[Don]

The long duck was by far the most challenging, and longest, duck that I’ve ever done. There really is no room (literally) for error or panic in that section of the cave. Much easier going out than in.

[Don]

I’m glad that you were finally able to visit old Calamine, as I know you’ve mentioned it a number of times over the years as a potential wet weather option. Was the cave full of gloppity red mud? I seem to recall having read somewhere once that the cave is notorious for leaving visitors, well, extremely dirty.

How long it did take you to explore every nook and cranny?

[Don]

You’ll just have to wait for the journal, Chris (Shaman).
*,

[Don]

The rope down to the y-hang was fine. The rope after that… not so much.

Why is your stop on the wall?

[Don]

I think it was too wet. I was aware that you only had to descend a few meters, but the water was right in my face when I tried to go down. One day…

[Don]

That place seems to switch owners every year and a half or so. They’ve completely refurbished the inside since I was last there about four or five months ago. I don’t like it. It had a cozy feel previously. They’ve taken up the carpet and the comfy plush cushion benches attached to the wall that they used to have and replaced them with chairs. They also got rid of the two booths they used to have and have replaced them with small, tall tables with high, backless chairs. The place feels and looks like a gastro pub, which is what they’re going for, I guess. It was certainly busier than I’d ever seen it.

Don’t know how the beer selection, as I don’t drink beer. All I care about is atmosphere.

[Don]

I don’t think the gravitas of the third pitch (including the squeeze immediately preceding) was described in a sufficient manner. A couple of people, I can’t remember who exactly, had quite a bit of difficulty getting down this pitch. One of them, someone who whose name reminds me of a girl I once knew who was quite bitchy, had a right leppy on the way out.

[Don]

Did you both make it through The Narrows without too much faff (i.e. no swearing from Alex)?

[Don]

Sorry that I couldn’t join you. At least I have a new car now, so hopefully I won’t have to worry about the anti-pollution fault warning light coming on every time I drive down to Ingleton.

[Don]

Good write up, Alex. This was one of the most enjoyable trips that I’ve done for a long time, in terms of challenges, though there was nothing really difficult. Still, it’s not often that you get to exit a skydive straight above a pitch. The only other place that I can think of where I’ve had to do this before is the exit from Roly Poly passage in Peterson Pot.

It’s worth mentioning the rigging for the second laddered pitch into the Hall of Eleven. This consists of two, rusty in-situ plates joined by a ratty piece of tat. The lifeline was belayed to a stalagmite at shoulder level about 15-20 feet back from the pitch head. We used our own sling in place of the tat that was already there, with the ladder and rope rigged directly from the sling, not from the rusted plates.

Having looked at the picture of us in Hall of the Eleven, I’m very glad that I washed my oversuit in the stream when we got back to Bull Pot Farm.

[Don]

Finally, someone who appreciates this.

[Don]

I hope no one takes any of your statements out of context, Alex. Otherwise they’ll wonder just what we got up to on the trip:

‘John decided he was ready for it. I advertised it on the forum and Don decided he was up for it too.’

‘For Don, he approached it correctly at the bottom and feet first too.’

‘We encouraged him to give a go and wriggle. Wriggle he did, more like a beached whale more than jellied eel but he still made progress. For something so tight he did well.’

‘Once in, where it is still quite tight, Don was not happy and shouted “help me” a few times, which where he was now was completely impossible unless he wanted pushing back through, plus John was eating a brownie at the time.’

[Don]

Post them here if you can.

[Don]

Good trip report. And it’s nice to see some pictures included with a report for once. There are a few minor errors though. The first cave we visited, where we had to hammer a metal stake into the ground as a belay, was actually Catamite Hole. Lord’s Top Hole is the name of the second cave we visited with the large open hole and 100 foot scaffolded shaft.

I found a bit more background information on the history of the excavation of Lord’s Top at the two links below:

http://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=8510.0
http://mudminers.org/category/three-counties-area/kingsdale/east-kingsdale/lords-top-hole/

Still can’t find any information about Catamite Hole though…

The third hole we dropped was Belvedere Pot. We also did a bit of digging at the bottom of a very deep shakehole just east of Belvedere Pot. I believe this might be the location of Thunder Thighs Hole, though if it is then it’s currently partially blocked. We dug here for ten minutes or so but it would take some real work to get in as there is a large boulder precariously positioned currently blocking access. It looks very promising beyond though.

All in all it was a great day out. Even though we didn’t do much actual caving, it was fun exploring the shakeholes and using innovative rigging techniques to get in the caves.

[Don]

Yes, there was a lot of swearing from me, particularly when my finger got smushed when we tried to move that rock in East Bank Cave. I regret now that I didn’t attempt the squeeze facing the same wall you did. It just didn’t occur to me at the time. Probably because it would have taken a bit of effort to reverse back to the rift and turn around so that I was facing the correct wall. Having something to push off would have made a lot of difference. Maybe we should go back? WIHOUT tackle this time.

[Author]

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