Trip Reports – Page 2 – Kendal Caving Club

26 July 2026

By Sophie H In Day Trips

Gavel

Sophie H, Billy, Jason, Klaudia
The plan for the weekend was Fossil Pot, but with a fair bit of rain forecast we decided to be sensible and go for somewhere less flood-prone. Gavel seemed like a good suggestion, and meant we could check the KCC cleaning station installed by Jason a month earlier. We arrived at Leck Fell on a drizzly Saturday morning, shortly followed by a group from another club heading the same way. I rigged the first pitch, and with several more cavers arriving, Billy headed off to quickly rig the next pitch. After a short down-climb and a bit of crawling, soon enough we were at Glasfurds. Its a great chamber, with curtain-like formations, straws, crawls and squeezes. After a good look around we headed to the newly discovered Echo chamber. I’d been here a couple of months earlier, and it was still equally as impressive and definitely has some of the longest straws i’ve ever seen. It is particularly muddy on the entrance though, so Jason re-stocked the cleaning station and we cleaned a few of the formations nearest to the path. Next, the two big pitches. I’d been to the top of these once a couple of months before with Billy and Scott, had looked down, got nervous, and waited at the top whilst they explored. Having since gained considerably more confidence with my caving, I was keen to give it another go, and it did not disappoint. Billy was very smooth on the rigging, and after a re-belay, exposed traverses, a precariously positioned pipe and a big deviation, we were at the sump. Klaudia and I shared de-rigging duties and we both complained about the weight of the bags. Klaudia did a particularly great job de-rigging the exposed traverse. The weather was even more miserable on the walk back to the cars, but we had a great day. Thanks all. Photo 1- Klaudia in Glasfurds chamber, photo 2- looking down from the top of pitch three, photo 4 – straws in Echo chamber, photo 5- the sump.

23 July 2026

By David L In Day Trips

Rowten Pot and Sumps

Tall David, Scott, Sophie, Ami, Connor, Will

A day to remember, the 23rd of July

The summer sun beaming, not a cloud in the sky

The scene will be set, you’ll remember the tale

The boldest of feats down in darkest Kingsdale

Participants gathered and prepared for the task

Gear donned, bags packed and ready at last

They nodded encouragement and shouldered the load

Through the gate, up the hill, to the Turbary Road

Now they were not the first to scale the height

A tall, lonesome figure was already out of sight

Pressing on through the limestone, high up on the slope

Carrying a hundred odd meters of rope

David reached the lip of the cavernous abyss

The roar of the water far below, a deep rising hiss

Ropes prepared, gear on, figure eights on a bight

He dropped over the edge into eternal night

Down to the bridge, daylight glimmered above

Threading one bolt to the next, a labour of love

Traversing the ledge, the main chamber yawns

Below in the darkness the headlight adorns

the rock with a glow as it drops out of sight

The hanging rebelay does not fail to excite

Dropping through darkness, shouts overhead!

Lights twinkle down, ropes like spiders thread

Shouts, calls and whistles, the cavalrys arrived

The adventure continues, the plan they’ve contrived

The heroes converge on a water lashed ledge

Some toiling in wetsuits but they must keep their pledge

More ropes have arrived and the group presses on

Down to the depths where glory is won

With two final pitches, the end is in sight

The crystal clear water they’ve come for this night

The test of the brave, the feared Rowten Sumps

Are they true and wise men or absolute chumps?

Mixed views were had by those who observed

But the chaps were all in and would not be deterred

Scott, Will and Connor each took their turn

Slowing their breath, showing no self concern

The water splashed up as they dove through the gap

A fearful few seconds but they all had the knack

The rope was pulled taught, for that was the sign

For the next and the last to follow the line

Through sump after sump, a long winding streamway

Find the warm metal hatch and stumble out into day

Back at the sump, the others turned back

So far to the daylight, up there through the black

They climbed and they swung, higher and higher

The darkness and mist could not quench the fire

Ami, Sophie and David pushed on for the top

Weighed down and weary, but not willing to stop

The cave had been conquered, at least for that night

It filled them with fear, awe and delight

The sun it had set across the valleys and farms

And they drove like the wind to the old Marton Arms…

18 July 2026

By Billy F In Day Trips

Gaping Gill – Stream Passage Pot

Billy, Sophie H, Paddy
The original plan for Saturday’s trip had been Juniper Gulf, but without the man and woman power required to lug 250m of rope up the hill, we decided Stream Passage Pot in Gaping Gill would be a better option. None of us had been down this way before, and it was a first Gaping Gill trip for Paddy. It was still a lot of kit to carry, and we were grateful to reach the entrance after a nice walk up the hill – we even spotted a white grasshopper on the way.

A quick kit sort, some lunch and off we went. None of us were a huge fan of the mid-way squeeze on the first pitch, but after this things got big, dangly and great fun. A few swingy deviations and traverses later and we found ourselves at the bottom. The route described several waterfalls to pass here – today they were not much more than a trickle. Navigation went smoothly. We scrambled up muddy slabs and down various twists, turns and crawls to the main chamber. It was as spectacular as ever. A quick flapjack and off we went back the way we came. I must admit, I struggled a bit with the bags on the way out – do bags ever not get stuck? A great trip and I hope to be back again soon. Thanks to Ray for being the call-out. Report written by Sophie H.

11 July 2026

By David L In Day Trips

Hurnel Moss Pot

Tall Dave, Billy and Sophie

In the midst of the great heatwave of July 2026 (which I’m sure we used to just call “summer”), Myself, Sophie and Billy met at a slightly earlier time than usual in Clapham to head up to Hurnel Moss Pot on the side of Ingleborough. Starting the walk up in a cool 25°C we had opted for the longer but more gradual and shaded route up via Clapham beck rather than from Newby Cote. This proved to be a wise decision, and definitely not just because of the cafe halfway. The showcave was just opening up as we passed so an already very welcome can of pop was bought and then we continued the sweltering trudge up through Trow Gill and on to the moss, to a very welcome breeze.

The shakehole was easy to find, being at the foot of an obvious stream cutting diagonally down from Ingleborough and we were greeted into it by a dozen beautiful dragonflies of quite an impressive size, whirring around, pondering the new arrivals.

I went first into the snug entrance, rigging the first short but awkward pitchhead and sliding like an unathletic seal off the edge into the first small drop.

From here a boulder slope drops down towards the main chamber and another very short rebelay swings you out over the abyss and onto the first traverse. This is described as being technical and lacking footholds however we all agreed that the perfectly placed crack at foot height all the way along seemed to suffice just nicely and we were soon at the Y-hang. From here the view is dramatic with the full height of the upper chamber on show, the anchor on the side of a huge hanging buttress of rock and the start of a stunning fluted shaft within the end of the chamber. In normal conditions when there is more than a tiny trickle of water, the stream drops 30m down a perfectly eroded shaft and hits a seemingly impenetrable flat layer of rock, flowing off over the lip into the final drop.

From here, an upwardly angled ramp on the left wall took us to the next pitchhead, Billy taking over the rigging with a new rope and expertly facilitating the next descent. Once again we enjoyed another straight drop down a picturesque fluted and layered wall with the lower chamber opening up as we descend.

The water at the bottom descends through a huge boulder choke which we down climbed and then rigged a short rope from a natural thread to reach the streamway. An awkward downclimb took us through to almost the furthest limit however not to be outdone I could see a large space through a gap in the boulders up a 6 foot climb. My first attempt consisted of me grabbing what turned out to be mud and not rock, my foot slipping and landing in an unceremonious heap back down in the stream way. Attempt number two, this time spotted by Billy allowed me to see further on both above and below but both options were a bit tight for me.

Admitting defeat but knowing it didn’t go much further we returned up to the main chamber and began the climb back out. Derigging went like a dream and we soon found ourselves unceremoniously thrutching and grunting through the awkward pitchhead and into the sunlight.

The walk down was much more pleasant but we still felt obliged to support the local businesses and fill up on fizzy drinks and ice-creams on the way back to the cars.

Another great trip.

8 July 2026

By Billy F In Uncategorised

Sell Gill Exchange

Billy, Sophie H, Tom, Maz, James and Paddy.

It was a beautiful evening in Horton in Ribblesdale and a delightful walk up the hill to Sell Gill, albeit through some extremely tall grasses. I had been trying to think of some trips me and Billy could lead together, and decided a Sell Gill exchange would work perfectly. With encouragement from James and Paddy, I rigged the dry route, shortly followed by Maz and Tom, whilst Billy headed off to rig Goblin. All went smoothly, and I even managed to beat Billy to the bottom and watched him glide down the final pitch.

We had thought about rigging the elusive pitch at the bottom, but decided to head out sooner and enjoy the sunshine whilst we could. One for another time. A quick switchover and James headed up Goblin, followed by me and then Paddy who kindly de-rigged. He wasnt too keen on the efficient packing. 2 bags next time. It was exceptionally dry and its a brilliant bit of cave. Billy, Maz and Tom went out via the dry.

Once out we had a lovely walk back down the hill, collecting sheeps wool and looking at owls and moths on the way. A lovely evening and really enjoyable trip.Written by Sophie H.

30 June 2026

By Ami S In Day Trips

Black Shiver

Team: James, Jasmine, Ami

I picked this one purely because it’s got a cool name, but lots of other people said it was on their list too, so I was feeling confident we were in for a good one.

Scott sadly couldn’t make it last minute, which did mean I had (usual for my trips) a concern that we were all lugging A LOT of rope. As James had a party and Jasmine and I were keen for the football, we decided on an early start, which meant an even earlier visit to the store for me. And boy, I wasn’t wrong about the amount of rope.

Despite our good intentions, a bit of tardiness, a lot of rope faff (fit in the damn bag you b***d) and some navigational issues meant we didn’t enter the cave until nearly 11am.

We hand-lined the modest entrance and set immediately into what was described as a ‘chest in water’ crawl. It was a low crawl, but only an inch of water, so I was optimistic our conditions would be favourable. The crawl was wiggly and winding, soon finding the first pitch. I managed to miss the rebelay anchor and was nervously shouting up to James about the horrifying-looking traverse ahead of me, when he pointed out the anchor I actually wanted was above my head. I’ll put it down to first-pitch nerves. Soon we were well underway, zooming down the wonderfully ominous-sounding Blood Pot and on to the infamous Black Dub.

This is described as hard to rig due to an hourglass shape, meaning you have to rig from the top half of the hourglass and then backtrack to actually descend from the bottom half (for future, a long sling might be beneficial here as a safety, but it isn’t needed for confident cavers) but I didn’t think it was tricky at all. We all thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of sliding through, remembering not to send ourselves off the landing lip in to the deep pool at the bottom.

From here Jasmine took over, having expressed excitement at rigging ‘the big pitch’. This amazing rift has a disgusting y hang at the top so kudos to Jasmine, but is all fun from there as you descend over 90 metres down the seriously amazing Black Rift. (Who comes up with these names? James and I have decided our first cave discovery will be called Pink Pony or Fluffy Kitten or something similar.)

By the time we were down it was evident James wasn’t making it out by 2pm as he wanted, but being James he wasn’t going to let us turn around now! Ahead and rigging, he led us expertly down, where the cave changed to a boulder-strewn, jaggedy nature in-keeping with the bottom of a cave. We were wet by now, but not as bad as I was expecting, though like many caves in that area it was draughty and chill, so I was cold nonetheless. This meant a quick celebratory Mars bar each at the sump, and back we went, with a plan to each derig a different section from that wot we rigged, for a bit of variety!

Going back up the big pitch unsurprisingly took an age, especially as the rope changes half way up, meaning poor James had to haul 70ms up and pack it half way through the ordeal. From there we blitzed it out (though that hourglass wriggle is a lot harder uphill with 100m of wet rope behind you. We all blame Scott.)

We emerged into the blazing sun less than 6 hours after we went in. An easy, sunny downhill stomp back to the car, feeling tired but happy, unlike the faces of those we passed who were about to tackle Peak 3 of their Challenge day. Thanks so much for coming guys. We all agreed it’s a cave we would definitely do again!

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.

7 June 2026

By Ami S In Day Trips

Rumbling Hole – too much rumble this time

Team: Ray, Paddy, Jasmine, John, Ami

Horrendous weather topped off by a wiggly bolt scuppered this one last time, so I was keen to see it all the way.

As we could actually see this time (still light and everything), I was excited to experience the famous hanging rebelay with a view. And it didn’t disappoint! Ray set off rigging persued by John, who I’d never met but was evidently very competent from the off. I was at the back to enjoy Paddy and Jasmine’s excited cries as they tackled the first drop. Poised over a rock edge, you lower yourself on to nothing, with the glorious green shaft down below. Certainly one of the most fun rebelays in the Dales!

By the time I reached the bottom of pitch one, the famous Rumble had begun, complete with a shower from the waterfall straight on to our heads. It became rather more, ahem, atmospheric from here. This second pitch is probably lots of fun if you can see through the water. There’s a deviation that Jasmine and I both agreed was a pain in the a***, and by the time I had finished faffing I could see the lights below turning back towards me.

Paddy and Ray had apparently reached the two 6 foot climbs and decided the flow was far too strong, and the water far too wet, to continue. We all took our turns dashing back under the falls and heading back out in no time. Sad not to reach the bottom, but absolutely worth seeing Rumbling in full, monstrous flood!

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.