Tuesday Nighters out on a Thursday July 21st
We met up with another group at the Substation at seven. It was decided to go in two groups due to the numbers. I also heard a vague mention that another two Eldon members might be in Carlswark somewhere . Our group was led by Katie and included myself, Hal and Julian. Bernie joined the second group and they descended down Flower Pot Entrance while we took the Eyam Dale Shaft. It was nice to descend down the rope and trustingly leave our gear as we planned to take the route out the Gin entrance. It made the difference in the tight squeezes along the way. I was excited to see more of Carlswark than I have previously as it had been a particularly dry month allowing us to get down to the Big Dig easily. The formations down along John Smith’s Passage were impressive-like giant dragons’ teeth and into Shag’s sump. I heard that sump didn’t work out so well for Shag, but it was definitely worth seeing. Popping up from a crawl into a few strangely placed gnomes was a surprise. I in no way condone anything to do with garden gnomes in any way. We met up with Jim and Sam who had been plotting a jump scare on us but thankfully we averted that .I am sure if I had made their acquaintance in the dark the lack of moisture wouldn’t have been an issue for me. After a brief chat we all followed out to the Gin Entrance and our gear was still able to be collected. We met the other group along the road and headed to the Anchor. It was great to sit with ten other cavers who had another great night out caving ..again.
