Ashwood Dale Resurgence
One of Derbyshire's largest risings, situated right next to the A6 east of Buxton. Whilst the lower risings next to the river level flow all year round, the main rising dries up each summer and issues a very large, cold draught, enough to tempt most cave diggers.
There is only one natural surface sink known to flow here, which is Illy Willy Water in Chelmorton. However a dye test from a shakehole near Hindlow Quarry (4.2km away) was proven to flow here in under 29 hours, suggesting a mostly vadose route...!
First mention of digging the site was in 1964 by one of Eldon's founding fathers John Needham. Since then it has been dug (a little bit) by at least 2 other Eldon teams to its current length of about 8m.
Up step TA...
Blog:
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- Written by: Jon Pemberton
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I was expecting worse...
Flat out capping and dragging back for 10m, but instead I promised a sunny, sociable outing from the team (Team Awesome). I met Joe at the lay-by as it was just us two for this weeks sesh. I offered Joe a pre-beer and in return he kindly offered me the use of his caving kit for my shift. Joe then told me about the dark sides of the dig... First up was a jog down the busy A6!
Joe took the first shift at the end and told me to just sit down, shurrup and listen to tunes. I decided to listen to a podcast, mainly so I could hear his screams from the end! I sat on the uncomfortable, uninviting floor, constantly having to bat off flies and mosquito's who had similar plans for a Wednesday evening. Every few minutes the cool draught would turn into smoky cap fumes, shortly followed by 'PULL!'
After an hour of solitude with my podcast nearly finished, Joe surfaced, removed his suit and ordered me to kit up and do my shift. I headed to the end and had a quick survey of the area. Firstly I had to clear away all the small shrapnel from the floor as the tightness of the passage forced these small protrusions to poke in various uncomfortable positions; like my back, hip or groin. The first cap was annoying, mainly just sussing out where I needed to be and how I needed to squint in order to avoid dust from the drill hole going in my eyes and throat.
Beyond the first cap the ball started to roll and progress became quick. But all good things come to an end and I reached a fairly fractured section of roof that wouldn't budge. Caps did nothing, the bar got stuck multiple times, then the chisel bit got stuck and I got seriously fed up. My little Johnny kitten arms were starting to ache! A brief pause, I decided to just go balls out and cap the crap out of it until it worked. Three shot holes later and a large section of the roof narrowly missed hitting me cap lamp, landing on the slope just in front of my face.
To this point I'd piled a load of rocks all around me, as dragging and filling the tray was problematic at best! 5 or 6 kibbles later I shouted down to Joe asking him for a plan and immediately received a 'GET OUT!' My attempts to place the packed drill back in the kibble for a return trip to surface seemed futile in the tiny space provided. After some shouting, bag now in bucket, Joe pulled it back and I backed up and surfaced into darkness! It was gone 10pm and all that was left to do was run for our lives back up the A6 in the dark.
Great fun, would definitely go again...
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- Written by: Joe Buck
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Another quick smash on ADR. This time we managed to drag Jim along too. Jim was very confused about what gear to wear and ultimately ended up completely loosing the plot and forgetting all his personal possessions. Chris had first shot and eventually resurfaced announcing that he’d got the bar stuck, and consequently it was my turn… I removed it with my sneaky pocket spanner and continued on the loose left hand side.
After about an hour it was just about possible to view into the space beyond. It looks incredibly low and will be tedious capping. It’s possible to see about 3m in front before the rising calcite floor begins to drop again out of view.
Jim was enjoying the sun and tunes on the surface and so politely declined to do any digging. We did however convince him to get and do some socials content, which mostly comprised filming the ceiling as he crawled back out again
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- Written by: Joe Buck
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Chris, Luke, Joe and Rob
Ashwood Dale’s proximity to Luke’s house meant we were treated to a rare outing from him. We tried to cram three cars in the small layby, but with Rob due to join later on he’d have to find his own spot. Neither Luke nor Chris were particularly enthused by the horrendous walk up the A6, as we desperately tried to avoid being flattened by a lorry, but the comfortable and sociable dig entrance more than makes up for it.
I went first at the face and continued chiselling out blocks from the fractured roof, which seems to be a kind of thin hading bedding. I made about a foot of progress as we shuttled the kibbles back round the awkward corner about halfway down the cave. Three was the perfect number as it required one person to remain in the middle and negotiate it round the corner without it getting caught up.
Chris and Luke took over next and we all rotated so I could sit in the sun and drink beer and chat to Rob, who had now arrived. The boys made excellent progress and eventually emerged with some big blocks out of the corner so that the kibble could just about make it all the way through without the need for someone in the middle.
Luke took over next and I sat behind him backseat digging and providing little to no help. Unfortunately, possibly due to the relentless heavy chiselling, my drill began making a horrendous crunchy noise, which I don’t think it’s supposed to do. Weirdly, it sounded absolutely fine when drilling, and only made the noise when on hammer only. With capping being painfully ineffective in the shattered rock, we were forced to call it a night and head for our new favourite pub in Taddington, miles away from Luke’s house.
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- Written by: Rob Eavis
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I've not even really thought about this place since a single digging trip here in 2012 with Dan, however some recent dye testing work i've been doing has had me visiting this site every week since March. Come early June the flow stopped and shortly after the large(!) draught started. I didn't remember that it draughted so this certainly piqued my interest. Last week i popped in for a look to find it clean, dry and very short, making it a great summer dig!
Just me and Joe for the first hit, armed with a set of capping gear each. Joe hit the face first whilst i tidied up the rest of the passage to make it suitably ready for abuse. The end is very shattered, possibly from the previous diggers using large pills, so mostly it needed SDS chiselling, and lots of it. Progress was rapid. On a whim i had brought a drag tray and rope and i was glad.
After an hour or so we swapped and i got to play. I like capping but productive chiselling is nearly as much fun. I got loads out of the roof, much of it falling on me it was so loose, and the trays kept filling. A 110v breaker would probably be quicker but a pain to manoeuvre in there. Hilariously the draught was blowing so strong in our faces that our eyes and lungs were filled with drill dust; maybe full face masks next time!?
By the end of the session we had made probably a metre of sizeable new passage, much more than i had expected. Unfortunately from our new vantage point the path ahead looks to continue very tight for a good while, so hopefully we can continue to achieve similar progress over the next few trips.
Headed to the Queens Arms in Taddington to an brilliant pint (22, by Dancing Duck Brewery) and warm pork scratchings. Lush.
Such a nice summer dig
Scary roots in the roof
The face