Link Pot, Easegill
Scott Nixon, Darren Mackenzie, Tim King, Pete Blamire, Chris Downham
Scott lead for this Link Pot trip, heading for Cairn Junction, Serendipity and the Easy Street streamway
Boundary Pot, Easegill
Jason Clements, Darren Mackenzie, Tom Calpin, Yolanda Aze
None of us had done full Boundary before, with Jason itching to get it over with after several failed meets list appointments over the years. Him and Darren had tried it once in damp weather, only to be turned back by a section of ‘washing machine’ passage in the entrance series.
We slogged over the fell to the second highest entrance to the system, and slid through the entrance bedding. Down a climb, down another, right, left, down another climb, through some flat-out and acute corners, I lost track a bit to be honest. But eventually we popped out at the top of an airy traverse round a pot in a chamber and a free-climb down. Through a cross-rift into Fusion Cavern and into bigger stuff. We made our way past some fantastic crystal false floors and into Hiroshima.
We found the Manhattan connection without much difficulty up on the ledge, and popped down into upper Easegill. Made our way up to Nagasaki but ended up going upstream from here trying to find the route onwards, eventually getting to Limerick Junction before realising our mistake. We headed back in the right direction out Nagasaki and through the little canyon for a quick visit to Easter Grotto, Yolanda’s first visit there.
We’d have loved to go back out of Wretched at this point, but sadly due to the blockage it’d have to be County. This took longer than I remembered and by time we popped out of the entrance flap we were all knackered.
Boundary Pot – At LAST!
Boundary Pot and I have a history of failed attempts due to high water and quailing spirits, so I was not over-optimistic when we gathered on Sunday. There had been plenty of dry weather in the past few weeks, but more recent rain. However, the walk up the bed of the beck was encouraging, in fact the pool at Pool Sink was completely empty, which I hadn’t seen before.
Entering the second chamber in the entrance series, I was delighted to hear – nothing! Normally some water either babbles or thunders down the next climb, but it was completely dry – so the trip was on!
We quickly passed the bone-dry ‘Tacklesack passage’, as I think of it, on via Savage’s bypass and into a chamber where at last we heard the sound of water – a bold step over the top of an inlet waterfall is required. This was as far as I’d been before, so from here on, guides (3 of them!) were consulted at every turn, although navigation is actually straightforward at this point.
Passing through Fusion Chamber, with its impressive pitch that we’d bypassed, we soon came to the area round Boxing Day Aven. This was a lovely section of cave – as well as lots of clean stal formations, there were abundant brown crystalline deposits that I was unfamiliar with. At one point, a shelf of this stuff looked like the Grand Canyon in (extreme) miniature. Further on, the passage was divided horizontally by a false floor of crystals. To avoid walking on this, we crawled through the canal beneath it, including a brief complete ducking at the end. Looking back, it was plain that most folk had stayed dry and gone over the top. However our dampness was soon dispelled by a warm glow of self-satisfaction at our top cave conservation conduct!
Before long, the character of the cave changed as we arrived at the large rubble-strewn Hiroshima chamber. There were warnings about unstable boulders here, but we passed without incident, down the scaffolded shaft, traversing upstream in the roof of a rift and following a boulder slope up into Nagasaki chamber, another huge bouldery void. (I imagined having Superman’s height and X-ray vision – the land under Easegill must look like an enormous Swiss cheese!)
At this point, there was some doubt about which way to go on. Eventually Andy’s compass settled the argument and we followed him downslope. A series of climbs, up, down and traversing led to the Assembly Hall, with increasing confidence about the route (though not on my part – had I been leading, I would probably still be there!). Some of the climbs were not without interest, but some in-situ knotted ropes helped out.
From there, we (apparently) followed the White Way to Holbeck junction. At a subsequent climb up, Andy demonstrated the wisdom of not standing beneath a climber when a large flake he was using as a foothold parted company from the wall and narrowly missed Helen. Soon afterwards, we came to a pile of stones beneath a climb and I suddenly, and for the first time, recognised our location: we were at the end of Spiral Staircase passage. From here, it was the familiar meanders and the final gymnastics of the Big Rift to the Wretched Rabbit exit.
Exiting in warm sunshine, I was immensely chuffed to have finally made this trip, found that it more than lived up to my expectations, and it took well under 3 hours underground. And that included a number of photo stops – thanks to Tony for taking the trouble to document the trip.
County to Lancaster
Jason reports:
A County/Lancaster exchange on a Wednesday night? We wondered if we were being over-ambitious. But a splinter group kindly volunteered to rig Lancs, have a shorter trip and come out the same way, so the rest of us set off remarkably promptly at 6pm. We had a close encounter with a barn owl on the way, probably having disturbed his tea. Oddly enough, a dead vole lay on the lid of County – we put it to one side in case the owl was still hungry.
I utterly failed to trace our route on the survey afterwards, but I can reveal that we went via Battle of Britain Chamber, the Trident series, dropping into Lower Pierce’s Passage (a nice free climb, though some faint-hearts called for a rope!), thence to Eureka junction where we stopped to rest and pose for some photos. The water was still fairly low; the dry spell had broken a few days earlier, but there had not been much rain that day.
From there to Stop Pot posed the only navigational challenge – the dry route through the boulder choke seemed no longer to exist. In the end, we just had to follow the water and get wet (the horror!). Onwards through the high-level caverns (Monster, Snail, Corne’s and Oake’s – at least the survey told me that much), admiring the many stalactites, including the Halberdiers. Apparently the French say that it’s raining halberds instead of cats and dogs, which arguably makes more sense…
John showed us the Minarets bypass, whereupon we all followed him rather than enjoy the usual delights of those passages. Soon we reached Oxbow Corner, and having decide to take the wet route out, John announced that the next bit through the boulder choke was a bit complex, so keep together. If I’d have said that, it would be the prelude to getting thoroughly lost, but he led us unerringly through. A splendid romp through down the Main Drain followed.
There was plenty of foam on the walls at the downstream sump, so water levels had been higher. I scooped up some foam and applied it to my chin, trying for a Santa look, but it didn’t really work.
Up Fall Pot and to the entrance pitch, it was good to see that it was still rigged! But looking up, what was that? Blimey, daylight! It seemed like we had been underground for ages, but it was not much after 9:30. The good time was less due to our rapid pace than to the expert route-finding – an excellent trip.
Photos courtesy of Darren.
Lancaster Hole
We all got to the bottom safely and off we went through into Fall pot, we went at a steady pace so Ali could take it all in, we eventually ended up taking some great photos at Bob’s Boss and the Painters Pallet then with a bit of memory searching for the way on we eventually made it to the Minarets without finding Diamond hall first, I took some backlit photos to try and do my best to copy the Northern Caves photo it wasn’t perfect but I thought it would do, we then stuck ourselves through the link into the way on to Retched rabbit etc.
Cow Pot – 12th August 2015
Cow Pot: Darren, Jason
It was 5 years since I’d last done Cow Pot, when I’d not been in the KCC long, so I wondered if I’d find it easier (having more experience) or harder (being 5 years older).
Darren opted for the ‘Sneaky’ route on the main pitch (or was it the ‘Devious’ ?). The first back-up bolt is in the roof, the second is sneakily located just out of sight on the wall behind you as you lean out over the rift. As you follow the rather alarming traverse to the left, further bolts are revealed. Darren selected the first obvious pair for a Y-hang and eventually found two fairly extreme deviations from flakes (perhaps this was the Devious route) to reach the free-hanging rebelay at the top of the main pitch. This was at the end of the first 30m rope, so he patiently hung around (literally!) while I joined him to hand over the 50m for the rest of the pitch.
This was a straight drop into the middle of the vastness of Fall Pot, and we met Tim D at the bottom, who had entered from Lancs. He recommended solo caving for “concentrating the mind”…
I had no difficulties with the ascent (in contrast to the first visit, 5 years ago!) though it gave plenty of time to appreciate the slenderness of the excellent 9mm Spelenium Gold that was keeping me from a messy end far below.
However, when it came to the awkward thrutchy climb on the way to the entrance pitch, I found the years had taken their toll. I had managed it earlier, but this time needed Darren’s shoulder for the final push – that’s another pint I owe him!
Lancaster Hole to Wretched Rabbit – 21st December 2013
Lancaster Hole to Wretched Rabbit: Tim K, Paul R, Dave C, Arran C, Jason
This trip is becoming traditional on the Christmas do, but I hadn’t done it, at least not for a long time. Tim claimed to be a little uncertain of the route but in fact led the way unerringly along the high-level route. Owing to the wet weather, we thought the main drain might be too sporting for the low-level route, though the noise drifting up from Stake Pot didn’t sound too alarming.
Navigation was easy (it always is if you’re following someone who knows the way) apart from a few moments’ pause for thought at Main-line Terminus (it’s the second exit of 4 which leads to Stop Pot). We were unsure of which Cavern followed which, but a mud sculpture gave us a clue when we came to Snail Cavern (although, by the same logic, it could also have been ‘Sausage and Two Eggs Cavern’ – at least, I think that’s what the other sculpture represented…).
We emerged at 5pm after about 3 to 3½ hours underground which wasn’t bad going, especially for Dave’s son Arran, a fairly demanding trip for someone his age.
After an unpleasant stagger across the fell, lashed on by the hail, we were greeted by the welcome smell of dinner cooking at the farm (thanks to Su, who nobly volunteered not to go caving!!). I was about to venture forth to retrieve the rope, but was saved by Barney who said he would use it in the morning. Maybe he just didn’t want a hypothermia case on his hands, but I didn’t argue.
An excellent evening of fine food, wine and entertainment (thanks to that reluctant guitar hero, Andy) followed. 
Eventually we retired to the comforts of the bunks, disturbed only by the rain rattling the tiles and thunderous snoring from a certain gentleman. (No names, as long as the customary bribe is forthcoming!)
Lancaster Hole – 21st November 2012
Lancaster Hole – Andy G, Jason
A select team gathered for a trip with few ideas about where we should go. I wanted to visit Slug World, so we turned left at the bottom of the entrance pitch (breaking the habits of a lifetime). The muddy climb quickly degenerates to a muddy crawl, but very soon pops out into a decent passage with some fine formations. A bit of a squeeze leads into another chamber with some even better stal. This is emphatically taped-off so we turned around. The next time you’re waiting at the bottom of the pitch for 5 people to ascend, it’s well worth a ten-minute detour.
Andy expressed an interest in visiting the Graveyard, and as he’d been kind enough to bring a suitable rope for the pitch, it seemed churlish to demur. Now where was the entrance ? I tried a turning off Bridge Hall – a high rift, not what we were looking for, but it went on – might as well have a look… We realised it was the Sand Caverns, a series of, well, caverns linked by some fun climbs and slides. These went for some time until I came to a tight crawl leading to a low bedding chamber. All I could remember from the description was that Sand Caverns had some ‘very tight’ connections elsewhere (the Crater) , which neither of us relished, so we headed back.
A few metres further down Bridge Hall was the Graveyard entrance. A short crawl, the little pitch, then into the Graveyard. I’d forgotten how well-decorated this is. But the route Andy was after was down the big trench in the floor. This looked impossible to climb down, until he pointed out the concealed rope at the right-hand end. This leads onto a narrow streamway. Following this downstream, a crawl off to the right leads into the Stump Cavern Extensions (the earlier passage to the right, up a greasy climb does not go anywhere). This turned out to be a series of protracted crawls, flat-out, but not uncomfortable. However, he was not totally sure of how this linked back to the Graveyard, and time was marching on, and the call of the Black Sheep was getting more insistent, so we turned round and retraced our drag marks.
Back in the stream, we paused for a little wallow to wash the worst of the mud from the SRT kits, then were soon back in Bridge Hall, and out – just in time for a swift one at the other Hall (Whoop). A grand evening’s entertainment – I’d been to three places in Easegill for the first time, whilst leaving some more to do on another occasion: completing the Stump Caverns Extensions circuit and (maybe) the Sand Caverns to Crater link.
Lancaster Hole – 3rd November 2011
Lancs Tim D, Jason
The trip was billed as Lancs to Wretched Rabbit, which I was keen to repeat, but Tim had other ideas, and he was leading. No complaints though, we had a great trip, and I felt I’d added a couple of pieces to my mental jigsaw map of Easegill.
We went down Fall Pot as usual, splashed upstream (fairly wet, not too bad) to Oxbow corner. The rope that marked the climb up was still there, but you could see a fridge-sized rock which must have moved recently – pinning the rope and blocking the way on. We didn’t make a close inspection in case it decided to move again. So we went through the boulder choke. And it turned out to be easy. My mistake previously was to try to climb up through the boulders, as is only natural. If instead you keep almost entirely to the stream, and keep right where there’s a choice, then pop up to the left when the stream starts to look desperate, you’re through in about 5 minutes. Then you climb up – back on yourself over the top of the boulders.
So, instead of exiting at WR, we turned back on the high-level route, with many attractions I’d forgotten: Painter’s Palette, fine stalactites and black-and-white striped curtains (how do they form?). Scylla and Charybdis now boast traverse lines, which slightly spoil the fun, on the other hand the recent wet weather had left a thin film of condensation over the mud, making it very slippy, so it was probably a good thing.
In fact, much of our progress was marked by variations on “Whoops…” – thud! as one or the other lost traction.
Progressing onto Stake Pot we passed the route to Cape Kennedy on the left (another day, perhaps ?) then up and along to the top of Fall Pot again.
A great trip – and remarkably efficient; we were underground only a little over two hours. The early finish was just as well, as I had two significant diversions due to roadworks to contend with on the way home!
Aygill Caverns – 15th December 2010
Aygill Caverns Helen, Chris H, Barney, Tim K, Sophie, Ed, Jason
Though the weather was bracing, the snow had held off, so there was a good turn-out at the farm. It was a long time since I’d visited Aygill, so I was glad to follow Chris as he unerringly located the entrance. Despite knowing the immediate entrance series was a bit tricky, we were still tricked for a few moments before finding the way on (as Nick Cave advises “you’ve got to get up before you get down”). Having done so, it’s not far to the first pitch – one of those that a brave person could free-climb. An even braver person would have used the frayed tat in situ, but fortunately Helen had brought a 9m rope which was exactly the right length.
The way on is through an uninviting slot right under the pitch leading quite soon to the second pitch, immediately before which is a deceptively awkward little constriction.
There follows the excellent Cascades streamway which all too soon leads to a labyrinth of crawls, climbs, chokes and chambers. Despite being armed with a printed copy of the Red Rose guide, we failed to find the sump, although it was fun poking around everywhere else. On our way out, Chris found what might have been the ‘low wet crawl’ leading to the sump and we both said that we’d give it a try if the other would. In the end, I managed to convince Chris that there was more to caving than long low crawls in very cold water – like sitting in a nice warm pub – so we left it for another day….