Trip Reports

By Ray McGarry In Day Trips

Notts Pot

Darren, Chris D, Tim K, Gareth, Sophie, Sedgey, Ray

It was AGM day and Sophie had tried to arrange a day of fun in Chapel le Dale, with trips to Sunset and Meregill. Unfortunately the weather had other ideas, so we settled on Leck instead, with parties going down Notts, Notts II and Shuttleworth. Aren’t we an active club!

The plan in Notts was to rig 2 different routes down to the Lower Streamway, then recombine for the lower pitches. I rigged down to Threeways Chamber, where we all reconvened for a discussion of who was going where. I ended up rigging down Twilight Zone, with Gareth, Sophie and Sedgey following. Chris rigged Adamson’s, followed by Darren and Tim.

It’s probably 30 years since I last did Twilight Zone, so my route finding wasn’t as slick as it could have been. A few metres down the 1st big drop, I tried to swing over to where I thought the route went. A lot of effort and some very big swings indeed all ended in failure… which is just as well as I was apparently trying to swing over to Centre Route. You live and learn. Further down, I completely missed the passage I was supposed to swing into, instead following the water down. It got wet. It got very wet indeed. An improvised deviation off a natural helped a bit, but lower down it got very wet again. There was no alternative but to prussick back up and, strangely, the correct way on was obvious. All this pointless up & down and swinging to & fro took exactly the right amount of time as we got to the Lower Streamway at exactly the same time as the Adamson’s party. Almost like it had been planned!

Tim was having a bit of back trouble and decided to head out via Twilight Zone, so at least he managed the exchange. Gareth took over rigging for the lower pitches and all were soon at the bottom… apart from me. I decided to forego the pleasure of the last big pitch to speed things up a bit. There were already 5 people down there!

Everyone exchanged on the way out. Darren & Chris derigged Twilight, Sophie and I derigged Adamson’s. While derigging Birthday Pot, I managed to get the rope snagged, so had to down prussick to free it. Poor Sophie got the job of derigging the nasty little down climbs near the top… with virtually no whimpering at all. She carried on derigging the entrance pitches from Threeways. I think I may have detected some language when one of the ropes got snagged, but luckily I was mostly out of earshot.

On the surface, we were vary surprised to find everyone stood around waiting for us, including Tim. Personally, I would have buggered off to get changed. An almost perfect day was rounded off by too much beer and food at the Station Inn after the formalities of the AGM. I’m already looking forward to next year.

By Ray McGarry In Day Trips

County Pot

Rhod, Maz (2nd KCC trip), James Benson (1st KCC trip), Ray

A great little midweek novice trip. The weather was uninspiring to say the least… decidedly wet and windy! The long walk across the fell was directly into the wind too. Definitely one of those trips where you’re glad to be below the surface. Given how wet it had been, Easegill Beck was remarkably dry. It wasn’t even that wet underground.

The chosen route was a short roundtrip via Platypus Junction. I had originally planned to go anticlockwise, but opted for clockwise instead, out via Razor Passage and back via Spout Hall. I didn’t want to get all the way round to Razor Passage, only to find it impassable and then have to come all the way back. As it turned out, there were no issues with water levels at all.

We made good progress to the pitch, which we laddered. The climb down into Broadway caused the usual fun and games, but nothing too serious. Then on to Platypus Junction, where we took a short photographic break. Rhod led us out expertly. The spout in Spout Hall was spouting a bit too much to climb up comfortably, so we bypassed it to the right. More fun and games on the climb back up out of Broadway. James somehow managed to get his left leg into a most uncomfortable looking position. I’m still not sure how he managed to get himself out of that position, but he did. Everyone managed the climb back up the ladder without incident. Maz had been a bit concerned about getting back up some of the rifty climbs in the entrance passage, but needn’t have worried as he seemed to fly up them all.

Thankfully the wind was behind us for the walk back across the fell. It was a relatively tough trip for novices, but they both seemed to cope well. They even want to come back for more!

Photos by Ray.

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 Jason Clements In Uncategorised

Boxhead > Notts II

Ray, Sophie, Darren, Chris D, Tim D, Bob, Jason

[Written up 26/10/25  from some brief notes made at the time]

This was the Christmas meet, and I hadn’t done Boxhead before, so what could be better than a 3-counties through-trip to work up an appetite for pudding?

Ray rigged, down to near (but not at) the bottom of the shaft to the Kendall flyover.  It’s a big pitch, but the rigging isn’t too complex.  Tim and Bob turned back to de-rig, bless them!  There was a longish crawl, followed by the Cresta run, a slightly awkward slippery crawl/traverse over a rift.  Then some more mixed going – fortunately Ray knew the way as there were many side-routes.  At one point, as I was trailing behind somewhat, I failed to notice the way on was a climb up over boulders, and got stuck trying to get underneath, in thick mud [2025 update – I only did the same f***ing thing again!]. Darren had to come back to set me right.  Further on, there’s a handline-assisted chimney climb which is quite strenuous. [2025 update – 3 years later I couldn’t manage this at all and resorted to prussiking up the old hawser-laid tat].  Soon after that we came to the junction with the Lyall cavern route (Helictite rift is straight on) and up to the link with Notts II.  You have to go up as far as possible before dropping down into it.  I managed to get stuck again by not ensuring my SRT bag went down before me [2025 update – one lesson learnt!]  It was a fast trip as everyone else was fitter than me.  About 3½ hours underground for me, probably less for the others!

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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