Category: Day Trips

By Ray McGarry In Day Trips

It’s A Cracker

Darren, Helen, Ray

It really is a cracker! After quite a bit of stomping around on the surface, we (well, Helen) eventually managed to find the entrance – an interesting hatch in the side of a shakehole. Bunker-like, as one description has it. It was my 1st time in this particular hole and I wasn’t disappointed. The description mentions an awkward wriggle 1m above floor level to reach the head of the 1st pitch. This may be necessary in wet conditions, but it was quite easy (even spacious) to crawl through on the cobbled floor. All 3 pitches are very nice indeed. While swinging for the 2nd deviation on the 1st pitch, my SRT kit issued a rather disturbing bang and I fell a very short distance (probably only a few centimetres). It took a while to work out what had happened. The fabric loop on the side of my harness, to which I usually connect my braking krab, had broken. Luckily the lock on my descender hadn’t come off, especially as I use a Simple! I decided to quickly complete descent of the pitch without clipping the deviation.

The 2nd pitch (Park Bench) is particularly scenic. Helen’s blood sugar monitor started playing tunes, so she stopped at the bottom of this pitch to eat in an attempt to raise her levels before prussicking out. At the bottom of the 2nd pitch, the trick is to stay as high as possible, climbing up and over some large blocks until the way on is a slot doubling back against the right wall. Then the famous wedged scaffold pole facilitates rigging the 3rd pitch, dropping past the Kendal Flyover ledge (the way to the Tate Galleries) and landing at the bottom of Boxhead. An exchange with Boxhead would make a great evening trip, taking no more than about 2 hours, I reckon.

We had a very brief look around at the bottom, identifying a miserable hole that Darren had been down previously (not the way to the Tube), the actual way to the Tube and the low-level route to Fourways Chamber, avoiding Crest Run. Helen and I (with Long Bob Reilly) had previously pushed this from the other end, deciding it was a bit too low to call fun.

Then it was back out the same way, with Darren derigging. Helen was still prussicking up the 2nd pitch when I reached the bottom, having failed to raise her sugar levels. She managed to make her own way out, accompanied by some particularly catchy tunes on her monitor. It later turned out that her monitor wasn’t working! Darren made short work of the derigging and we were soon back at the cars. Darren followed Helen home to make sure she was ok. All in all, a great evening out… sugary issues aside.

Photos by Darren.

By Ray McGarry In Day Trips

Bull Pot Kingsdale

Chris D, Ray

According to the meets list, we should have been doing Notts Pot, but we decided Bull Pot would be more practical with just 2 of us. A lightning fast trip to the bottom, with me rigging and Chris derigging. Water levels were thankfully low, so there was no need for a wall of death leap to get to the 2nd deviation on the 4th pitch. It’s quite a few years since I’ve been to the bottom, so I’d forgotten how awkward the top of the 5th pitch is. A frog sat at the bottom of the last pitch was probably quite surprised to see us. Having just returned from a hard ski touring trip, I was definitely feeling the strain on the way out, being chased up every pitch by Chris. Total time underground: just over 1.5 hours!

By Tom C In Day Trips

Carrock Mine

Tom Calpin, Scott Nixon, Bob Cattley, Tim Donovan, John Forder, Miranda Forder, Pete Blamire

A pretty damp day, perfect for a mine. I’d planned a complete through-trip from the top open stopes through to the bottom level, so we all blindly slogged up the hill in kits with rope (this was a new trip to us, although Bob and I had been in the bottom level before). But on reaching the stope, we realised that mine explorers’ bolting is somewhat different to us entitled cavers – they were just raw bolts, you’re expected to bring your own hangers! In a strop we rigged back to some sort of boulders behind the hole as a backup, and Scott rigged the pipe bridging the stope for the main hang. But…disaster. We dropped the rope down and it was still falling at full speed when it went taut – the rope was probably too short, given that we’d used a bunch of it on backing up to a natural.

Trip ruined! Ah well, we slunk back down the hillside to the bottom level, stripped off our kits and left them inside the locked gate, and went for a thorough explore of the bottom level instead. First we headed up the Harding vein to check out all the hoppers, crosscuts, and past the blockage to the far end of the vein, where we found the ladders leading up to the stopes from the through-trip. At this point, Bob’s CO2 meter started getting tetchy and we called off the 8 ladder climb with Miranda partway up. We headed back around the bypass to the collapse and the meter got even more tetchy, beeping loudly to tell us to get a move on. 

Next we headed up the Wilson vein, with quick stops to check out minerals, leftovers and to post Scott up into a creaking manway up a ladder. Outward we headed to driving rain covered in arsenic mud and the first appalling car changing session of the winter season. Good times 🙂

By Tom C In Day Trips

Shuttleworth Pot, Easegill

John Forder, Miranda Forder, Tim Donovan, Tom Calpin

Standard tourist trip down Shuttleworth to Witches II on a sunny Sunday. It’s already rigged which caused some minor rigging issues for us on the way down. Once in Witches II we popped up to the Exercise Yard for a gander, then back over the sump to visit the pretties. A quick but careful nip down into My Newt Passage was sloppily reversed (glad we brought a rope) before a wander up to the mega long straws and a gentle exit.

By Tom C In Day Trips

Mistral Hole, Easegill

Tim Donovan, Darren Mackenzie, Scott Nixon, Tom Calpin

With my new oversuit due to arrive any day, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity for a muddy Mistral send-off so joined for Tim’s trip.

Water levels were relatively high with the beck in full flow, but we managed to get to Leck Fell Lane all the same. A quick look at the thundering inlet waterfalls and we were on our way back through the thick glutinous mud. Darren and Scott headed off to check out Darren and Dave Ramsay’s new dug route down to the end of Pippikin and caught Tom and Tim up as they were walking back across the fell for home.

By Tom C In Day Trips

Gavel Pot Conservation day and BBQ Mackathon

Lots of folks attended

Conservation trip to Gavel Pot after reports of muddy mitts having mucked up Glasfurds. We borrowed the CNCC conservation gear and headed down for a few hours of scrubbing, rinsing and pressure washing.

Afterwards we filed back to Darren’s for a Barn-B-Q with far too much food, mixed with drinking and a bouncy castle for a messy ending.

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By Tom C In Day Trips

Ireby Fell Cavern

Ray McGarry, Tim Donovan, Helen Hooper, Darren Mackenzie, Chris Downham, Scott Nixon, Tom Calpin, Sophie Cunningham, Bob Cattley, Nick Davies


A grand day out down Ireby during the heatwave, moving like a slick machine (some via Ding Dong Bell, some via the Shadow Route) down to Duke Street before heading up into Whirlpool Crawl for the thankless slog through to Ireby 2. At this point most of the party in their haste turned right and visited ‘Duke Street 3’ aka a chilly swim to a sump, while Ray and Tom turned left for Duke Street 2. Efficient retreat back out for Sophie’s poisoned hot chocolate on the surface, tainted by no-brand rum from Ryelands

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