27th October 2016 - A County round

At the entrance to Whirlpool passage

With finishing for half term on a Thursday, it seemed a good excuse to make an early start on the caving season. So it was that Dick, guest star Tony and I met up at Devil's bridge and then made our way up to Bull Pot Farm.

Whether we slipped through a temporal portal on the way up onto the moor I don't know, but there ahead of us was the Farm with Vango Force 10s pitched in the garden and myriad caving suits drying over the walls, just like old photos I've seen. The Forest School Camps group though they belonged to though were a new generation of cavers, rather than the old. Many thanks to this group too for lending us a helmet and lamp and making our trip possible.

It was then off over the moor, with Dick giving me a helpful nudge in the right direction as I absent mindedly walked past the junction to the footpath that takes you to the gill. Down through the trap door and the first pitch, closely followed by the climb down to Broadway.  Right now into Showerbath passage, before dropping the bag at the entrance to Battle of Britain Hall and a quick diversion to Spout Hall and the bottom of the Poetic Justice climb.

Back in Battle of Britain I was comforted by Dick's memory of the route as it was at this point that things got a little hazy for me. The haze soon became a fog as he led us down through the Trident series and to the other side of Poetic Justice.  Finally I knew where we were again and once again dropping the bag, this time at the entrance to Wretched Rabbit, we made the quick trip down to Eureka junction before retracing our steps.

For once I didn't feel too bad as we made our way out, normally I'm shattered by this point and the final climbs require every last ounce of my energy, but soon we could smell the damp earth of the surface and we were out into the murky night.

A newly refurbished Snooty Fox provided post trip refreshment and cheers to Dick and Tony for a great opening trip of the season.

23rd November - A County Round

Classic trips are ones that you can return to, time after time and still think, "That was great".  The round trip from County pot via Platypus junction and Spout Hall is definitely one such trip.

Fortunately the icy hail storm that blew in while we were getting changed was short lived, though an ominous rumble of thunder while we crossed the moor kept us focussed on the weather.  It has been very wet of late, but Easegill was dry and we were soon at the hatched entrance to County.

The pitch allowed me to practice some of the skills I'd learnt on my level 2 training and even Dick was kind enough to let me clip him in, the comments about "ropes and blommin' belays, never had those back in the day..." becoming quieter as he descend the ladder.

From Broadway we made our way downstream to Toadstool junction where Kate and Joe found that cave photography can often take a little bit longer than photos on the surface.  Continuing to follow the water we quickly arrived at Platypus junction and decided that in actual fact the formation just above the "platypus", looks much more like a crocodile. 

Upstream now and passing Poetic justice we made our way up into Spout Hall.

It was then just a short distance back to Broadway, the small climb, pitch and thrutch up the final meanders.

The Barbon Inn is now back to it's very best, a roaring log fire with comfy sofas around it and pretty good beer too.