This Sunday four of us converged on Wharfedale, a distant and exotic land (though less so for Jason). Some last minute changes to the lift share plan saw Tom “I Bagsy The Window Seat In Case I Need To Chuck Up Out Of The Window” Calpin take on driving duties for the tortuous roads of Langstrothdale, allowing me to finish my coffee en route. Jason waited politely while I tried unsuccessfully to find a farmer, any farmer, to ask permission from, and then gave up after a token glimpse of a grumpy looking bloke in a tractor. Yolanda arrived in her trademark indestructible Yaris, and we all got changed.
The entrance to Hagg Gill is in a shallow dry valley, slightly uphill of a prominent barn. A scaffolded shaft drops a few feet to a ledge, then a brief constriction allows a hang into a spacious chamber. When we were all down the entrance pitch we went exploring upstream, soon finding the famed helictites which festoon the walls of the narrow streamway. Stay low, or risk further damage! We climbed up and over a boulder choke, then followed more pleasant streamway to a breakdown chamber with a short squeeze on the right. Above this is a handline climb to a high grotto of delicate straws, one of which is about 4 feet long.
After a few photos, we retraced our steps back to the foot of the entrance pitch, and then went downstream. The stream drops through two chambers to a junction with another streamway. Left leads to a fine sump, complete with froth, diving weights and a dug attempt at a roof bypass.
The way on is to the right, upstream. A couple of sporting cascades lead to a fork. Right seemed to lead to digs, grovelling and general misery, while Tom reported that left looked tight and low. According to the description, this improves after a while, leading to further helictites and plenty more passage to explore. We thought that we’d better leave something for a future trip (cough), so turned around at this point, still relatively dry.
Back up the entrance shaft, with the constriction providing some fun along the way, and then we were out to daylight. We finished with a quick romp through Langstroth Cave, since it was fairly close. Yolanda and Jason tackled the wet crawl to the lower exit, while Tom provided a kind of boudoir ambience with the red light on his headlamp. A bold plan was hatched to get to Seasons Bakery in Ingleton before closing time but alas, too late! No free cream cakes this time.
All in all, Hagg Gill is an entertaining place for a few hours on a dry day, with some great stream passage and formations to ‘oooh’ over. Let’s get it back on the meets list some time soon.
(photos courtesy of Jason)
