Trip Reports – Page 11 – Kendal Caving Club

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.

14 May 2025

By Tom C In Day Trips

Southerscales Pot

Ami, James, Dave and Steve (Report by Steve)

Dave from Red Rose was the only one who’d done it before but some years ago.
So armed with a copy of the CNCC guide and a selection of slings we found the entrance as described but perhaps helped more by OS Maps and the grid reference.
At the time we’d not seen rain for weeks so there was hardly any water in the entrance crawl and we soon found the first pitch. The rigging wasn’t too bad. We tied in to a large stal away from the pitch and then used 2 slings up on some natural threads high up on the right hand side for a nice free hang into a large chamber.

So began the 300m or 10 minutes worth of wet millipede crawl.
I think we all lost track of time and distance but can confirm it’s a long, wet crawl probably best measured by at least 150 adjustments made to knee pads in an attempt to minimise the bruises.

Ami reckoned it was just over an hour when we reached the second pitch which was to prove interesting to rig.

Fortunately a piece of old rope had been left so that was used to back up a butterfly loop over a nobbly bit closer to the pitch head.
With James weighing down on the loop I was confident enough to get out above the pitch to look for something else.
This turned out to be our long sling over a large protruding lump of rock on the right about 2 – 3m out past the pitch head. I couldnt find anything else to back it up, but it was a nice straight drop down to the chamber floor.

We All suspected getting off the rope on way out would be interesting so
I returned to the top of the pitch to rig a loop to aid getting off.
The others set off on the short trip to the Sump. The few reports on the internet suggest it’s not free diveable and even after no rain they still found it full.
The single sling proved OK on way out and was easily flicked off the lump to de rig so there is some advantage to natural rigging after all!
The return crawl seemed longer and wetter and none of us found the president passage crawl, so there is cause to do it again but I for one would be waiting for a another good dry spell.

We soon emerged wet and muddy to a lovely sunset over the fell.

11 May 2025

By Tom C In Day Trips

Nenthead – Caplecleugh

Ami, Chris G, Scott, Tom

We assembled at Nenthead after the usual long drive and met up with Chris, a friend of Maz’s doing his second club trip, but being an already seasoned Northern Pennines mine explorer he’d been keen to get into Nenthead.

After reading that Caplecleugh had run in earlier in the year, my hopes of someday doing the Greater Nenthead Traverse had been dashed, and instead we’d planned to do Smallcleugh to Nentsberry Haggs, which was most of the traverse minus the first few hours.

But chatting to some Nent experts who were also getting changed, we learnt that the first section m

ight actually have been reopened. We hastily rescheduled, especially at the thought of ditching the long rope, and made the 30 metre commute to the adit. It was easy going in sturdy open passage for a while, until the roof began to look increasingly sketchy as we hit the shale drives. As the roof lowered and the route started disappearing under damp low arches, we began to pray softly to the shale gods to wait just an hour longer as we wriggled delicately beneath hanging slabs a metre wide.

After around half an hour of dodging hanging death, things became more stable again and we were stomping up lovely arched passage. We came upon a fresh collapse, and while there was plenty of space to clamber over it, it’d blocked the stream which had pooled behind it to within an inch of the ceiling. After a bit of debate, somebody* decided to pull the plug on the blockage. A dribble of water began flowing over the top. Then a stream. And as the stream increased, it washed more and more of the blockage out, until we had to make a retreat from the torrent we’d created. Moving back into more open passage, and locating a rise upwards that we’d be able to scrat up if needed, we perched on a little mud bank out of the water and waited for things to drain.

After 10 minutes or so the flow was noticeably lower and we headed back up to see…open passage! Still chest deep or so, but we were through and up to the toilet box junction in a few minutes. There was some confusion about the route on from here, having being given the directions of left then right. We headed along a long damp route to the left at the toilet box, passing under numerous falls, chutes and ladders until eventually things got cold and deep. We hit a right hand junction but eventually decided to get out of the water, and headed up a ladder equipped with a modern rope.

This took us up about 25m into some fantastic flats, full of rails, artifacts, gunpowder, and some sketchy in-situ stuff. A pitch headed off up a shaft but we weren’t fancying it without further research. We headed back down to the horse level and had more of a poke around various side passages. Happy that we’d had a good explore, knew a lot more about this end of the traverse and now keen to get the return through the shaley stuff behind us, we headed back out. With a minor roof collapse onto Scott’s back, we made it back out unscathed for yet another session of ‘why did we waste another day of scorching weather on this hobby?’.

9 May 2025

By Ami S In Day Trips

Illusion Pot

Team: Scott, Dave, Jim, Jess, Pete, Ami, James

After some confusion about which lay-by counted as ‘the usual’ (poor leadership I say), we set off for this nice little jaunt in the glorious sun, with the usual freezing Yorkshire wind added on.

Exactly a mile across the dales is the entrance to Illusion, with an unnecessarily beefy lid. A few sets of ladders and a little bit of wriggling later and we were at the infamous duck, to find it barely a puddle! A far cry from the 30 mins pumping and thorough soaking of last trip.

Once on the other side (and celebrating still having dry pants!) there’s a T junction which offers lots in both directions. Left first took us to some real pretties. Lots of long and delicate straws and some very stripey curtains, which James likened to a 70s house for their garish colours.

Back to take the other route towards ‘the carrots’ and beyond to the Dale Head end. We had all worn our Cows Tails for the traverse. I was especially keen as I failed to make it down the final climb last time, so didn’t want to be outdone this time. After inspecting the new anchors – which weren’t rigged – and the very rusty old ones complete with tatty rope – we began across a fun little traverse, trying not to touch the rope as we went. With so many of us, those at the back could even see the lights of the leaders far below when coming over. I made it down the climb (turns out it’s easy if you approach it from the right way) to the bottom thinking it might not have been worth it.

But it turns out there’s a slightly hidden but spectacular, clear pool, complete with divers’ line. There’s a very wet looking squeeze that we did try to tempt James with, but easier access is via a little climb through crack about 1m up the left wall. Completely stunning and I thought rather inviting (Pete disagrees).

Wonderful little trip and in such dry weather would be good for a newbie too. We even made it out in the light!

Pics by Dave

3 May 2025

By Will Burnett In Day Trips

Tatham Wife Hole

Team: Sophie, Will, Tom, James & Scott

Another beautiful day on the surface and unintentionally we set off with a team full of committee members, plus Helen accompanying for the walk in. Two different routes were opted for, and I followed Sophie, which found us at the entrance a short time before the rest of the team. We took a few minutes to gather ourselves, kit up and say goodbye to Helen before Sophie lead us onward.

After the initial entrance climb, the action begins immediately with a combination of low sections, sideways crabbing down narrow rifts, the occasional open space, cobbled crawls. From the off you’re almost always descending in one way or another, following the water. Before long we were at the first pitch which Sophie had already rigged and was out of sight on a mission. We all caught back up at the second pitch, where we managed to catch our breath and take a few minutes while Sophie rigged, before shooting off again. I leapfrogged Tom and Scott here so I could try to keep up with the front runners and get some pics of them also. Again, Sophie flew down the third ‘Ramp’ pitch so James sent me after her. After navigating the lower more restricted section, I soon found myself on my hands and needs crawling along a lowering and more restricting passage with the occasional slanted section you could do an awkward stoop in. I caught back up with Sophie at the much anticipated duck, which she really was hoping we’d have a go at given how low the water was compared to a previous visit. It didn’t take any more convincing than that as before I even knew myself what was happening I was on the opposite side of the duck, and luckily not as wet as I was expecting! Sophie waited for James to catch up, who told us that Tom had turned around already due to needing to be elsewhere for a certain time, and then she made her way through the duck before James in close succession. Scott had caught up too by now and was having a look above at the alternative route to the duck, but it was pretty tight and awkward. He didn’t fancy getting wet either, I think saving his kit for more bank holiday adventures! Some more wrestling through awkward rifts for the now three of us had us hot on Sophie’s tail finally, and again with ease she had the final pitch rigged and onward we went for the final section. A quick chat amongst champions whilst we caught our breath and we began the return journey, again Sophie leading with James in tow and myself on de-rigging duties. That was the last I saw or heard of Sophie until we reached the surface, see really was on a mission! I was determined to keep close to James for company and not get left behind so was de-rigging like it was an Olympic sport and free climbed the lower half of the last pitch, the lower half of the ramp pitch and the first pitch – all of which felt relatively easy with safe holds in mostly the right places. James and I were relieved to hear Scott’s voice calling down to offer bag carrying services when we reached the bottom of the second pitch, and quickly took him up on the offer! With everything de-rigged and working my way back through the winding rifts trying to catch back up with a now out of sight but not earshot James, it was right as I was thinking we must be nearly there that he said ”ahhh daylight!” and I couldn’t see it but I felt it! Bags tossed up, the last climb out of the entrance and again we sorted kit in the shakehole before making our way back across the limestone pavement in the general direction of a now slightly emptier car park.

A wonderful day expertly lead by Sophie, thank you very much everyone!

Write up by Will, pics by Will

27 April 2025

By Will Burnett In Day Trips

Pool Sink

Team: Will, Chris A

Last minute plans saw us heading back up to Bull Pot Farm just over 12 hours after leaving from yesterday’s trip. This time, we were headed to do Pool Sink as neither of us had done it before. No pull through trip for us, we thought it wise to check the route out first, but in hindsight we probably could have gone for it.

After a sweaty romp across the fell we scrambled up a dry Ease Gill until we came to the entrance. Chris lead the way through the snug entrance and into the first crawls. Here we were questioning if we’d perhaps under estimated this trip, expecting a nice easy day out and here we are navigating hairpin bends in tight passageways some 10-15m from the entrance! Lucky for us it wasn’t too long until we were through this and things started to look a lot more vertical. I started the days rigging on the first pitch before handing over to Chris to rig the second and third pitches, then back to me to end the rope-work for now. We took a few minutes to catch our breath and strip SRT kits whilst deciding what to do next, by the time we made it to Holbeck Junction we had a plan. Chris was keen to see Easter Grotto, having seen pictures and read about it, so we decided to work our way through the higher level passages (Gypsum Cavern and The Palace) before attempting the flat out crawl connecting to Easter Grotto. We certainly didn’t expect it to be as tight as it was, but luckily it was over before too long and we welcomed the relieving presence of mud coated boulders where we could sit up and process what just happened! Immediately, we decided not to return this way and instead drop down into the main stream way and return via White Way and Thackray’s Passage. We took a slow crawl through Easter Grotto, admiring and photographing as we went. We scrambled down the in situ ropes to through the Assembly Hall to reach the main stream way and enjoyed the somewhat leisurely stroll back downstream in comparison to our journey up!

Back at Holbeck Junction in no time, we quickly had a recce about before heading back through the connecting passages to the 4th pitch of Pool Sink. We agreed our de-rigging order and quickly got to work. After a sweaty half hour or so we were making our way back through the entrance crawls with an encouraging breeze to comfort us somewhat, and finally daylight breaking through the entrance. Glorious conditions on the surface saw us halt for a few at the entrance and soak up a few rays before hiking back across the fell to the farm. A fantastic days caving, I’m sure Chris and I will be back soon to attempt a pull through trip.

Write up by Will, photos by Will and Chris

26 April 2025

By Tom C In Day Trips

Boundary Pot

Jason, Tom, Will

Bright and early I was up at the farm and marching across the moor to Lancaster, pre-rigging it for our through-trip, planned to be an unusual route of Boundary to Lancaster.

Back at the cars and with Jason and Will kitted up, we stomped over the fell to upper Easegill and the second-highest entrance of the system. Jason led the way into the entrance squirm, clearing out the spiders for a clean run through. The promised ’10 minutes of rough caving at the start’ inevitably took about 25 minutes, and Will’s trust in Tom’s time estimates was broken. The route’s largely flat-out, with a bunch of awkward free-climbs and puddles along the way, and we were all hauling bags of SRT gear etc which snagged on everything.

But before long we’d broken out into the bigger stuff, and made the sketchy traverse round and free-climb down, then Crossover passage into Fusion Cavern. Shortly after this we bumped into a couple of folk on their way out of a Wretched-Boundary trip – those entrance climbs would be a bit interesting to squeeze up. On to one of my favourite bits of Boundary, a crystal false floor at chest height across the passage, which looks just like a miniature map of the Grand Canyon.

Not long after, we were into Hiroshima Chamber, and tiptoed round the bouldery chaos and up onto the ledge, before popping down the wonderful Manhattan Connection, which spits you out high up on a wedgie traverse high above Far East passage. Getting up into Nagasaki, we were all pretty sweaty and took a R&R break.

Now it was just a few minutes’ caving to reach the Assembly Hall and we were dangling precariously on the handlines to shuffle round to one of the jewels of the system, the lovely Easter Grotto. The perfect spot for a sit down and enjoying the beauty of this passage for a few minutes.

Back to the Assembly Hall and we headed down the two off-balance handlines and hopped down White Way into the stream. Thackrays Passage is always a nice stomp after everything you’ve been through, and with water levels super low we were almost tempted to try straight through with the stream where the stal grill bypass branches off, but it still wasn’t an appealing-looking place.

By the time we were at Holbeck Junction and making our way towards Stop Pot, we were all feeling well exercised and having recently done the through-trip a few times now, we decided to cut the trip short and just take a different route out of County so Will could see the Eureka and Whiteline route out. All went slickly until we got to the County Pitch, where we were greeted by a ladder and at least 4 ropes down the pitch! The sound of shuffling up above and we realised it was the aftermath of Red Rose’s try caving event. We knitted our way through the chaos to make our way up the in-situ and soon caught the back of the party up, had a good chat with them all at the entrance, and saw plenty of smiling faces of new folk bitten by the bug.

We marched back via Lancaster to de-rig the sadly unused rope, before getting back to the cars and helping one of the novices find his car keys, which he’d descriptively hidden behind ‘some moss’.

Shame we dragged our SRT kits the whole way through for mostly no reason, but still a good day, I love this end of the system and the endless combination of different routes you can take between any 2 entrances!

24 April 2025

By Will Burnett In Day Trips

Notts Pot

Team Twilight Zone: Will, Jim, Jess, Jasmine, Paddy

Team Centre Route: Steve, Tom, Dave, James, Pete M

Yet again another top turnout for a Wednesday night! Certainly too many bodies to be chugging up and down the same route so we opted for an exchange of the upper series. It’s been a while since I’ve made it out on a Wednesday night, however Tom specifically requested a bald rigger and so I had to oblige. I messaged him to see what madness he had lined up for me and his exact words were

”don’t think any of us have done Twilight Zone before, possibly a KCC first or at least the first time the clubs done it for decades.”

That was me sold, sounded right up my street! But it just didn’t add up, the topo didn’t look like anything too crazy, so I decided to google it and see if anything came back. Imagine how gutted I was when the two top results were Ray’s trip reports from 2023 and 2024! After reading through them, nothing sounded awfully difficult, in fact if anything it sounded like one of the many fun days out Ray and I have shared on a rope. The only bit of trickery I could pick out was that he seemed to struggle with finding the deviation on the first pitch. I’m not sure if Ray’s since found this, or if it is still a mystery for him, but I was intrigued to say least to see what it was all about!

Our initial plan was to just do the entrance pitches and Twilight Zone on a quick bounce, but with a few last minute additions to the numbers, we altered the plan to go for an exchange. Steve quickly packed to rig the Centre Route, and Tom had already preached for me to do Twilight Zone. A few forgotten essentials, (oversuits, wellies, helmets) saw a couple of the team having to dash to the tackle store and back, while the rest of began the hike in across the fell. Before long we were at that shake hole and Tom quickly set about rigging the entrance pitches whilst everyone else was kitting up. Tom took us as far as Three Ways Chamber, with me closely in tow, and Dave not too far behind. We waited here for everyone to regather, minus James and Pete that had dashed to the tackle store, then a quick team meet to decide who would go which way before we departed and set about route finding. Following the rift towards Left Hand Route, it wasn’t long before the hard work started as we scrambled up the slick rift. Without too much effort I had the first pitch rigged and a quick check of the topo before setting off down the first ab. Instantly I spotted an old bolt to my right roughly 2-3m down from the Y hang, this had to be the deviation! Relaying the information to Jim behind me t the pitch head, he looked at what was looking at and certainly didn’t seem keen to use it. I gave it a little wiggle and check, the hanger was freely spinning but it seemed solid enough, it wasn’t a huge deviation either so if it had popped it wouldn’t be super consequential. Not wanting to upset those following me, I opted not to use it, and we didn’t experience any rope run or anything anyway, but as I neared the ledge at the bottom of the pitch I noticed I was awkwardly on the edge of it and having to swing back in to get a solid footing. Once on the ledge, I looked back up to where the suspected deviation was and followed in a straight line down and had I used it, it would have landed me comfortably on the ledge not the edge and also literally on top of the bolts starting the next traverse. Possibly the more awkward one to rig, once through the traverse, the Y hang was quite committing with not many foot or hand holds to go at and an obvious void below. It didn’t take too long to get it knocked together with use from my short link I know carry everywhere after using it in rope access a lot and wondering if it would be any good in a cave and now it’s a main part of my SRT kit. Part way down the pitch I spotted the next bolt on the opposite wall and took the swing out to it, although it is possible to continue straight down here also – another of many options of variation to a trip in this vertical playground! Here we could start to hear the other team working their way down through the pitch also, and occasionally saw their lights also flashing through the many openings. Straight onto the next pitch with an interesting window deviation into another chamber that you touch down in, again nothing too taxing. Soon we were working our way through the last pitch, with an awkward pitch head and below me I could see Steve just touching down at the bottom of his pitch, perfect! Exchange is on! The others perched on the ledge while k had a quick drop down to the passage leading to the lower stream way bit instantly everything became very wet and nobody else fancied a look either, not that we could get far as we didn’t bring anymore rigging. One by one everyone touched down, and by now James and Pete had caught back up, so a quick picture of everyone at the bottom before we picked our exits. Tom and I went first, Tom up Twilight Zone and I went for Centre Route, with Jess hot on my heels. Top job from Jim and Paddy de-rigging Centre Route and negotiating kit bags, and likewise in Twilight Zone with Dave and Steve. Again in a similar order we exited, with (I think!) Jim de-rigging the entrance pitches. It was certainly noticeably colder now on the surface, but once all regrouped we all head back across the fell, warming ourselves up as we went.

Thank you all for a great evening!

Write up by Will, pics by Will

21 April 2025

By Will Burnett In Day Trips

BPK – rigging masterclass

Team: Will, Chris A

After achieving full member status with the club, Chris quickly set his sights on his next underground goals and asked me if I could introduce him to the world of rigging/de-rigging. Chris is clearly naturally talented on a rope, as he is also a competent rope access tech, so I knew we wouldn’t have to start totally from scratch and would get a lot covered in a single trip. To start with, Chris drove us to Gareth’s house to collect the tackle store key, before heading there to pack for BPK and show Chris the process of a) packing for a trip, and b) signing kit in and out of the store correctly – it seems he may not be the only person in need of this refresher after recent events!

Once loaded up we head over to Kingsdale and began our romp up the hill to the entrance. Chris was quickly put to work, rigging the entrance pitch and the second pitch using the slot and wide ‘Y’ hang variation. The third pitch has a couple of deviations that require a decent swing to grab, so as Chris hadn’t attempted anything like this yet I head on down first to give him a quick demo, before removing the stopper knot at the bottom of the pitch and getting Chris to pull the top back up through the deviations before his descent meaning he then had to swing for the deviations again. He clearly listened to what he was being told and like a pro he breezed down the pitch to join me. The baton back over to Chris, off he went to rig the final pitch, perhaps his biggest test of the trip given that he was now pretty tired, and faced a couple of tight traverses before the final ab. Without too much effort, we were soon at the sump trying to fathom the point of the final pitch given that it’s a lot of effort for nothing at all really!

After putting in a shift on Chris’s part, we decided to de-rig in turns on the way out to give him a little rest, and I took the last pitch and the bigger second pitch so he could work through de-rigging the deviations and not just tire himself out on tight traverses. It wasn’t long at all before we could see daylight once again and with all the kit hauled back up and out, we were on our way back to the car before heading back to the tackle store to carry out some post trip checks on equipment and sign it all back in. Today we looked at:

– Packing kit for trips, organising bags, understanding topo’s, emergency preparations.

– Personal kit related to rigging. What makes life easier, what doesn’t.

– Knot options and selection. When and when not to use particular knots. Equalised and offset ‘Y’ hangs, small and large. Traverse lines. Deviations. Traverse lines that work up or down and protecting a slide/fall.

– Personal placement, good ‘housekeeping’ skills (not creating a spaghetti junction, being aware of cowstails and rigging lines and not getting twists and overlaps)

– Mechanical advantage, being able to use the tools at your disposal to better your position or help you achieve the objective quicker, safer or more efficiently.

– Group focus, rigging for personal/mates and rigging for group trips with all abilities. Being aware of trouble areas where people might need more from the rigging to help overcome obstacles, and being able to identify ways to do so. Also having awareness of surroundings and passing on information, can others follow or do you need room to rig? Does the passageway require one caver passing at a time, etc.

– Swinging on a rope, the principles behind swinging SAFELY on a rope. What to check before swinging, how to swing, and what to do if things don’t go to plan.

– De-rigging principles, bag management, personal protection when de-rigging and making sure that you don’t de-rig yourself out of the system totally.

– General performance analysis, not gassing yourself out, passing the baton if/when tired, focus, delegation if required, caving targets and goals.

All in all a fantastic day out! Chris really impressed me with his ability to learn new skill sets and put them into practice. Not only this, but watching him rig and de-rig it’s evident to see he’s already thinking about all the important things like placement, protection, movement, etc. Practice, practice, practice, that’s all Chris needs now and I really don’t think it’ll be long at all before we can add him to the list of club riggers. If you’re on a trip with Chris, make sure you put his new skills to the test and get him grafting!

Write up by Will, photos by Will and Chris

19 April 2025

By Will Burnett In Day Trips

Ogof Gofan – trip 2

Team: Scott, Helen & Will

It may or may not surprise you that this trip went quite a bit like yesterdays! The weather was pretty similar, perhaps slightly dryer but gusting winds still. The three of us met early morning and kitted up before heading across the sea cliffs once more. I must admit, a wet day prior plus a late night at the pub with yesterdays team and a sleep in the van wasn’t leaving me feeling in the highest of spirits, but I was determined to show Scott and Helen just as good of a time as the others!

Pretty swiftly we were rigged and all inside the entrance stripping our SRT kits off, a pretty dialled and efficient process now after all the practice I must say. This time, I was focusing on trying to put myself in different places so that when I shared the photos and made some reels of our trip later on, they weren’t a complete de ja vu of the day before! Helen lead the way with Scott hot on her heels, through the first crawly sections and into the window chamber. It definitely felt a bit more slippy in here today so there wasn’t any edging out for a photo op from me today! Further on we went and soon we were in the main chamber, again admiring the incredible formations on offer which still made Scott and Helen wow in awe despite all of the photos and videos they’ve been flooded with of the place! I’ve now passed through this chamber 6 times and still have to stop and take a few minutes before pressing on. On through the next crawl and I decided today was the day to explore the little off shoots that Ogof Gofan has to offer, firstly with the down climb between boulders that sadly chokes up after a few metres. Once in the last chamber, Scott and Helen set off in different directions to again explore the off shoots, all again choking up after not much exploration but all worthy of a quick peek due to the pretties on offer.

Before long we were retracing our steps, Helen again exploring some more tight off shoots but shortly returning. Once back at the entrance, Scott offered to de-rig, giving me the opportunity to shoot up the rope first and just after the re-belay I found a suitably placed spike to toss a sling over and hang myself from to get some good shots of the others exiting.

This little beauty of a sea cliff cave has been an incredible trip to plan and arrange and I’m glad everyone in attendance had a fantastic time. I’m more than happy to return again with people if our reports have inspired you! Feel free to reach out to me (KCC or not) and I’ll happily share my knowledge and information on this trip.

Write up by Will, photos by Will and Helen