Cussey Pot
During Lockdown 2020 a new hole was spotted to draught bigger and stronger than any cave in the Peak. We dug it open and this is what happened....
Full description of the trip can be viewed here.
The current survey can be downloaded from here.
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- Written by: Jon Pemberton
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If I was a gambling man I would have put money on us breaking through tonight. With Luke bailing at the last minute it was down to Rob and I (TAP) to take the lead and do what we do best and take the glory! Plus it was the night before the Eldon AGM so it was almost a dead cert.
With Loper Lust still sumped the plan was for Rob to head down first with his small pump around 20 minutes before me so that the sump would be lowered when I arrived, meaning we could head straight to the sharp end and have a good dig with a view of possibly making the pub. We failed on this. I arrived at Loper Lust and there was approximately 10 cm of airspace. I headed straight through but once in the water the airspace thinned considerably meaning it was pretty much a free dive. We continued to lower the level of the sump by leaving the syphon going and headed off for Vulgarious.
Once at the dig face we took it in turns firstly to dig away the mud bank on the left. This gave us room to access the dig proper and a little dig in the floor underneath a projection of rock gave us proper access to the tube beyond. Now it got interesting. The dig was half full of liquid mud with a solid face in front. The route appeared to head left under a curtain of rock, but to access this we had to dig another foot forwards. Flat out in the tube was alright the first couple of attempts but it soon turned into a duck. Entering the tube created a bowel wave engulfing the whole dig face whilst submerging half of your own face which proved tricky. Exiting the dig with spoil in your hands was also tricky and it soon became obvious that the person behind had to drag their colleague from the dig by their feet whilst cupping all the spoil so it could be removed from the tube. Saying that by the time the spoil had been dragged through the water it was already slop and was useless for stacking or doing anything with other than adding to the height of the muddy duck.
It seemed like we'd almost given up due to the need of removing some of the liquid mud to make digging conditions more desirable. Rob jumped back in for one last look and armed with the hammer he pushed what mud he could to one side and bashed the rock curtain for further measure, he could now see clearly a bedding beyond with a potential way off to the right. He shouted back that he was going to go for it and after a few more scoops of chocolate he pushed through.
Comfortably he turned around after a brief look beyond and started to dig the constriction out for me to join him. After only a minute and a little more persuasion with the hammer, he shouted for me to join him nonchalantly. I wasted no time and started my way through the tube to the constriction. The passage seemed very similar to the long passage beyond For Buck's Sake. Once I was through the curtain all I could see were Rob's feet in front of me. Heading off to the right and after a couple of body lengths the passage opened up vastly. Here Rob was lying on his back grinning looking up at the roof towards nothing special. It was here I realised we'd done it!
Giggling Rob sat back up and we both look to head at the passage stretching off in front of us, only a couple of feet ahead. Could we see evidence that someone had already been here? A couple more feet down the passage and it was blatantly obvious that we had now entered The Stoney Middleton Master Cave! Rob now stormed off down the passage at a brutal pace and I try to follow my lamp being absorbed by the mud. Everything just looked dark. We came to a junction and the passage grew enormously. We were now in A Race Against Time passage and had hit our target from the survey precisely on the dot.
Giggling whooping jumping about and eventually submerging ourselves in the large pool of water in front of us. We couldn't believe it! It almost seemed too easy that we were now stood here. Passage to passage Vulgarious must be close to 80 m long! And it sure is a beast of a passage. After a brief celebration, now knowing we probably won't make the pub, it was time to reap our reward. We headed upstream towards Sump 2 and our next project which will take us to the Master Cave proper. This looked a glorious looking sump from the squalor we'd just come through. It seemed almost bizarre after crawling in mud for years that we'd find ourselves in a lovely clean washed streamway. The upstream sump is not far from the entrance to Vulgarious and after Rob had a quick dive we started to head downstream. This passage felt humongous and we stomped our way down it jumping in the pools until we met a collapse where the second passage headed off towards Cussey with further potential prospects for exploration. Here we first checked out a climb in the roof of a boulder choke. The root up was slippy, so 5 minutes worth of digging under the boulder gained us access to a further climb up to our goal. Here a further climb led to a drafting choke in the boulders whilst a bedding headed left, but again choked. At the base of the climb, a clean washed rift headed left which looks like an exciting prospect, albeit probably will link with something we already know.
With a check of the time we decided to head downstream and follow it to the Boil-up sump. The passage was beautiful, lovely, clean washed with the best shell bed I have ever seen in a cave. The passage seemed to go on and on but eventually feeling the fatigue from not crawling for a long while we found ourselves in the sump pool which leads to the boil up. Rob and I still savouring the breakthrough had a little lads moment here before before we eventually decided to head back out. We reached the junction of Vulgarious by 10:15 p.m. Vulgarious itself took 15 minutes to get through, then a further 30 minutes to exit the cave. Breaking surface around 11:00 p.m. after a quick wash we cracked open the beers and celebrated in style with an ice cold Hobgoblin.
Unfortunate that none of us had camera gear to capture any of this in real time, but only an after photo to show the emotion and the filth.
Another classic TAP trip in the bank and another one I'll never forget.
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- Written by: Rob Eavis
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Jon, Luke, RobE
In Cliffstile with a long pipe. Failed to drain LL. Short poke in Vulgarious. J & L out Cliffstile, Rob out LL.
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- Written by: Rob Eavis
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Team: KristianB, JonP, RobE
Prebeers, wetsuits, banter, and off we go. Jon’s first wetsuit-only trip down Cussey and he wholeheartedly agreed that it’s lush, although not great for the suit. This time we took in a 25m garden hose with the plan to syphon Loper Lust. I freedived through first, with it tied around my waist. Hilariously whilst underwater it started slipping down to my knees so I had to grab it with one hand whilst pulling myself forwards with the other. Silly game. Understandably Jon wasn’t keen to do the freedive as “it was not his cup of tea”, so Kristian came through to join me and we set about trying to get the syphon going.
The pipe was relatively easy to prime however the 1.5m of height the water had to lift was enough to suck the pipe flat. Mistake on my behalf, should have bought a more rigid pipe. Therefore only a trickle of water came through. We messed about for a while, straightening and shortening the pipe, but never got more than a trickle through. After a quick parlez with Kristian and I opt to dive back through and let Jon know the bad news. He was freezing by now and happy to just head out. I think he was just mostly sad because I’d won the £1 bet that it would be totally sumped. I dived back to Kristian and we set off to the Vulgarious dig.
The crawl to For Buck’s Sake is now pretty roomy all the way. Kristian went ahead and went straight into the next section, slightly not knowing what to expect. Surprisingly he went through without much issue, and with me behind with the small mattock we got it all “acceptable”. Certainly not roomy or pleasant, but that’s not why people will be coming here, so I think acceptable is good enough.
We then spent 30 minutes in the rift chamber digging away the bank at the start of the next phreatic tube. That was easy work, as I passed mud back to Kristian and he got to practise his netball throw getting the spoil as far back in the rift as possible. We dug enough into the tube to see what we’re up against ahead and it looks pretty similar to the rest of Vulgarious, so should be quite simple digging. Unfortunately the dig is now heading downhill with a little trickle flow into it. This means very quickly we were yet again in squalor. Also as we’re now on the shell bed the brachiopods in the roof will tear apart our wetsuits in no time!
It was 21:30 so we turn around. Back at Loper the syphon was issuing only a very small trickle, which meant it had done nothing useful to the sump level. We try briefly to get it going better and manage to stop it completely. Nevermind, next trip we’ll return with a stiffer pipe, and Jon will probably go the long way round; down Cliffstile and up the sough. On the surface by 22:20 and after a thorough clean in the Saltpan we make the Moon for a very pleasant pint.
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- Written by: Rob Eavis
- Hits: 1891
Team: RobE, RobM
Digging Vulgarious was the plan, it was only the when and who with that was up in the air. All was set for me n JonP for Wednesday night but he was coming down with a cold (which morphed into Covid 2 days later) so he cancelled late on. Delayed to Thursday with Kristian, but Kristian started coming down with an (as yet undetermined) lurgy so pulled out. Meanwhile RobM was supposed to be diving into SMMC with Mike but he pulled out Thursday morning, also feeling poorly. What’s happening to the world!? Meanwhile most of my family are testing positive but I’m feeling fine, so I ask RobM if he fancies risking it with me and we urm’d and ahh’d for a while then decided we were sufficiently psyched to give it a go regardless.
I was keen to see how wet Loper Lust was going to be, following the huge storm end of February, and was glad to see it actually not too bad. It was only a bit deeper than the last trip through with Joe, and still with airspace between the initial airbells [it would be really grim without this].
RobM came through and agreed it was fun but pointed out how committing it was, not being able to turnaround. He suggested next time we go through we syphon it, which is a great idea. Should hopefully then stay open for many months.
On to Vulgarious Bastard, where the water has done a lot to flush out most of the slop and even lower the passage near the end, which is a very welcome change. I was super keen to get pushing but first Rob made the entrance bigger whilst I lowered the trenchin For Buck’s Sake a little more. I then went for it, and it really is sloppy as! The top 4 inches has the consistence of warm jam but unfortunately none of its other qualities. Laying flatout I’d scoop up as much of it in my arms as I could then reverse back to Rob’s bigger bit where I could pass it below me, before moving forwards for another load. However it was a delicate manoeuvre as where Rob was the water was quite deep, so you had to be careful not to push some of that water back in with you.
A few more loads got me past a low arch and into slightly wider and (more importantly) slightly ascending passage. Here I was able to slide the (now peanut butter consistency) mud to the side and push forwards. Easy progress.
Normally I’d have probably dug this a bit bigger but ahead I could hear water flowing and an echo so I was getting just a wee bit excited. I push on into a tight bit, needing to corkscrew to get through, and the dry mud floor starts to lower slightly. I optimistically look for evidence of the divers, as they mention entering a passage very similar to this heading exactly this way. Could we possibly be at the SMMC already!?!
Now nearly hands and knees size, the passage completely baffles me as it pops out into the roof of a rift chamber! I shout back to Rob but he can hardly hear me. He’d struggled to negotiate the low arch without the water filling up in front so was digging it all out a bit bigger. Feeling the remoteness of my situation I carefully climb down the new rift. At the far end water enters from above but it looks to come from something small. At floor level the continuation of the phreatic passage continues to the left, but unfortunately it’s very full of hard mud; a draught whistling over the top showing this is indeed the main way on. A disappointing result, but at least we now have plenty of stacking space here and a renewed vigour now we’re ~20m closer.
I head back to RobM, who’s now been waiting patiently for too long. The corkscrew bit is still tight but the rest is manageable. I’m sure after a little bit more digging and few more people traversing it this place will be fine. When I get back to near For Buck’s Sake the watery, jammy slop was not the most pleasant and I realise this place is probably never going to be “fine”.
We make a hasty retreat, trying to bulldoze all the slop down and out of Vulgarious on the way. I go first at the Loper freedive, this time successfully using Joe’s technique of using the muddy ramp at the start as a headfirst slide, giving you a great initial push through. RobM follows me through, seemingly much happier this time than on the way in. Once on the surface we walk straight past the cars and go wallow in the Saltpan for ages to clean our filthy selves off.
So a superb trip really, and feeling lucky it even went ahead after so many illnesses in the team. Looking forward to the next trip, getting a few of us into the new rift chamber and seeing what this next passage is going to be like.
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- Written by: Joe Buck
- Hits: 1806
Present: Jon P, Rob E, Jim and Joe B
After last week’s disappointing discovery that Loper was sumped and the ensuing swift exit to the pub with our tails between our legs, Rob and I vowed to return, putting our bravest faces on to swim through. We met Jim and Jon in the car park, who were due to look around some of the nicer parts of Cussey. Jon and Rob were busy putting a wager on whether Loper would actually be sumped - Jon bet Rob a quid it wouldn’t…
Rob and I arrived in Inglorious Bastards chamber giddy with excitement and ready to find whether Rob was £1 worse off. Loper has opened out slightly now with many a trip being made through the connection - regardless, it is still a bit of a squeeze to get through. We were dubious about heading through with any extra baggage to get caught while we were underwater, so Rob devised a plan to clip the Disto pelicase to a kneepad round his ankle as a kind of quick-release system. Rob headed first into Loper to check it out.
Moments later, I could hear cussing and cries of, “it’s drafting!” Bad luck, pal. It seemed as though the water had dropped a couple of inches in the week since our last trip, which left a small airspace. Unfortunately, by the time you’re lying in the water, this was no longer the case. Rob sloshed his way to the last airbell, calmed his breathing down, and took the plunge through the body-length squeeze. I sat there in quiet anticipation as I listened to Rob bubbling and thrashing his way through, and finally heard an excited yell from the other side.
Now it was my turn to head through. Rob managed to wedge himself in the restricted passage on the other side so that he could attempt to film me as I emerged. He called through to let me know he was ready. I lay in the muddy pool, slithered my way to the airbell, took a couple of deep breaths, wondered what I had done wrong to end up here, before ducking into the water. Unfortunately, at this point, I completely forgot what size the passage was and didn’t turn my head to fit, managing to wedge my helmet against the floor and roof - not ideal. Luckily it’s quite soft mud and after what seemed like an eternity, I managed to force my helmet to the side and drag myself through. The results of Rob’s filming efforts are absolutely hilarious.
Once we’d both managed to stop laughing, we carried on down the bendy ladder and headed towards the dig. The Wet West passage leading up to Vulgarious had been slowly filling up with the sludge we were dumping, but after a few weeks of rain it did seem to have cleared slightly, or at least got rid of the finer silt. In Vulgarious the primary objective was to get a decent survey so we could be a little clearer about where we were actually headed. I went first and lay in the slop and, for want of anything else vaguely solid, Rob used my feet as transient survey stations. I lay still while he wriggled towards me trying to keep the Disto dry. I was just glad to be of some use!
The recent rainfall had caused the walls to start collapsing into the passage as the water carved its way though. This had happened previously, so it was to be expected and we could still just about squeeze past. Once we were through to the newly-discovered chamber, at the current extent, we realised that in our excitement we’d forgotten to grab the hammer and crowbar from the Wet West on the way though. Rob continued to survey the chamber while I set off to go and collect them.
Once I’d returned, we started to clear the channel in the floor to further lower the water level in the low-level continuation. This was reasonably successful, and we managed to clear some of the smaller boulders out of the way and dig a slot for the water to travel in. Unfortunately, some of the boulders were much larger than we could realistically tackle with a hammer. In any case, we managed to lower the water about another couple of inches. This just about allowed you to lie flat out and start to clear some of the slop out, albeit with one eye in the water and trying desperately not to snort water up your nose - very pleasant. I managed to make about a foot of progress like this, which just about allowed a view onwards round the corner. By this point I was getting a bit exhausted and so Rob went for a quick poke. He managed to get a better view and see that the passage appeared to be ascending slightly, which is good news.
Rob was off on holiday the following week, so we decided it would probably be ideal if we had more rain to help clear it out, and then we could hopefully return when the water is lower (cue biblical flooding, thanks Eunice). Feeling slightly more optimistic than we had coming into the trip, we decided it was probably time we should make our way out.
A swift escape out of Cussey and we reached the entrance pitch just in time to find Jon and Jim about to prussik out. They’d managed to make it to the top of NCA but the awkward squeeze barred any further progress. They’d then had a go at the other side through Coconut Airways, only to be once again halted by a tighter section, this time the Shattered Dreams squeeze. Jim was threatening to return with a hammer to see if he could force his way through. He also floated being lowered down head first because his “fish scales”(?!) would make it easier that way. Probably best not…