Part 1 - Pussey to class style (Tuesday 10th August 2021)
(Rob M, Helen F, Jeff W)
As we had done relatively few tourist trips it only seemed right after request from Rob and Helen to take them into Cussey to see our new discoveries. After some discussions with the rest of the group it was deemed that a through trip from Cussey and out of Cliffstile would be the easiest route, however as we would find out this would not be the case. The trip started well and off we went, Helen, Rob and I down through Cussey soon reaching Inglorious Bastards and then on through the connection crawl and into doom beneath. Off on down we went into the lower parts of Cussey to eventually go and explore Diceman recently discovered the other week prior, which is an impressive rift and at its end clearly the bottom of Rocky Horror. From here we headed on down the sough to take the way out of Cliffstile.
Unfortunately our best laid plans of knowing that Cliffstile was the first obvious climb up out of the sough level, we could not find the ropes and we all searched around in every chamber that we came across. Eventually we had expended all possibilities heading downstream until we finally found the Rose Cottage ladder going up. This was disheartening because it meant that everything we had checked must’ve had at some point the Cliffstile entrance and exit ropes going up.
At this point we only had one option to go back upstream which wasn’t a great proposition now having walked for the best part of half an hour in chest deep water in just our furrys. Once again we checked the open spaces above the sough level for the ropes going up. Once again we couldn’t find the Cliffstile rope. We now knew we had a good two hours of caving to get out via the way we came in. At this point the person shall remain nameless who suggested that we do Cussey to Cliffstile, whereas originally we were advised Cliffstile to Cussey probably because of this very reason and the difficulty of finding the way out without having done this route previously, or at least many years ago.
So back up the sough we went and slowly made our way out of Cussey. Thankfully Rob had set a callout for the morning which meant we had ample time to go back out even with it being a less than encouraging prospect.
On reaching coconut airways Rob turned to me and said "I’m amazed you’ve all managed to spend an entire year in here". Rob is quite right on this front, as Cussey Pot isn’t a cave that gives its nature to easy caving, it is physical, muddy and also deserves a certain amount of respect for the looseness in places and difficulty in climbing some parts, it’s got character shall we say. Eventually we reached the surface it was something like 2 am in the morning, well beyond our original plan and we had definitely missed the pub. At this point we set ourselves a goal that we would go back via the Cliffstile entrance so that we were sure where it landed in the sough. We were pleased to be out with sweets and drinks in hand. All in all it was a good seven hours underground for a week day evening trip, which was a bit much even for us.
Part Deux - Class style bounce (Thursday 19th August 2021)
(Rob M, Helen F, Jeff W)
After the previous failed trip to find Cliffstile, this time we would head back via the Cliffstile entrance to go in and out the same way with a plan to go and have a look at the boil up sump. Rob was particularly keen to go and check this out due to its prospects as a potential dive. Myself and Helen were keen to go along for the tourist trip, and I think I had been there many years ago, but I'd forgotten as it had been quite some time.
Heading down Cliffstile, it’s an impressive shaft ginged very well at the top and generally clean with some areas of stacked deads where care is required to pass. On arriving at the bottom Rob was into the next chamber, Rob turned to me and said "Jeff I know where we are and it was the one that you checked on the previous trip". However Rob agreed that it wasn’t obvious to find the way up as it was under a shelf and to get to the rope up to Cliffstile was a vertical slot up which was not obvious from the first chamber. Obviously I was quite frustrated by this as I’ve literally been five or six metres away from the bottom of the ropes.
Once back at the bottom of the shaft, Helen, Rob and I all headed up the sough to go to the boil up. It was an interesting trip to see this part mined and natural level which none of us had really been to before. In getting closer to the boil up it was clear that this passage took a lot of water in certain conditions and this natural source of energy had been exploited by the miners in the past based on the piping in place. Trying to make sense of the survey which was quite basic, as is often the case for mined passages, we were pretty sure we had found the boil up and this gave a starting point for Rob for his future potential dives. On the way back heading away from the boil up and prior to the final brick walled dam, a small natural passage at low level headed off looking like a sink for when the boil up is in flood. I headed down this tube to have a look which contorted itself left and right, a little bit larger than body size, which went for the best part of 20 metres without much effort. As I was on my own I left it there as it was quite constricted at the end, so I did not want to push it too hard, with the prospect to come back and complete it another time.
Speaking to Rob Eavis once back on surface he had been into this 10 years prior, but it was still yet to be surveyed so this remained on the list to complete.
The way back to Cliffstile and the short trip out was refreshing for the team after the previous arduous one. It was nice to reach the surface and not feel completely destroyed after such a tourist trip, this gave us confidence again in our navigation to say the least. Rob M after this récé trip is now keen to head back and complete a dive so it’s likely we will be returning soon.