loose rock on the traverse directly over our spot, so we shuffled down and continued our sugar rush in the safety of the passage below.

Just the eerie lower passages to get through now, the grotesque Bacon Slicer, and we were at the junction with Green and Smelly. The original plan had been to exit via Boundary, we’d already ditched this plan because of the unsettled weather, but it’s a good job really as that now seems wayyy ambitious for an evening trip. With Wretched via Spiral within our grasp we decided not to spoil an enjoyable evening by trying to shoehorn some extra caving in and headed upstream. Billy gracefully climbed Eccles Bypass Direct while the mortals headed up the grubby chockstones and we split again, some tackling the pitch, and anyone who’d done the pitch before avoiding it with the bypass crawl.

A standard Wretched exit and we were out in the 9:30pm daylight! We even remembered to sign out at the farm like responsible OpenHouse delegates.

31 May 2026

By Tom C In Day Trips

Smeltmill Beck Cave

Ami, James, Sophie (OG), Tom

Q: Should we visit Smeltmill Beck during the Appleby Horse Fair?

We met at J36 at 9am hoping to beat the cultural traffic around Kirkby Stephen, and our plan worked! We sailed straight through the police blockades and were changing and at the entrance in no time.

It was Ami, James and Sophie’s first time here and I’d primed them with miserable-looking videos of Maz in neck deep water in the hopes they’d be pleasantly surprised by the place, and it might have worked. Although probably not initially, as I heard various muffled curses mixed with the word ‘TOM’ from behind as I tried to navigate through the horrible wallowy entrance series. Things only progressed from bollock deep, to ovary deep, to boob deep (‘see, it is a varied trip! Varied depths of icy water’) and we all squeeked our various sounds of discomfort, until the roof eventually rose to the second part of the journey which is more canyon-like.

This section’s quite well decorated, if a little sinister, especially around the Hanging Gardens. We were soon at the Grovel which is a nasty little low crawl in water that I’d conveniently forgotten about. The reward for wallowing through this is getting to the suit-destroying section, which has been specially designed to shred your suit at 4 different heights. This gets a bit traverse-y and we took routes at various heights to see which was the best, not that James or I could see Ami and Sophie who were steaming ahead of us.

We caught up to them (actually, they took pity and waited for us) at the big junction, where the choice was offered of left (horrible) or right (horrible). We took the left (horrible) into the Handwrecker series, which we’d been a short way into on a previous visit, and an acrobatic little slot into cold water took us beyond our previous limit. Beyond this was just various branches of pointless crawling, which were only alleviated by some brilliant fossils in the rock.

Ami and James tagged the ends of the two furthest branches we could find, James negotiating a chilly duck for his, and we retreated to the junction where Sophie had thoughtfully dumped a bag of Jelly Babies. We’d been worried about not being able to finish these and whether they’d survive the journey out, but needn’t have since we demolished them in about 30 seconds. Even though other branches of the cave hadn’t yet been dispatched, the pub was calling at this point, and we made a beeline (a very drunk bee if you see the zig-zaggy survey) for the exit, and out to dark clouds.

A lovely pint and truffle chips in the Cross Keys in Tebay cemented its place as a certified KCC post-trip pub option for future visits to the Far North.

21 March 2026

By Tom C In Day Trips

AGM – Dolly Tubs

Charlie (UCET guest), Chris H, James, Paddy, Pete, Tom, Yolanda

What a fine day for 16 KCC to swarm Alum Pot. Standard Inglesport breakfast then up to a sunny Selside, where we slogged up to the pot and split into our teams school-style. 3 trips were on offer – the President’s Team were heading into Long Churn, the acrobatically-inclined were doing Diccan, and the rest were heading down the Dolly Tubs/Bridge route to the bottom.

The window at the bottom of the Dolly Tubs was looking exceptional this morning, with a fine rising mist and the sunlight slicing the gloom in half. A moment to take in the view, and we were onwards and downwards, with the Greasy Slab and ledge roped up as a YUCPC dangler appeared from the Northwest and pendulumed over to join the route.

As we reached the far side of the bridge and began rigging the underside hang, we heard a commotion behind us and spotted Pete dangling above the 40+m drop on his cowstails, swinging and cursing. He was quickly plucked off and we vowed to get the new Bridge Alternative route sent over to CNCC for addition to the topo. Pete decided at this point to turn back so he could have a proper inspection of his undies and we ploughed on.

Our guest Charlie hadn’t really done many pitches as big as the hang under the Bridge before, but faced his fears and tackled it like a pro. Down the bottom, we had a general mingle with the student team and our own Diccan adventurers, before James, Paddy and Connor started their journey up to de-rig Diccan, and everyone else began snaking their way up the main shaft. At the surface it was delightful to pop out to a stove and a cuppa, with cake and biscuits – how could we have expected any less with our lovely Chair running the day.

11 February 2026

By Tom C In Day Trips

Gavel – Glasfurd’s

James, Ami, Scott, Jason, Chris G, Maz, Tom

After our last club trip here where we’d planned to do Short Drop then onwards into Gavel was cut short due to a soggy and sad looking team appearing at the Gavel traverse, there was some hesitation that tonight might end up the same after the rain we’d had.

But arriving at Leck Fell we talked ourselves into at least popping down for a look at the low section in the Gavel streamway for peace of mind. A chilly walk deposited us in the shakehole and Ami was quickly on the rigging, then on to the next pitch to show us how it was done. Maz, on the other hand, launched enthusiastically onto the in-situ line down the alternative pitch, and while we all quietly slipped past his curses he thought better and came back up for the conventional descent.

Onwards we headed and were surprised at how tame the streamway was once we reached it, and we chimp-walked along to the lovely chamber that we always forget is really nice. We were soon through the low dunk in the stream and wriggling through into Glasfurd’s. We marvelled at the earth-moving that had recently taken place to open the mud sumps of upstream and definitely didn’t poke our heads up into the new chamber.

While James went for a wee we pressed on through the various squeezes and the series of chambers, some more surprised at getting through than others, while some opted to sack them off altogether and enjoy a chat in the pretty first chamber.

3 December 2025

By Tom C In Day Trips

Lost Johns Exchange

DID THE EARTH TREMBLE FOR YOU IN LOST JOHNS?
Scott, Tom, Ami, Ray, James, Maz (Report by Maz)

This was cave option number three for me. The original plan; on the list anyway, had been to go to Red Moss Pot. However, drier weather earlier in November had necessitated a switch from the original (Calf Holes) which made snorkel and fins no longer necessary in RMP. I had planned to go to Calf Holes to reccee it, but well, just hadn’t.

So I asked Tom if he had any suggestions and for some reason he came up with Lost Johns.
Now its been a while since I’d done this and perhaps the terror of the traverse had receded, so off went the emails.

A few souls braver and more skilled than I signed up, and a Dome/ Centipede exchange was suggested. Scott, Ami, James, Ray, and new father Tom turned up. Sporting a sleek post partum Dad bod, he got in his excuses early, saying he hadn’t caved in the last 3 weeks. A lie no-one believed.

The team split with Ami and James going down Dome, and myself, Ray, Tom and Scott took Centipede; the uneven split being my displeasure at doing anything other than straightforward SRT. A few paces in, and I remembered the traverse. I needn’t have worried however, as I (ahem) breezed effortlessly and silently ahead.

After a short period, Team efficient peeled off and we descended the pitches. Kind words of encouragement were offered to our returning caver, but he soon got the hang of it! Soon we were at the bottom of the big pitch. After waiting a bit for the other two, Tom decided Daddy duties superseded the needs of his mates and up he went. How selfish.

Ray had informed me we’d probably have a bit of a wait, but it was not to be. Speedy 1 and Speedy 2 aka James and Ami soon appeared and a ceremonial hand over of baggage (myself) ensued as I chose to go back the same way.

James confidently predicted we would be out long before the other two. But he hadn’t taken into account my SRT skills. With Ami derigging, we moved back up the ropes and on to the traverse. Again I demonstrated the utmost calm, composure and ethereal movement along this section. I could tell the others were so pleased to be caving with me again.

Back at the vehicles, James’ prediction proved untrue with Ray and Scott waiting patiently for our return.

An hour or so later, there were strange things going on 3km beneath Lancashire. Maybe it was tectonic movement, maybe it was isostatic rebound, or maybe it was the thud of boots at the bottom of the big pitch. Whatever it was that triggered it, an earthquake measuring 3.4 was felt across the region.
Personally, I blame the cavers of KCC. We await the call from the British Geological Survey….

25 October 2025

By Tom C In Day Trips

It’s A Cracker > Notts II

Dave (big), Dave (regular), James, Jason, Ray, Tom

The logistical difficulties of rigging a Leck Fell through-trip makes them less common on our meets list, but with the Two Daves bravely coming forward to enjoy an SRT-only bounce trip while de-rigging out it didn’t seem so hard this time round. Boxhead and LJ were potential entrances on the list, but in the end we decided on a less usual option – It’s A Cracker.

After Inglesport breakfast for some we met up on the fell, the through-trippers parking at Notts II for an easy walk out, and we reached Cracker to find the Daves already busy at work at the head of the first pitch. It was good to see Regular Dave back out again, and reassuring to hear him checking whether his Simple was on the right way while dangling over the 50 metre drop.

Down Big Dave’s beautiful rigging of Paparazzi we headed, and on to Regular Dave’s equally beautiful ropework on Park Bench pitch. What’s not to love about these pitches? Our diligent riggers headed off to the final pitch while the rest of us regrouped and followed them down. In a matter of minutes Big Dave had an elegant rig across to the Kendal Flyover including a tyrolean guide line, we were truly spoilt.

At this point it was time to part ways, with Daves heading back north to the sunny fell above. The rest of us de-kitted and packed ourselves in tight for the gruelling crossing that lay ahead. Into the Cresta Run, we quickly reached the climbs down to the lower level. Ray took on the first downclimb, but at the first sound of difficulties James and I scrambled over the top of him to head for the larger gentleman’s rope 30 seconds further on. This proved to be horrible, with the combo of muddy gloves and muddy rope making it a bit of a hope and prayers situation. We somehow got down unscathed but were unhappy. If I do this trip again I’m either taking a bit of tat to rig as an in-situ mini pitch, or at least leaving my SRT kit on a little longer and down-prussiking the knotted handline. The other two headed down their choice of climb, Jason of course taking it head-first apparently.

Next follows 45 mins or so of general wriggling, muddying, ducking and routefinding through the complex of the Tate Galleries. Luckily we had a Ray with us who unerringly led us through from memory. Eventually we reached the bottom of the fearsome climb upwards into the Lyle Cavern High Level series where our KCC forefathers had lifted a boulder and discovered all this nonsense 40 years ago. This involves a well-polished near vertical gully heading up just over 10 metres, which was strenuous. Some found a jammer was a good reassurance on this (they just about fit on the current in-situ handline).

All up and well, now we could enjoy the 10 minutes of pleasant well-decorated walking in the middle of the trip. It was nice to match this up with where I’d been a couple of months ago with Scott when trying the 3 Counties connection out for size, and before long the pretties ran out and we were at the muddy scrabble up to the ‘vestibule of pain’ which affords a quick break before starting the connection. We slid through mostly solemnly, cursing every bag-catching rock as the connection drank our energy, and dreaded to think what might happen if we met a party heading the other way.

A final dunk through Bruno Kranski’s and we were back in the welcoming lap of Notts II, and made a speedy exit through comfortable and familiar territory, to emerge to the two Daves waiting for us. I assumed they were after their free pints for derigging, but it seems they just didn’t want to take the ropes back for cleaning. We made our way to the Pheasant at Casterton for a well-earned pint by the log fire. Cheers all!

Author: Tom C