[Don]

I’ll be able to remember if we do the trip sometime fairly soon (i.e. the next few weeks or so). After that, I can’t make any promises… I’m definitely up for doing the trip again whenever you guys are up for it. It’s definitely in the top three most fun trips I’ve ever done.

[Don]

Interesting trip report. This makes the third failed attempt by Black Rose members to bottom the cave. Granted the first two attempts were a failure on my part (at the right hand bend just past the stal at the top of the rift passage). Scaife made it through though. But this trip report isn’t about us – it’s about you and Dunc.

[Don]

To be fair, at each junction we encountered you did let Sharman and I decide for ourselves which direction we should go (even though you knew the correct way). It’s unfortunate that Sharman and I not once chose the correct way on. That’s why you’re my hero. You got us in and out in one piece.

[Don]

That’s your idea of a trip report?!!! There are so many exciting moments that you forgot to mention, though now that I think about it, I can’t actually remember any…

[Don]

AND OWN A NEO HOOD. Yes, my thoughts exactly!

[Don]

The water level of the duck was definitely higher than I expected. You could tell from the still visible foam that the ‘duck’ must have been sumped a couple of days beforehand. It would have been very difficult to do on one’s back unless you’re nose was literally touching the ceiling and someone guided you through.

Definitely a trip for a day when it hasn’t rained for at least a week beforehand.

[Don]

Who were the three (apart from yourself)?

[Don]

Hardy har har. No, it doesn’t.

[Don]

Nope. Why? What’s wrong? What symptoms do you have?

[Don]

No, he’s insulting me simply because he’s a d***. He doesn’t need an excuse. A d*** with a sick and twisted mind.

[Don]

You ALSO forgot to mention the in-situ traverse line at the top of the final 6m pitch that led around a corner into what was presumably North Chamber. I was the only member of Team Tiger brave enough to follow the traverse line into a passage full of very pretty, massive straws, some of which were at least 10’+ or longer.

You ALSO forgot to mention that there were several dangerous flood pulses as we were exiting the cave.

[Don]

Mike – Considering some of the things I’ve seen members of this club do in caves, I didn’t blink an eye when I read your statement that ‘you pop out just near the wetness leading to the dumps’. I figured it was just an accurate description.

Carol – A trip to Swinsto later in the year sounds like an excellent idea. It’s a fantastic trip.

[Don]

Maybe that’s for the best.

[Don]

Sounds like a very romantic trip. Did you Dan hold hands and cuddle while watching the snow dancing in the wind, creating a pink haze in front of the beautiful deep red sunset?

[Don]

It was definitely an enjoyable trip. One of my favourites so far. I wouldn’t have minded pushing the duck if a) I was wearing a neo-fleece, b) it wasn’t the middle of winter with snow everywhere, which would have made for an even colder walk back to the car, and c) we had known just how long the canal passage/duck was as it seemed to go on forever. I’m pretty sure the others felt the same way about the above points. Maybe so, maybe not.

I should point out that I wasn’t *trying* to make Mike look like an asshole in the above report. He curses all the time anyway (or cusses, as people say where I grew up), so cursing at, or rather in the general direction of, Chris K and Sharman was nothing out of the ordinary. And we were all very tired by the time we got to the Second Pitch. If I was Chris K and Sharman I would have just left Mike and me with the bags and taken off. Fortunately they’re more considerate than that.

[Author]

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