4th December 2025 - The best just got better...

 ...and not just because we had Tony back again this week.

Despite it being the second time we'd done it, we'd loved last week's Mancunian themed trip and with the weather not quite being right for other trips on our list, it seemed a perfect opportunity to get to know it really well. 

Being drier than last week, rather than taking the Manchester bypass to get to Mainline Terminus, we opted to go via the Trident series. I'd also asked if I could try navigating, under normal circumstances this could lead to a potentially very long trip, but knowing I had Mike just behind me meant we wouldn't be missing last orders.

Having successfully found my way to Battle of Britain chamber I pointed out where I thought the way on to the Bypass lay and Mike sagely nodded in agreement. We then headed up the slope to the start of the Trident, explaining to Mike what I expected to see next and having my fairly loose and sketchy description turned into something actually useful by the Easegill oficionado.

The route to Eureka junction through Trident is fantastic, clean washed streamway interspersed with interesting rope assisted traverses and drops. To try and help link things together we passed the junction where the Wretched Rabbit water joins and went down to see the junction with the main drain before retracing our steps.

This isn't a section of Wretched Rabbit we use very often and despite finding "a" way up into Four Ways Chamber, I'm sure it wasn't "the" way. A moment of befuddlement followed and thanks to Mike we were quickly heading via Depot chamber to Stop pot, rather than back out of Easegill via a return to Wretched Rabbit.

With an ascent of the Stop ladder and a relatively easy ride around the boulders that follow we were soon at a junction with last week's route at Mainline Terminus. The silence and darkness of the gaping caverns now ahead in stark contrast to the loud and light coloured streamways we'd recently left behind. 

In my head I'd completely missed out one of the big chambers and at the sight of a rope ascending into the gloom I thought I'd gone to far, but no, I just hadn't noticed it when I'd walked right by it 7 days previously. Even when I saw a likely looking boulder on the left I convinced myself it wasn't the right one until Mike headed behind it and into the Mancunian way.

The next bit to Easegill aven seemed to pass without too much issue and at the top of the pitch Tony looked a little bemused. "I bet he's now wondering why we bother with harnesses and descenders too", I thought as I wrapped a sling around me and clipped an Italian hitch into my krab.

Once again the navigation seemed to flow, but it was reassuring to glimpse over my shoulder and see the glow of Mike's lamp not far behind. A quick up and over at Molluscan hall and we were back at the streamway contemplating the slot from which the stream flowed. Things would be better this week. One, I actually knew which way to go this time and two, I took my fantastic Aunty Liz knitted merino beanie from my pocket and put it on under my helmet. This meant that it wouldn't be getting wet and I was now significantly warmer for the short and aqueous crawl of Dismal junction.

At Platypus, Tony took over the navigation as he's wanting to fix the shorter County round in his memory and he soon had us back at Broadway. Last week the ladder was throwing a bit of a strop at it's infrequent use, but today after it's second outing in the same number of weeks it was much more compliant.

Adding the Trident start made this even more of a cracking trip than last time and is highly recommended. If you've a visiting, competent caver who's never been in Easegill then this would be fantastic, pretty much tackle free, trip to take them on - though we do have another plan...

6th February 2020 - Manc in Manhattan

Last week Mike and I had been turned around by a deluge in Boundary pot before the description said we'd even meet water.  This week, approaching the nick in the true left bank of the gill, there was no water sinking and I felt slightly more confident sliding into the entrance.

The incredible spiders in the first chamber were definitely bigger than last week, having spent 7 days gourging on their prey.  We slipped quietly past and were soon in the crawl leaving the second chamber. What a difference a dry week makes! There was no water at all going down the hole and I confidently wiggled down.

My current issues with water caused the first of my navagational hiccups of the evening, pressing on through a curtain of water definitely not appealing to me.  Through we went though and we were soon making the stunning free climbs down into Fusion Cavern.  I'd been reading the description out loud, but my voice wasn't going to carry over the roar of the waterfall so we pressed on to the downstream end of the cavern.

The streamway leaving the cavern is one of my favourite pieces of cave in Ease gill.  Delicate crystaline, false floor and myriad stal decorating the way through to the soaring Boxing Day aven.  Interspersed with the pretties, fresh foam indicated that this really isn't the place to be in wet weather and confirmed that our decision the previous week was the right one.

Stepping up from the aqueous passageway, we entered our first huge cavern of the evening, Hiroshima.  In the far part of this chamber is the stunningly engineered link that makes this trip possible. As ever we'd like to pass on our thanks to the diggers for the work they put in that allows everyone to enjoy the fruits of their labours.  In this case Sam Allshorn and Mike Cooper had also produced the fantastic description we were using to navigate through the link.

Once through the dig we dropped down into the Far East Passage streamway and were soon climbing up into the vastness of Nagasaki.  It was now over to Mike for navigational duties and unlike on my previous trips, he quickly headed off in the right direction towards the Assembly Hall.  White Way,  Thackray's, Holbeck Junction went by in a blur, the only pause being waiting for the ladder to be free at Stop Pot.

In my head, once we were at the Mainline terminus, we had Monster and Snail caverns to pass through before arriving at Cornes.  I therefore thought we'd have two "diminishings" of the passage before arriving at our destination.  Perhaps it was the speed we were travelling at, but seemingly after only a single narrowing we thought we were in the right place.

Now turning to the Braemoor route description I followed it to the letter and found myself in a sandy crawl.  The sand ahead looked undisturbed and I felt a long way from the others.  This couldn't be it.  I retraced my steps, had a moment when I couldn't find the way back, but finally emerged to tell the others it couldn't be the way on.  Mike went scurrying one way to look for landmarks we knew, while I went the other knowing that if I soon bumped into the Minnarets then we were definitely in Cornes.  This left poor Tony in the middle with everyone else disappearing into the gloom.

By the time I got back from the Minnarets, Mike was pushing down the crawl I'd abandoned with more confindence than I'd had and soon found the mud bricks that meant we were on the right path. Sorry lads.  As with the earlier Manhattan description, John Gardner's "Braemoor" description was absolutely superb, as Mike put it, "it tells you on a climb exactly which stal you'll find your right hand on."

Crawling was definitely the order of the day now and the vastness of the upper level series seemed an age away.  Suddenly, our horizontal progress was halted by a pitch!  An isolated 11m hole, dropping down Ease gill aven.

When we had met at Devil's bridge I'd shown Mike my neatly packed tackle sack with 20m of rope for a pull through down the aven and my SRT kit in.  He pointed out that even with these meagre contents it was still quite bulky and that he had a better solution.  At Bull Pot farm he assured us there'd be a rope in situ and produced 3 sets of Brook's Lite SRT kits.  Fully aware of cavers' aversion to flashy new gear, these had been designed to look like a 1980's sling teamed with an HMS krab.

It was therefore a cheery, unjaded team of 3 that arrived at Ease gill aven having travelled unencumbered and unfrustrated by tackle sacks. There had been a brief discussion over whether we should each carry a krab, or would just one do for us all, but personally I'd found the krab useful attach the sling round my body while travelling.  Kit donned, my hitch turned out to be of the Italian variety rather than the similar Clove and thus the obsticle was passed without a Further.

After a brief but very muddy section it was with some relief that we started crawling in the water again, a chance to wash off.  The water having passed through both Mike and Tony's suits by the time it got to me was far from crystal clear and even just trying to wash off the description met with limited success.

Suddenly we popped out into the County streamway with just a climb up and over a boulder choke separating us from Molluscan Hall.  Here it was once again into the water before the enlarging passageway brought us to one of the most recognisable junctions in Ease gill, Platypus.  I'd forgotten how enjoyable the stream way is via Toadstool junction to Broadway, the route maintaining its interest to the very end.

It was still and crisp back on the moor, our return illuminated by a large moon.  Arriving at the farm, the Thursday night diggers were just leaving.  Perhaps one day their current work will lead to a trip as superb as the one we had just completed.

Huge thanks to Mike and Tony for sharing a superb adventure.

25th February 2010 - Beyond Easegill Aven

The Easegill system is big.

Despite most of the team having spent nearly two decades ferreting around on a huge variety of trips, it's great when you can still end up in a previously unexplored corner, especially when it turns out to be such a gem.

Heading off caving in daylight has that same strange feeling as when you leave the cinema in the afternoon, it doesn't quite feel right, but nevertheless we were soon making our way down into the rift of Wretched Rabbit.

Once underground the effect of Tom's 70km/week running regime became startingly obvious as Dick and myself sweatily followed the distant sounds of his progress through the meandering passageway. Climbing up into 4 ways brought us onto the Stop pot boulder slope and the ladder that leads to the vastness of the high level series.

The Ladders at Stop Pot leading to Mainline Terminus

Furry suit now soaked and with sweat now running into my eyes, I tried to keep pace with the faint glow of Tom's headtorch somewhere in the distance, the easier ground having allowed him to up the pace a notch. Given the size of Corne's cavern, the entrance to the Mancunian way probably feels tighter than it actually is but it soons gives way to crawling that, if it ever crawling could be described as pleasant, almost is.

 Mancunian Way Crawl

The white rock of the trench walls a stark contrast to the dark soil of its base.

At a cross road with the way ahead becoming blocked and the right hand way leading to the start of a dig reminiscent of Skylight passage, our way on lead to the left.

 Approaching Easegill Aven

A flat out crawl,which saved the very tightest bit till last, soon opened out into a larger passage way. A short climb up utilising possibly the most perfect foothold led into a small chamber.

After a quick ratch around during which we managed to find ourselves back where we had already been and have to use the foothold again, we found the way on. Unlike the previous crawl, this one was of the quite unpleasant type, over ill proportioned cobbles. A "surprise" does however wait at the end and unlike most treats, which are over far too soon, this one continued as we made our way along the aptly named Nice Way.

Having looked at the survey since, leaving a rope down the County pitch would make a very nice roundtrip via Easegill Aven. As it was it was out the same way as we had come in.

Today the Wretched Rabbit climbs felt very wretched and it was with some relief we gained the surface and much needed refreshment from a spring in the gill side opposite the entrance.

The view down Easegill Aven

The Surprise

Nice Way

Nice Way

Dick working up a head of Steam in Mancunian Way

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16th January 2009 - Another fine evening in Easegill

11 years ago in 1997 the TNC had an 'exciting half an hour' misplaced somewhere below Easegill Aven and underneath Molluscan Hall ... could we find the way through ... well we must have done because I am telling this story now (read about the 1997 trip here). The plan tonight was to start to re-explore the two ends of the trip with a view to linking it again.

We set off in slightly wet and muddier conditions than last week when the ground was well frozen, across the moor to County Pot where the familiar passages soon gave way to the ladder pitch that leads to Broadway. A quick trip down the classic streamway led to Spout Hall where a climb up into the roof gives the way into Ignorance Is Bliss, which is a bypass leading into Pierce's Passage and the route into the main drain at Eureka Junction.

In the main streamway there was evidence of very high water levels (froth in the roof up to five meters!) that must have happened when the snow and ice melted in the rain earlier in the week. A cold duck through Stop Pot saw us heading up the ladder into the High Level Route and eventually Main Line Terminus. From here the next twenty minutes were a bit frustrating because although we found the Sideline Passage where we wrongly went back in 1997, we could not find the way into the Mancunian Way and the route to Easgill Aven (just like the last time!).

A rest in Carrot Chamber in absolute silence and darkness was broken as we retraced our steps to Mainline Terminus where the Manchester Bypass was taken back to Battle of Britain Hall in County Pot. An exciting route and a useful one to learn as it affords as escape route out of the high level series if Stop Pot is flooded.



A quick return out of County and the soggy plod back across the moor saw us changed and heading towards the Barbon Inn for a pint.

More research needed on Mancunian Way next week I think.