Notts II to Leck Fell Master Cave (Tackle Free)

[Don]

EDIT: From a trip earlier in the year…

Members Present: Chris Kelly, Don, Sharman

The original plan for the day was to head down Big Meanie, then drop into the bottom of Death’s Head, then down the scaffolded climb leading to Death’s Head inlet, and then to follow the inlet to where it intersects with the Leck Fell Master Cave. After a brief discussion over breakfast, however, Team Geriatric instead opted for the alternative, tackle free route from Notts II to the Master Cave, the main reason being that none of us really felt like hauling tackle.

Once parked, we changed and made our way down the entrance shaft of Committee Pot. At the intersection with the main streamway we turned right (upstream) and walked for several minutes until we reached the familiar electron ladder on the left, which leads above the streamway to a side passage marking the beginning of the Three Counties Connection. This entertaining route begins with a low crawl in muddy water followed almost immediately by an even lower crawl in muddy water (technically a duck, I suppose), then roughly 25-30 minutes of flat-out and sideways horizontal and vertical crawling/climbing in a passage of body-shaped proportions. This eventually ends in an aven chamber, where a precarious climb down through an unstable boulder choke leads to Lyle Caverns.

A right at the next T junction enters the impressive Avens Passage. A few minutes ahead, between the final two avens, a hole between blocks in the floor enters a broken 12m climb (handline in place) which spirals down to the level of the Tate Galleries. From the base of the climb a gravelly hands and knees crawl leads to a junction with a larger passage. The way on is right, past a small aven, along a passage with pools to another junction. From here a left turn leads to a short section of clean-washed vadose streamway. At the end of this the water vanishes into boulders but the passage continues onwards towards the right and soon reaches another, four ways junction. The way on is straight across into an uninviting flat-out crawl through water (technically another duck, I suppose), which thankfully soon enlarges to hands and knees. Where the water ends is a fourth junction.

The way on from here – tackle free – is to follow the passage around to the left until you encounter a boulder choke (which is almost immediately). This is easily passed on the left hand side, climbing up over boulders then down again into the main passage continuation. The continuation soon turns right at a decorated grotto and briefly takes the form of a mini-gothic passage with a pool on the floor, leading to a sizeable chamber. An inlet enters on the left, however the way to Boxhead is straight on, at the same level as the floor of the gothic passage. A crawl over a hole in the floor, between a large boulder and the right hand wall leads to a short flat-out section with a slot in the floor, almost immediately followed by a flat-out rocky crawl with a squeeze in the middle (roughly two or three feet long). The trick here is to stay on the far right hand wall, where the floor dips slightly, and to keep your right arm forward and left arm back, slowly wiggling forward. Chris Kelly bravely led the way forward in this section, followed by Sharman and then myself. The crawl ends when another floor slot appears and the main stream from Boxhead is encountered. Following this up over cobbles enters the base of the Boxhead main pitch.

The turn off to The Tube and the Lost Pot Inlet is on the far side of the pitch, on the right, where a short section of narrow rift leads to a 7m free climb down a narrow shaft (there are two in situ hand lines in place here), followed almost immediately by another 4m free climb down into a small chamber. All of the water from Lost Pot and Boxhead Pot flow into this chamber, the only exit from which is a short flat-out crawl in water leading into a 3m long constricted, sideways crawl with an awkward bend known as The Tube (aka Bob’s Delight). As Chris Kelly and Sharman had been through The Tube before, they passed through with no difficulties. Not fond of the idea of attempting a watery, downwards slanting squeeze head first, I pathetically tried to go through feet first, but failed. After a quick repositioning I then tried head first and succeeded with no issues.

The remainder of the trip to the Leck Fell Master Cave was fairly uneventful. We followed Lost Pot Inlet for roughly 15 minutes or so, which consisted of a mixture of walking, stooping and crawling, including a short wriggle over calcite at the beginning just for good measure. This eventually leads back to Lyle Cavern, not far from the 19m Lyle Cavern pitch (which connects Avens Passage and Helictite Rift with Lyle Cavern). At this point we encountered a couple of cavers from another club (I don’t think we were formally introduced) who had entered the system via Lost Johns’. Continuing on our way we soon reached the Leck Fell Master Cave. We followed the main streamway until just before the Long Pool. At this point we decided to turn around because we were already quite cold and there didn’t seem to be any good reason to continue getting even wetter and colder simply to reach a static sump.

The return trip was fairly mundane with the exception of a couple of entertaining episodes, the first of which involved The Tube. Sharman led the way, grunting and groaning all the while, but encountering no real issues. Chris Kelly then followed. Again, no issues. Next came me, for whom the same cannot be said. I managed to get my upper body around the awkward bend, but my legs refused to follow. It wasn’t that The Tube was physically tight, it’s that my right leg couldn’t bend around the corner. After a few attempts, my left leg somehow got stuck underneath my right leg and I couldn’t move. Naturally I freaked out and started screaming like a little girl. Chris Kelly, who was waiting for me in the small chamber just after The Tube, kept laughing at me, not because he’s a dick but because he thought I was trying to be funny by imitating Bob of ‘World’s Worst Near Misses’ fame.

Me: “Help me! Help me! My leg’s stuck. I can’t move it!”
Chris Kelly: “Ha, ha! That’s good!”
Me: “No, I’m f*****g serious! I can’t move my f*****g leg! Help me! Help me!”
Chris Kelly: “Ha, ha, ha!!!
Me: “You mother f****r! I’m not f*****g kidding! You f*****g piece of f***! F*****g help me! F***!!!”

After a couple more minutes swearing and encouragement from Chris Kelly I finally managed to free my leg and make it around the awkward bend. Chris Kelly, Sharman and myself then reconvened and rested for a bit at the base of the Boxhead main pitch before retracing our route back out Notts II. We only encountered one very minor route finding issue shortly after the four ways junction located just beyond the flat-out crawl through water (technically a duck), when we mistakenly went straight instead of turning right. Otherwise the trip out was uneventful.

Once back at the car (Chris Kelly and I left our cars in the car park at Cowan Bridge and rode with Sharman in his new mini-van) we got changed, waved at Alex and his other caving buddies as we passed them as they were walking up the road, and headed for Whoop Hall for some post-caving refreshments.

All in all this was an excellent trip. It had a bit of everything – flat out crawls, a scary boulder choke, ducks, squeezes, climbs, route finding issues. Definitely one I would recommend to others.

[Scaife]

Would you recommend it to Bob?

[caveraider]

No the fat man filter would have stopped him. My sternum is still bruised from that squeeze.

[Chris Sharman]

Ah, wondered where you got bruised.
Fine trip, good write up

[Xandar]

Excellent write up very descriptive and likely useful for others wanting to repeat the trip. I would quite like to do that squeeze myself. By the way were we looking in the right place last time?

[Don]

We were. The place that we (you, me, Rob and Sharman) stopped before we turned around to head out – due to the heavy rain forecast for later that day – was the way on. If I remember correctly you and Rob checked out the flat-out crawl, while Sharman and I waited, but you didn’t think it was the correct way on. The Fat Man Filter (Chris K’s apt name for the squeeze) is definitely interesting. It took me a couple of tries to get through. Chris K is pretty brave to have gone through first.

[Author]

Posts