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Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 30 May 2025

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Team: Luke, Joe, Rob

This trip was an urgent pop to the bottom sump in Winnats to remove a depth logger for Prof John Gunn. It took priority over our Slack Hole dig as the logger had to be removed and put into East Canal before Tuesday (that’s Monday’s trip sorted!). Although I think the main driver was it was a bit wet n windy and someone didn’t fancy a surface dig….

Pre-beers whilst sheltered inside the cars followed by a quick scratch of heads about how much rope was probably needed, and we were off. Two bags between 3 we were pretty efficient and were soon enjoying how big Fox Chamber is. Joe picked a random route of the many into the choke below and it seemed to work ok. We arrived at the infamous bent wood (ooo err) just as Joe asks us to be quiet as it seems to be cracking. TBH it is pretty bent and could do with replacing, although I can’t understand why after being flagged up 15 months ago it still hasn’t been done. Seems like it’d be an easy fix, maybe needs an Awesome team on it?

Anyways, straight on down to enjoy how clear the big sump pool is, even with Jack stirring it up last week. The sewer seemed a little tighter than normal, especially for Luke who needed a little emotional support. Once through I enjoy the pitches up, feels like some good, solid, Peak Cavern caving.

Through to the pitches down I quickly deliberate with Joe about who’s going to rig. I figure mine would be shitter and slower than his so I get on with it, placing a pre-emptive “I don’t care” to the others about how bad my rigging is. They seemed to take my pre-emption correctly and didn’t moan much, apart from on the last pitch when I used Joe’s tackle bag as a deviation.

Down the last pitch I shuffle out over the sump to find it 10m lower than last time i was there! I derig the depth logger and take some disto measurements whilst desperately trying not to fall down, then head back. Luke had already left us for dead so I follow him up leaving Joe to try to derig my crap rigging. All actually went uneventfully and we caught up with Luke once back through the sewer. Our route up into Fox Chamber was marginally improved and we dragged our sweaty arses to the surface after just over 2 hours underground.

Tea and medals in the Anchor to celebrate a very enjoyable evening.

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Written by: Chris Hibberts

Published: 16 May 2025

Hits: 447

15/05/2025

Team: Joe, Jon & Chris

Following a trip into the Merlins 2 days prior Katie Eavis had reported that...

"On the way out whilst crawling past the connection crawl to Gimli's dream/ through to Carlswark a microwaved sized boulder fell out of the roof and landed on one of our group. With some wriggling and assistance from the person behind we managed to get the rock off the caver.

However it was now blocking the crawl for the 4 people behind!

The only way to get past it was to drop the offending rock into the low crawl through to Gimli's dream, and it is still there.

It may be possible to wriggle it out of the hole, and back to the base of the climb or a couple of caps would make the problem more manageable.

So for now the way to the Merlins streamway is passable (keep an eye on the roof though!) however the way to Gimli's dream/ the Carlswark connection is blocked.
After getting passed the fallen boulder I had a reasonable look at the remaining roof, and in my opinion, it looks ok - this rock moving doesn't seem to have de-stabilised the surrounding rocks - however keep a close eye on if passing that way!"

Enter Team Awesome!!

Jon, Joe and I met in the Flower Pot layby at 6:15 with the plan to rectify the boulder issue then explore the upstream sumps at the end of Merlins. A quick fashion parade from Joe showing off his new furry suit and pre beers had us right in the mood and after kitting up and sorting the capping gear we were off.

Joe's new duck furry - Photo by Jon P

The route down to the connection was straight forward with Joe leading the way, he was soon into the thick of it trying to kick the large boulder out of the roof with great determination. After a couple of minutes and with some convincing from Jon and myself Joe admitted defeat and decided it needed capping. It really was a stubborn boulder taking 5-6 double caps to obliterate it into manageable chunks. Some of these were still rather sizeable and the electron ladder we bought had to be used to haul them out.

Now with only 4 caps left Joe had to take care of the rock that had previously fallen into the Crawl to Gimli’s Dream.  Fingers crossed he could break it up enough to get it out as TA don’t do failure and a return trip would defo get some criticism from the rest of the gang. Joe drilled the hole set the caps and with a couple of whacks of the capping bar….. ‘one bombed it’!! “It was a good Job I put 3 caps in” Joe chirped up.

With the way on clear and impending doom removed from the roof we could now go and have some fun. The period of dry weather allowed us to pass sumps 1 – 4 and allowed us to explore some incredible passage in between, if felt very much like Carlswark in places and the shell-bed and formations were fantastic. We had a mooch up some small side passages which lead to nowhere, Joe tried to post himself up an extremely tight rift off to the left after sump 3, which looked to open up above, this turned out to be too tight and he retreated. Maybe a return with some caps could allow him to get through. We finally reached Sump 5 which Jon informed us was quite low but was not free diveable, so we turned back and took the opportunity to get some photos of the passage in between the Sumps (photo’s to follow).

Merlins Streamway, photos by Jon P

Photogay done, if was time for the pub and with the route clear it didn’t take long to get out, even though I did have a bit of a wobble at the top of the climb up on the way out and had to be coaxed over the rift by Joe.

It’s always nice exiting in the warmer months and makes getting changed much more pleasant. Post beers and snacks (including the last bag of out of date display pork scratchings) were enjoyed by all in the Moon Inn.

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Written by: Victoria Kocher

Published: 19 April 2025

Hits: 558

Jess, Julian, Steve, Grace and Victoria

I hadn’t been out in a few weeks so it was great the find the email for a Tuesday Nighters trip into P8. One of my favourites especially now that we have had some good weather. We met at the usual spot and paid our fee to the farmhouse.

Steve and Julian had gone on first to start rigging. How kind!! The rest of us girls headed over and headed in. The stream was low as we haven’t had much rain recently so it wasn’t the usual rush of water in the entrance. Once inside we clambered through. I always stop to take some photos as it really is a beautiful cave. It has a bit of everything, some climbing, some rope work and fun traversing.

Photos by Victoria Kocher

Grace points out she has the shortest legs but finds her way to climb everything. We made it down to the far sump and took a good look around. Some side passages were sumped but everything looked good inside. We began a steady pace back out and made it out into the darkness.

Jess had advised me to leave my car keys safely by the cave and not tucked under some random shrub where they might be detected. We walked across the fields with our head torches shining off the reflections from the sheep with their lambs. Nearly back to the road and *!!** who forgot their keys at the cave entrance!! So back I go…. With Jess’s last words to me being…” Sucks to be you!”. Thanks for the advice Jess. It was a good night….

Victoria