Details

Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 11 April 2013

Hits: 4470

Report by Jim Thompson
Cavers: Bog (EPC), Pete Pollard (EPC), Nige Strong (EPC), Jim Thompson (EPC)

I’d decided it would be a good idea to get back down the lower series and have a decent look round, considering that I had been in Bagshawe about 30 times in the last 10 months, and only been in the Lower series once, when Stick showed Mike and I round on our first visit. I thought it would also be a good idea to have some background knowledge of the route before taking a couple of hot women down there in a few weeks time. Well, somebody’s got to do it!
It was to be Bog’s first time in the lower series, and I thought it would be a good opportunity for Pete to be introduced to Bagshawe too. Mr Strong made up the team, and I felt slightly relieved that someone else had turned up who would know the way round. Or not, as it turned out…..

We descended the steps down to the Dungeon, taking it slowly as I tried to show Pete all the bits of prettiness on the way down, the mined vein and the stemples in the roof, and we made a short detour into Calypso cave too. Upon reaching the Dungeon, Bog and Nige dropped the ladder down the pitch while I explained the morphology of the cave passage to Pete and told him about the dig. He looked unimpressed (about the dig not the cave)! At this point it may have been sensible to go down the ladder and check that the way out of the Dungeon was clear, but, eager to get caving we shot off back up the steps into Agony crawl. It’s strange how cave all seems straightforward and linear to me whenever I’m following someone. When I’d been here with Stick many months ago, I hadn’t paid any attention to the various possible directions in this low bedding. I squeezed on in the most likely looking direction, finding the going much tighter than I remembered it. At a little hole, I squeezed through and found myself wondering why lights had been fitted through here, away from the main cave passage. Hmm, actually, this was the main passage. Duh! I reversed the squeeze and Nige took the lead. We soon found ourselves dropping through the hole in the roof, the Hayloft, and we were finally in the Lower series at last. I knew that in order to reach the other exciting parts down here, the way on was to the right, so off we went, through Prospero’s cave, at one point stopping to admire the really metallic looking chert splattered all over the limestone. It isn’t really splattered, but looks like a load of metal melted amongst the rocks. We eventually reached another familiar sight- a big iron bar sticking out of the wall on the right. This was the entrance to Straw cave. I’m not sure how Straw cave got its name, probably something to do with farming I expect. The cave is a bit of a low crawl, decorated very nicely on the right hand side by a lot of straw stalactites and columns. From here, a climb down some calcited blocks leads down to a lake, and just beyond this a small stream flows in and away down the passage. We followed the stream, and entered a just lower than walking height, very straight phreatic tube. I think from looking at the survey that this may have been heading north, but I couldn’t be certain. Either way it ended in another pool of water. Nigel walked into this and nearly disappeared up to his neck!

It had become apparent by this time however, that we weren’t heading for the Dungeon. We headed back towards the phreatic tube, not really sure where we were or which was the way on to the Dungeon. We went round in circles, looking here and there, and following various prints in the mud and the polished flow and broken stal on the floor, to no avail. I took the leader’s role and decided we were going to retrace our steps back to Prospero’s cave because I had suddenly remembered, that the Dungeon was in the opposite direction to Straw cave! Feeling more confident now, I opted for the sporting route and went through the lake, having to go chest deep in the water, howling and panting with the cold. I thought we’d better find our way out now or we’ll be freezing! We passed a couple of features recalled from the way in, and appeared back next to the iron bar- right, now we were back on track. I headed straight off in the opposite direction to the one we had arrived in, finding a stooping sized, water-worn passage, the dark limestone being intersected by white bands. After some distance, the passage became muddy and gritty, and evidence of recent water flow showed on the mud’s surface. This then led to a steep bank of deep mud, which dropped into a scummy brown pool. Ah, the Dungeon! Sh*t! The water was up to the roof and not looking at all inviting. We should have gone down the ladder first! Oh well, off we went back up to Agony crawl, me going first through the hole in the roof as by this time Nigel’s lamp had failed. The crawl was just as enjoyable on the way out, and we were soon back in the main passage. We returned for the ladder, and Pete and I climbed down to see the water, up to the roof on this side too. When I bent to pick up the ladder at the top, my knee gave an almighty crack, which everyone thought was a rock or something, and I writhed in pain for a few seconds, before I’d realised there wasn’t any. In spite of this, I was feeling great after such an interesting trip, where we had managed to get a good look at a lot of the cave- it was probably a good thing that we’d been slightly disorientated for a while. I went at a run through the rest of the passage and stormed up the steps, not feeling knackered at all, which makes a nice change. We adjourned to the White Hart, where the beer was as welcome and refreshing as ever!

Details

Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 11 April 2013

Hits: 4430

Report by Jim Thompson
Cavers: Steve (Stik) Rider (EPC), Jase Rider (EPC), Pete Pollard (EPC), Carl (Bog) Bergmann (EPC), Jim Thompson (EPC)

A few of us met at the Knotlow triangle for a fun little trip in Hillocks Mine. The idea was to give Pete a bit of SRT practice, and for me, at least, it came in pretty useful too. The way we rigged everything meant that all 3 pairs present could do a couple of different through trips. Bog and I initially rigged and dropped the Whalf Engine shaft, meeting up with the rest at the bottom junction. Nigel and Pete rigged the Whalf climbing shaft whilst Stick and Jase had come in via the ladder pitch and climbers. We said hello and passed each other on our way back out.
From there, one team went back up the engine shaft, another up the Whalf climber, and Bog and I out via the climbing route and old coffin level (apparently the longest of it’s kind) to the oil drum entrance. We bumped into Lee Langdon from the Masson CC who showed us the way as I wasn't sure I could remember it, although I did as it turned out. The climbs back up the hand picked shafts were thrutchy little affairs and great fun.

Back at the top we passed Pete and Nige who were just making their way into the oildrum entrance, and I then dropped the Whalf climbing shaft, passing Nigel's frugal rebelays with interest! It seems however that the others had viewed my 'extended Y hang' with similar surprise!
Once down, I jugged back up the 180m engine shaft, cursing Bog who had wisely elected to wait for me at the top! The fine free hanging pitch which was a breeze to abseil down on the way in, is a bit trickier to get back up- the rope boings all over the place making prusiking a tiring effort. Eventually however, I reached the top where Bog was waiting, and expertly climbed up the ginging past my perfectly rigged Y hang, wondering what the rest were on about. If there had been no holds in the ginging I suppose it would have been a different matter…. Oh well, I knew that in the first place!

Once derigged, we were met by Stick and Jase who had already got changed and were wondering where we'd got to. In the end it turned out that we had been quicker than Pete and Nige, who had got confused in the mine and done a couple of circles before finding their way back to the shaft and getting out. Once we saw steam coming out of the shaft and heard voices, we knew they were on their way, so Stick and Jase left us to it as they had to get home. I ran back to the car as I was freezing in my damp suit, following the previous night’s dig in Bagshawe. Luckily for us, we just got to the Bull's Head in Monyash at 1 minute to 11, but the kind landlady let us stay for a couple anyway. As usual, it was well appreciated after that long, bouncy climb out of the engine shaft!

Details

Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 11 April 2013

Hits: 4521

Report by Jim Thompson
Cavers: Carl (Bog) Bergmann (EPC), Jim Thompson (EPC)

It was with not inconsiderable deliberation that Bog and I finally managed to get out caving today. The original plan was to get out early and drop Nettle down Crumble and Beza pots, as a useful bit of rigging practice for both of us, especially since noone else would be there to offer advice- if we f**ked up we’d have to unf**k ourselves. Unfortunately, the snow on the ground in Sheffield thwarted our plans, and us thinking that the car would end up stuck if it snowed again and we ended up taking 8 hours over the trip. That and the fact that, being a lazy sod, I didn’t really want to have to get out of bed that morning either!

The thing was, I hadn’t even had a beer the night before, thinking I didn’t want to be caving with a hangover, so by the time I got out of my bed, I was A: cursing that I’d wasted the chance to get hammered for the millionth time over the holidays, and B: since I hadn’t got hammered, wishing that we had gone caving after all, since I’d spoken to Sam earlier who said he’d never known Winnats Pass to be shut for snow in his entire life!

Finally, one phone call and a lot of umming and ahhing later, we set out to do a quick trip round Giant’s, which was great cos I wanted to test out my new wetsuit. Except when we got to Peakshill farm, it looked like we’d never get the car back up the track if it snowed!!!! We decided to park on the grass verge, so Bog drove down to the track by Eldon quarry to turn round, and muttered something about Sidetrack.

That was it! Never mind Giant’s which would be freezing and wet, let’s do Sidetrack! I’d always been a bit disappointed about this one, as everyone else had been through it (or at least tried to) on the day I got stuck in Luton, so I still wanted to have a look. I’d read Robbie’s account of it in the mag, and seen the pictures, and thought it would be nice to see some relatively unspoilt cave (to get in practice for the forthcoming discoveries in Bagshawe ;-)).

I was a little nervous, as earlier in the year Bog and Mike had backed off thinking the entrance passages too tight, and not knowing what lay ahead, they thought it better to be cautious. Still, I wanted to measure myself, plus we’d already abseiled onto the bench in the corner of which the cave entrance lies. And I’d just got changed in the snow, so I wasn’t going through that again in a hurry!

I headed first into the low entrance, a phreatic tube heading into the quarry face and half full of dryish mud- luckily the winter had brought drippers which meant I could slide quite easily along the initial section. The mud suddenly banked up and I headed over into the tighter section ahead. This necessitated removing my helmet, and thinking back to the advice JT had given me months earlier, about how to negotiate tight passage. Although tight, in places tight enough to trap my chest, I made good progress until I reached an enlargement of the passage, lightly decorated with white stal, in which I could turn round and call to Bog that it was OK. He had been waiting at the entrance to see if I got stuck first!

What I didn’t realise until later was, that Bog was feeling nervous and unsure about carrying on- and in those initial squeezes, so was I. I didn’t mention it though as I didn’t want to spoil Bog’s trip- good job neither of us said anything or we may have been back in the pub much sooner! I called back and reassured him that it was nothing, which looking back it really wasn’t, but that nagging thought in the back of my mind for most of the way through the tight bits was ‘what if it gets much tighter- can I really do this?’.

We both made progress along the low tube, emerging into what I think was a larger section of it, however the mud had settled in a ridge right through the middle, making progress slightly awkward due to the narrowing at the edge, however I found that by hooking my right leg and arm over the hump, I could pull myself along quite nicely, so I called back for Bog to do the same.

The passage got slightly more comfortable, i.e. I could get my helmet back on and start crawling properly along it- I’ve been trying to stay off my front recently and just crawl on toes knees and elbows, and I was soon zooming along in a comfortable rhythm, slowing down and taking great care not to damage any of the impressive straws and other formations which were beginning to adorn the ceiling. I began wondering whether the place would become wrecked with an increase in traffic, and the philosophical debate started up in my head, how could such a situation be rationalised?

In spite of being head down, trying to keep up the pace, there was one point when an unmistakeable cold draught hit me right on the cheek. I stopped for a rest and to listen back for Bog making his way behind me, and noticed a small opening in a tiny arch to my right. There was a strong draught issuing from it, and even though I didn’t think it would be a viable spot to dig, I thought it might be worth knowing about in case it gave any clues, so I built a little cairn to mark the spot. I remembered what Bob said about caves draughting properly in winter, so I thought maybe the draught might stop in warmer weather.

The passage carried on and on like this, and I wondered how much further we had to go, until I reached an opening. This was little ‘n’ larges airbell that I’d read about, and I was grateful to stand for the first time since we’d entered the cave. I noticed some impressive crinoid fossils stuck to the walls here, and chuckled to myself when Bog shouted ‘you’re stood up aren’t you, you b**tard’! I imagined the sight of my feet poking down out of the ceiling in the middle of this flat out crawl...

Onwards then, along the passage which by now had enlarged a bit, and I started on hands and knees. At one point the mud suddenly banked up in a hump again, which forced me back onto elbows knees and toes, and made me realise that this is in fact a much quicker, more efficient way to move along. It proved to be an excellent lesson for the rest of the trip, and I really enjoyed staying down and going faster than I’d ever caved before on the way out. I’d mistaken this enlarged passage for that known as ‘The Litton Stroll’ which I’d read about, and upon reaching a wall in front of me, announced to Bog that we’d reached the end of the cave and it was time to head back. Wrong! Bog told me that there was walking size trunk passage ahead of us. That was exciting! I moved forward a foot or so and realised that my dead end was just a sharp right turn- onwards again!

Eventually, the nature of the cave changed dramatically. The mud floor became a jumble of smallish boulders, and I was noticing gritstone pebbles and other stuff amongst them. I guessed that a bigger stream had been up here, and I was right. I popped out into a walking sized trunk passage, which I instantly recognised as having breakdown sediments in it. I’d learnt something!
This was awesome after the long crawl we’d just done. The passage ran perpendicular to the smaller tube we’d just crawled down, and was well decorated.

We decided to explore the downstream end first, although I couldn’t tell at the time which way it was, making a mental note to find out how the stream direction can be told in a dry stream passage. The roof rose up into large avens in places, and there were stunning stal and curtain formations which became striated and translucent with a lamp beam shone behind. On the floor were old, dry gour pools, and I was a little concerned about damage as we tentatively tiptoed over these, ducking at the same time to avoid straws and carrots hanging within inches of our helmets. The undisturbed mud was like it was in the narrower tube, very smooth and shiny and had obviously not been touched since the last trickle of water passed over it. There were a few very fine dessication cracks beginning to form, and it occurred to me that these may have only appeared after the surface was broken.

At one point, loads of drippers from the ceiling gave the impression of rain underground and I started saying ‘Roger Rain’s House’ over and over in my head. These drippers were most welcome, as we were dehydrated and had brought nothing to drink, and I drank deeply, almost toppling over as I held my mouth roofwards with my eyes shut to avoid the drips. It was funny to watch Bog doing the same thing afterwards!
It was only later in the cave that I wondered if drinking this water was such a good idea, as I bent down to pass a low section, and the water was smelling strongly of cow sh*t. Bog said we must be close to the surface here! Not much further along, the passage became lower and lower, and filled with water. I couldn’t tell if this was a sump or not, but I didn’t fancy crawling through the cold muddy water to check.

Passing back over the dried gours, we made our way into the upstream end of The Litton Stroll. The passage was similar in size and decoration, however I did notice some calcite floor here, which was very reminiscent of that in Taylor’s Way down Bagshawe. Maybe this is how you tell which way the stream flowed? The calcite has formed into small gours adjacent to each other, sort of undercut inside on one side and sloping on the other, giving a sharp lip on one side and looking like mackerel.

Further on, the passage lowered again however this time the blockage was due to loads of stal columns running along and across, and not easily passable. Needless to say we didn’t attempt to carry on. I read later that this blockage looked similar to that in Alsop’s cave, which on the survey would appear to connect very near to this point- in fact prior to blasting activity at this part of the quarry, the initial part of Sidetrack was connected to Alsop’s. I was glad I didn’t have to be the one to smash past all the stal in order to push the continuation!

So, the Litton stroll explored and thoroughly appreciated, we stopped a while to refuel on chocolate and enjoy our achievement, before setting off back surfacewards. Once again I was crawling as fast as possible, recognising the different bits of passage as they flew by. I had to rest more frequently on the way back, and we both took turns in posing for ‘hero shots’ to the camera- usually of us squeezing through the tightest spots. At the large opening we first encountered on the way in, I noticed 3 tiny helictites in the wall and roof, the first I’d really seen in the Peak- and we were back out in the starry, almost moonless night, save for a sliver of a crescent, immediately getting cold as our boots broke the icy puddles on the quarry bench.

With our fingers sticking to the frozen metal on SRT tackle and krabs, we prusiked up the loose slope and headed back to the car feeling very proud and happy. Getting changed in the snow we moaned and, as usual, said ‘we must be daft!’. Despite the freezing temperature, and feeling a bit tired, it had been a most excellent trip. It was good to get to the bar in the Wanted, and enjoy a couple of celebratory pints before we headed home!

Note: We protected the rope on the edge of the pitch to avoid abrasion, however I noticed a third of the way down there is another fairly severe rub point that would definitely benefit from a rope protector being used.